I had a meeting with the Widows Sons and made a quick side trip on the way home.
I thought that Rogers was one of the names on the Coddiwomple list, but after getting the picture of the sign that says “Town of Rogersville,” I realized that it wasn’t. I decided to do a quick ride through the block of downtown off the main road. I happened to see a chicken in the air. Not a flying one, but a metal one that would work with the challenges. I got a quick picture and was on my way home.
On may way through Killen, I noticed a Lawler’s BBQ. The parking lot was empty, so the picture would be easy to get. I pulled in, got a few pictures, and was back on my way.
Near the house is a Dunkin’s. These were once named Dunkin Donuts. I guess that they didn’t want to be known for their donuts anymore. It has been a while since I had one of their donuts, or even a cup of their coffee. Neither were worth the stop in the past. Judging by the parking lot and number of customers at any time of day, I doubt it would be worth the stop even now.
The house is only a few block away, so I was home in only a few minutes from the last stop.
June 4 was a great day to get out and ride. I managed to put in over 300 miles of back roads while trying to get my long distance mojo back. The purpose of the ride on June 4 was to meet with some people from the Mid-South Long Distance Riders group at the monthly supper (held on the first Wednesday of the month at Collierville Commissary at 6pm).
My first stop was to get replacement picture which met all the requirements for the Starbucks and Friends portion of the Coddiwomple challenge. I stopped at the Starbuck near the house and got the picture. That evening, I learned that ALL the photos on the camera taken that day were washed out. I have spent a couple days working to save a few, but not all could be saved. This one at Starbucks was lost.
The reason I had to revisit the location is that for the Starbucks and Friends portion of the challenge, the coffee shop must be in a separate building (not in a food court or mall kiosk setting) and must have the NAME (not just the logo) of the place. My photo for the previous submission had the Starbucks logo, but the name was not on that side of the building.
My planned second stop was in Waterloo. I had stopped at the Harley shop for a bit, then headed up the Trace to the exit for Waterloo. Nice secluded roads in that area. As I was about a mile from Waterloo, the road was blocked and the detour was going to send me on a dirt/gravel road. A quick look at the map warned me that this particular road would take me a LONG way out of the way. I decided to visit Waterloo another time. I backtracked to CR8 and rode up to Savannah Highway and was back on track.
Second stop was at Hickory Pit in Savannah. It will take a longer visit to earn the BBQ challenge for this place. BUT, they not have a chicken statue outside! I pulled up to get the picture and a girl came out and started posing while I was getting ready to take the picture. I started taking her picture. She laughed then started to walk off. I told her that I needed her to hold my rally number so I could get a good picture of the chicken, bike, and the rally number. The picture was a little washed out, but I will see if the organizers will accept it. If not, I can go back in a few weeks since it is less than an hour away and I need to visit a few other sites in that area.
I headed over to Adamsville to visit a great little BBQ place. The picture there was too washed out to use, so I will have to revisit there. I will make sure that my visit there will be on an empty stomach.
I headed to Shiloh National Military Park. I have visited here so many times, Mom used to have a picture of my when I was three or four climbing on a cannon ball memorial. I had submitted the initial photo for the cemetery here at Shiloh. I need to plan a day to ride/walk the park. Maybe take a lunch and find a place to relax. I think it was my great-great-grandfather who had fought here with three of his brothers. All four lived through the battle.
As I pulled into the park, I found a display with a couple of cannons. This meets the requirement for the Coddiwomple’s cannon challenge. The photo was a little washed out, but not as bad as the others for the day.
I took backroads on to Collierville. TN-57 is one that I love. Other than the spot where the police were set up with the school zone lights flashing and was passing out tickets, the trip was great. Why was that spot not so great. First, the parking lot at the school was empty. Second, the sign on the front of the school stated that school was out for summer vacation. What a sneaky way to increase the town coffers.
I eventually made my way to Moscow, TN. A nice little town with a low speed limit. I keep it slow, the trees over the road and the old mansions are beautiful to view. My headset shut off as I entered town, so I was keeping a watch for a place to pull off and plug my headset into my battery pack. I found the Town Hall and pulled over. I noticed a couple of cannons! I got a picture of the cannons and of the markers explaining the Battle of Moscow. They were all washed out, but I think the one of the cannons can be used. I will submit it and hope they accept it.
I headed on into Collierville. I was about an hour early for the group supper. I filled up the bike and got a couple of drinks. While waiting at the restaurant, I drank the Gatorade to get some fluids into me.
The meeting was great. There were 12 people who came. Some I have met before, other I met for the first time. None were strangers when we parted. One guy had gotten up that morning and decided to join us. He rode from Minnesota, leaving at 5:30am to get there. He made it through snow flurries in Minnesota, smoke from wildfires in Iowa, extreme thunderstorms in St. Louis, and 90 degree temps as he crossed into Tennessee. He planned to spend the night and ride home doing an Iron Butt ride.
The ride back from Collierville was a chance to test out the lights. I found a stretch of road where I could test the distance. I turned on the high-beams and the spotlight. I identified a spot and checked my odometer. When I got to that particular spot, the odometer indicated that it was almost a half mile! I still need to fine-tune the focus/aim since I think they are a little to the left and a little low. Both are hard to gauge when on a hilly and twisty road.
June 5
I decided to take the bike to the Tuscumbia Lodge this evening. I decided to take a quick stop at the Starbucks to get the picture that was washed out yesterday. The picture this evening is much better.
I made it to lodge and was able to do another test on the lights. The aiming is getting better. I think it is pretty close to the center where I want them, not I need to raise them a bit.
Left the house early to run to lodge and decided to stop at a few coffee places along the way.
After gassing up the bike, I made my way to Starbucks. Though larger town will have Starbucks on every corner (some even across the street from each other), we only have two, and one is on the campus of UNA. I stopped in at the Starbucks by the mall. I got a quick picture and was on my way to my next stop.
As I was leaving Starbucks, I realized that there is a gourmet coffee place across the street. Multiple lanes for drive thru. It wasn’t busy so I don’t know how efficient they would be in a rush. I pulled into SevenBrew and got the picture. Access was a bit challenging since it is at a corner that can get busy at times, especially since none of the streets have stop or yield signs.
I left to visit another new place. This one is Scooters Coffee. I wasn’t sure of the exact location, so I took the safe route. Ended up that if I have taken the other route, I would have turned into the coffee shop without getting on the main highway.
I made a quick stop at the Veterans Park to get a picture of the Huey and the 9-11 memorial for the Tour of Honor challenge. Then I headed to the lodge.
Left Maggie Valley to head home. I had a few Tour of Honor bonus sites that I wanted to visit on the bike along the way, but I also kept an eye open for potential sites for the Coddiwomple Challenge.
After passing Cherokee and turning onto US19/74, it eventually went from four lanes to two lanes as is wound along the Nantahala Gorge/River. Suddenly, I see a BBQ sign. I pull into the gravel parking lot to get the picture. Place has a simple name, BBQ Shack. Officially, the address is Bryson City, but the closest town is either Wesser or Almond. I’ll list as Bryson City in case someone tries to find it.
Next spot I found was a large chicken in front of a salvage and collectible store. The person working there came out and I explained what I was doing. He smiled and went back inside. This was in Cleveland, TN
My goal today was to avoid interstate at all costs. The closest I came was when I passed over a couple of interstates. I meandered my way to Dayton, TN. As I turned onto US27, I saw a small BBQ place. I got a picture of Alexander’s BBQ in Dayton, TN.
After passing through Dayton, I saw Dunkin’. The company was Dunkin’ Donuts for many years, it guess they just dropped the donuts part from the name. Maybe because the donuts weren’t all that exciting.
I continued and visited a few Tour of Honor sites. As I was in Dunlap, I saw a little coffee place attached to a thrift store. I got the picture of Sunny Valley Coffee.
As I was finishing up my last Tour of Honor site in Whitwell, TN, I noticed a cannon! I couldn’t pass it up since this isn’t really in my normal routes to places.
After spending the day at Wheels Through Time, which is truly my “Happy Place,” the weather cleared a little and I decided to visit a few spots for Coddiwomple.
The first stop was at Caffeine and Chaos. This is a coffee and ice cream shop. It also have a game area. I didn’t go in, I may have ended up getting something which I wouldn’t have needed.
The next stop was at Butts on the Creek. This is a BBQ place in Maggie Valley which overlooks Jonathan Creek. Aaron and I came here with Ms Sue and Brad last year. The food was awesome and the prices were great.
June 23 update:
The Caffeine and Chaos photo was rejected. I was supposed to have a picture of the building. The sign is okay for a BBQ place, but I must have a picture of the building for coffee places. Since I was back in Waynesville, and on the Harley this time, I revisited Caffeine and Chaos after Randy and I had stopped for supper.
Plenty of miles, but only a couple of Coddiwomple sites
First, after I had visited a Tour of Honor site, I happened to see a Starbucks in Waynesville. Since it wasn’t out of the way, I had to stop.
Farther along my trip, I was on my way to Brevard. I passed one of my favorite BBQ places, I even showed it to a friend who has lived in Cherokee most of his life. Hawg Wild BBQ in Pisgah Forest, NC. There were a couple of BMW K series in the parking lot, I wonder if they were on the Grand Coddiwomple too?
Finally managed to get a photo of a ride with a Tennessee state sign after getting the Grand Coddiwomple number.
I also got the photo in South Pittsburg. Pittsburgh is on the list, I expect that they will be be strict about the spelling. I am not sure if I will submit with a note that I noticed the spelling is different, if they reject, I will understand.
Another one of the challenges in BMW’s Grand Coddiwomple is to find places matching to names of places in Johnny Cash’s song “I’ve Been Everywhere.” One place in particular is Dodge City. I happened to find a Dodge City in Alabama. And it is close enough that I can make a day ride to visit.
My initial goal today was to visit an old friend who works for Redstone Harley-Davidson. I had met him before I moved to Alabama, we met when I would visit Florence during various holidays or vacations.
After avoiding interstate to get to Redstone, I hopped on the interstate to get some quick miles down I-65.
After the photo in Dodge City, I meandered back home. The headset is only lasting about 3 hours, I thought that it had been lasting a lot longer when I first got it. This gave me some time to just listen to the wind.
Though the goal for today was to visit a few Tour of Honor sites, I was able to visit a few Coddiwomple sites.
After filling up the bike, I headed to St Florian. This is a town founded by German immigrants. This would make it pronounces as Saint Flo-re-an. Not in Alabama, talk about lazy talkers. It is pronounced as Saint Flor-een. Anytime I talk about the town, I always make sure that I mis-pronounce it according to the locals.
This little town has one stop-light. It is with mixed opinions whether it helps or hurts traffic. Just past the light, ease to the left and there is Pop’s BBQ. In front, on either side of their parking lot, is a hog and a chicken. The Coddiwomple gives points for chicken statues and BBQ places. The BBQ place MUST have BBQ or one of the spelling variations. “Smoke Pit” or “Pit” in the name only counts if it also specifically says BBQ. If it doesn’t say BBQ in the name, I could go in to a place to get a copy of their menu if it lists BBQ, but that is too much trouble.
Anyway, back to Pop’s BBQ. I got a picture of the outside with bike in front with the rally flag. I managed to park so I could walk around the bike and get a picture of the chicken with the bike. I cannot take one picture of the store and the chicken and submit it for both points.
I head up Chisholm Rd to Collinwood, then over to Savannah. I thought about getting the picture of Hickory Pit, but I would have needed to get a copy of their menu as I mentioned above. BUT! Across the street from Hickory Pit is a Civil War memorial with a couple of cannons and a stack of cannon balls.
Before I got to my first Tour of Honor site, I was at a stop sign waiting to cross a major highway. I noticed a BBQ place. A lot of cars in the parking lot, but one parking spot was open under their sign. I pulled in, got the picture, and was on my way again.
The rest of this ride was for the Tour of Honor. I will include this when I post on the Serendipity Riders with the full day ride.
