Great Trip with a Splashy Ending
Hohenwald, TN to Nashville, TN to Asheville, NC
“I slept like a monster and dreamed of hot chicken and clowns. I was gifted a 22-cent nut that did not keep me dry. Not a bad last day on the Trace.…”
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I dreamed of Nashville Hot Chicken (and clowns) last night. If I can bookend this trip with a po boy at the start and some hot chicken at the end, I believe that would be true artistic storytelling. There’s a place called Prince’s in Nashville that is legit. It’s disgusting and unhealthy and delicious. It’s on my radar for today once I get up toward Nashville.
I slept like a fiend last night, like a giant monster crushing buildings and stomping on cars. That doesn’t seem like a description of sleep, but I’m trying to say that I slept with aggression. It’s amazing that with three proper pieces of gear and a tiny bit of luck with the temperature, you can sleep like a baby on the ground in the woods. I have a great tent, a great sleeping bag, and most importantly, a great sleeping pad. I’m set up in five minutes and can crawl into my little nest and punch being awake right in the face. My advice is, spend all of your money on those three things.
The chin mount for my helmet camera had finally fallen apart toward the end of yesterday. It had a great multi-year run, and I’m not mad at it. I have a small container of spare parts and an extra mount. But this helmet is at the end of it’s life so I didn’t want to waste the spare chin mount by attaching it with 3M tape to a helmet that’s on its way out. I had a clamp mount from the old days, which would work just fine. But I found it was missing a nut. So I started my bike at 6:45 am with no worries about waking anyone up, and headed into the nearest town for some fuel and to stop at a hardware store. I am a huge fan of old-school hardware stores. There was a great one in Five Points in Columbia, SC when I lived there - and I’d often wander in there just to look around and to talk to the old guys who worked there. The gentlemen (and the occasional lady) who tend to work at these places are a special breed with a specific and impressive skill set. You can walk in with some weird part and say, “I need something that will fit on here that will attach this to some other thing. I have no idea what this is or what it attaches to. Can you help me?” And they’ll make a beeline to a specific part in a specific aisle, and they will grab a specific little thing and hold it up to you and will say something like, “This’ll fix you up, sonny…” I found just such a hardware store that was open at 7 am. I grabbed what I needed, brought it to the lady at the counter, and realized that I had zero cash and was going to have to pay for a 22-cent nut with a credit card. I apologized profusely, and she said, “You go on and take that outta here with you. Don’t worry about it.” I mean, it’s only 22-cents, but still - that’s a friendly start to my morning! I thanked her, fixed my mount in the parking lot, and was back on the Trace 10 minutes later.
One of the first stops of the morning was Jackson Falls - a quick hike. It’s always a little nerve-racking leaving your bike with all of your possessions on it. At least the Wing has some lockable compartments. If anyone opens the pannier with my clothing in it, they will be immediately rendered unconscious anyway.
Back on the bike, and as always, my plans weren’t made well. I thought I’d be on the Trace for at least two nights. But there’s no way. I’ve only got 1.5 hours left to get to the Northern terminus. So now the decision is, what do I do then? Do I boot it home? Or what? I stopped for a coffee at a place called RedByrd in some adorable one-block town called Leipers Fork. Sadie Shaw and Kyle Samuel Brooks are the owners, and they seem to have some things going on. Both are musicians, and they’ve recently been on a show called Tiny House Big Living. I assume the Tiny House is the one I’m ordering coffee from. I sat out back and watched the locals come and go.
Then suddenly, I was at the end of the Natchez Trace. It was so early that I’d get to Prince’s two hours before they opened. It was not to be. I set a course for Asheville, avoiding the highways. It would take 7.5 hours instead of 5. This isn’t really about efficiency. Somehow I found myself on the Nashville Trace, which I didn’t know existed, and i still don’t know what it was - but it took me through some old historic towns like Franklin, TN. Then the rain started, and it didn’t ever really stop. I had to pull over out of the heaviest downpours to wait it out. There was a church awning, a motel awning, and several gas stations. The windshield on the wing gets covered, and the drops just sit there, making it impossible to see. What I could see of the mountains was gorgeous as usual, but it was tough going. Honestly, it was a bit miserable.
By 7:30 pm I was home. I turned off the bike and bee-lined it for the shower, which was glorious. It was a bit of an anti-climactic last day, making this a bit of an anti-climactic post. I was glad to be home. I’m looking forward to whatever Freddie Mercury has in store for me next…
I want to thank MotoCampNerd.com for sponsoring this trip. If you’re looking for gear, get it from these good folks.
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I was up for some Hot Chicken stories. I worked in Nashville from ‘81 to ‘95. It’s a whole lot different now.