Breakfast in New Orleans requires a compulsory visit to the Boulangerie for croissants, my friend Libby posing in the rain outside the shop after we bought about 10 just for us but pretended we were buying for more people!!



Back at the hosue and a suspicious character is loitering around Thelma



Turns out to be fellow Brit Biker and friend Michael Walshaw, and he was kindly donating some Kriega accessories



Thelma got a strap on dry bag, while I got the very, very cool hydration backpack



All excellent stuff and a huge thank you to Michael and the guys at Kriega

Kriega - Select your region

leaving the city, I somehow managed to miss the massive bridge that crosses over to the north side of the bay...sorry Bob!

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Here's a sign that ensures you keep moving...



The patch of sunshine I was able to take that photo in was but a small one and once more the heavens opened, Thelma and I were getting so very wet and the visibility through the spray was so poor that I decided to stop at this picnic area for shelter - in a weird way, the rain was welcome as it had been blisteringly hot just days ago. And on the plus side, look how clean Thelma is after all the gallons of water have landed on her. I wear a Rukka jacket and all the way through these downpours I was completely dry under it.



We were heading up to Arkansas and some hill country. First I had to cross part of Alabama, and I swear that they have people with the strongest accents manning the welcome centres. I had stopped to get a state map, but at first couldn't understand the woman behind the counter. I asked her to repeat what she said and she just looked at me as if I was an alien. We managed to communicate, I got my map and continued on my way, stopping at some great small town petrol stations for snacks to eat and a chat with staff to avoid more rain.


Luckily it had stopped raining when I needed to stop for the night, I'd reached Delhi in northern Louisiana, followed an old track and found a spot flat enough for the tent.



The mosquitoes had been bad as I put the tent up and I soon found out why in the morning, as this was behind the row of trees



The swamps gave way to corn fields



We'd arrived in Arkansas, and these little creatures were everywhere



Dead armadilloes, scattered along the roadside like discarded bowling balls, or maybe they were just sunbathing

I finally reached the Ozarks, and what pretty hills they are, I needed to gain points for the GS Giant Adventure Summit and so took a forest route, my first serious off-roading for a while. I didn't have a very good map, but the nice man at the welcome centre (they're an American version of Tourist Information Centres) had made a few suggestions and pointed me in the direction of some horse trails that were suitable for motorised vehicles. What a mistake that was, in England we have bridleways for people on horses and they tend to be leisurely tracks across fields. They are sometimes shared with other track users as well, after I entered the forest, I realised this was a very different situation.




I checked the signs as I headed along this trail



Great, just to add to my problems I am now facing bears as well, I had no idea that there were bears this far south. I decided to keep moving



Easier said than done



The route ahead had some steps in it with a drop off at the bottom, I needed to try and haul rocks to make the drop off easier to negotiate. But Thelma was on a slope and I couldn't put the side stand down, hence I had to do this



I got through that bit, and the the upward slope on the other side was worse

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Thanks for the above Tiff.

We are heading off for about a year to the USA, Aaska and South American next April. Your blog has been inspiring.



Ray

__________________
New bike, Retired Nomad.

Hi Tiffany. Jim here, you know, from the BMOA Rally (i finally got to meet Tiffany). IT looks to me that Thelma must be tired. She is always laying down. Are you giving her enough sleep?

If you get up anywhere Central Illinois in your travels, please let me know. We would love to have you visit. There is room for you ty as well.

Keep up the fun travels.

Hi Ray
Glad to hear that you're enjoying my tales from the road- you will have a fantastic time on your trip. If you've got any questions, do get in touch, make sure you try and get to one or two of the North America HU meetings while you're there, they are great. I especially loved the beautiful setting of the Western Canada meet in Nakusp, British Columbia.
Ride Safe


Hi Jim
Good to hear from you, I didn't make it back up to Central Illinois- maybe next time, so remind me next time I'm on your side of the Atlantic. As for your cheeky comments about Thelma, yes, she did have a couple of lie downs on this trip, unusually so for me, but it's always good to practice the picking up technique

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

I was there for a very long time getting Thelma out



which afforded several photo opportunities

as for my other options...well, I'd reached the point of no return and had already decided that I wouldn't be able to get out the way I'd come in - I only got photos while I was on the "easier" bits.

After a prolonged sojourn in the forest doing the Horse Trail (never again), I made it back onto tarmac and eventually found these guys



ah yes, I thought, as I looked around, I must be in the right place, they're picking up GS's

The GS Giants and their adventure summit, deep in the Ozark hills at a great camping spot under the trees, fantastic food, amazing riding and good company. To my delight, there was also a creek to swim in with a rope swing over it. I caught up with some familiar faces from the previous adventure summit in Utah back in May.



Interesting ride tales each evening as everyone came back from their adventures, including the infamous Frog Bayou ride - 60 miles in 12 hours and a group of 11 riders.They also had stories about their journeys from their various home states.
Roads in this area are very interesting



Thelma borrowed some air, I'd let some out for the trail riding.



In an attempt to keep things tame I went exploring and found a pretty graveyard



I particularly liked this sign on the fence



I went in search of lunch and found this place - the Red Hog Deli



Not much for the peckish vegetarian, until they explained what hush puppies were. I missed geting a picture of the sign that proudly declared this establishment to be a place for "fine dining".

Meanwhile, back in the woods, an of road course was being set up, bikes were prepped



The riders were gathered




With the cute Canadian dog as mascot, he only understands french!

And they were off



A trials course through the woods with thrills and spills

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Bikes were still riding around in all directions...


There was even an orange bike competing.

Meanwhile, my friends Gaila and Tad had got hold of my camera and were taking selfies



with a very unfortunate pic of me in the background.
In my defence, I had JUST got out of the creek where I'd been swimming to cool down and therefore was not in bike gear.

However I couldn't resist having a go at the course through the woods, once evryone else had finished and left the area



This is one of those pictures where I've got that gritted teeth look!
and then Gaila took this photo



It's a good one of Thelma, but crikey I look a bit on the tubby side in this photo

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Yep, I was off to the BMW MOA Rally in Sedalia, Missouri. We rode up in groups from the Ozarks and gathered in the GS Giants Camping area



Ryan wasted no time in getting his hammock up- except that his KTM wasn't sturdy enough for the job and he had to borrow someone's GS as a tethering post




Some of the guys found a place they felt more at home



and put their tents up in the shade inside the Swine Barn...

There were so many things to do, including a Welcome Dinner hosted by Vince Winkel



Lots of fun and laughs, and I got to meet a female motorcycling legend...Voni Glaves, who has ridden over a million miles on BMW bikes.




Meanwhile, they were using JCBs and trucks to create an off-raod skills course next to our campsite, it was starting to look like this



But to be honest, I waited until it was getting dark for my first trial run



the nervous smile says it all as I surveyed the scenes of carnage, where bikes had fallen all along the course




But actually it's Thelma's rear tyre the camera should have zoomed in on, as it was decidedly smooth looking...
and was that mud and...gulp, sand out there on the course

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

on a very cold and wet afternoon in Yorkshire, I've spent a delightful hour (or 2) catching up on the last 8 pages of your inspiring journey!
stay well and upright

__________________
Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

Elaine, so glad to hear you've been enjoying the stories from my journey.

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

There is a lot to see and do at the MOA Rally, including the rather bizarre firing of a heavy item into the air every day at 4pmI'm not sure what that was about.

Plenty of talks and seminars and also all the exhibitors, including several old friends, so I had quite a social time.

An evening in the bar with the GS Giants



Houston had his tattoos on display



Meanwhile, there was some "work" being done at the off-road course



The sneaky sods are making everything wetter including the already deep, slippery and tricky mud section. Step forward the driver...



Yep, it's that Sonny Johns from Texas - he had a bit of a telling off from me about making the course more difficult.

The next day I tracked down a bike similar to Thelma



Her owner agreed he had the same wheels as me, and then while he was looking the other way, I proceeded to remove the rear one.



I popped the wheel onto Thelma and went for a practice run in daylight



Although the tyre was well-worn, it was a good deal better than the tyre I already had and so I negotiated to borrow the wheel for the competition. Step forward Scott "Voice of a Choirboy" Nogrady



Owner of the GS in question and who happily agreed to share his wheel with me, the only slight obstacle being that he was also competing, so we would need a bit of slick work in the pits to swap over the wheels between bouts.

COMPETING???

Yes, the woman who does not like competitions and hates it when people are watching her ride had agreed (over a or two) to take part in the GS Giants competition. As the smallest person and sole female competing I wasn't in with a chance but I hoped I might inspire other women to take part. Everyone was very supportive and now that I had the offer of Scott's wheel, I would at least be able to get Thelma around the track through the mud and sand.

The competition was due to take place the next day so we all went out to discuss tactics...in the bar However, the guys were distracted by the karaoke



and proceeded to bring the bar down with their singing



Even after the DJ had tried to finish, the guys were still passing the microphone aorund the table...Green Day's Closing Time will never sound the same again to me after its raucous rendition by the GS Giants

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

still seem to be at the MOA Rally
It's the final night so a few of us head over to the stadium
Ian, Clayton and Lori amongst them.
Inside it's pretty packed out

They start going through winners and awards and then suddenly this picture appears on the giant screen

My group give me a standing ovation as it turned out I'd won the furthest travelled international rider.
And then we headed to the tent...The final night at the MOA Rally was upon us, some people had already left- so there were some sad farewells, we'd been riding and camping together for over a week by this point. Although we weren't so upset that we didn't forget to relieve them of them unused tokens. Some of the guys kept them handy as we headed down to the garten

The garten was buzzing as usual. Our final evening together, Dawn and I were wearing Jeanae's great t-shirts (Ride Like a Girl), so the three of us decided to get on Thelma for a couple of photos.

A suggestion was made to try a Charlie's Angels pose

What we didn't realise is that from the side, it looked very different, with legs flying everywhere.

__________________

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

It's early morning and the view from my tent looked like this




Standing in the foreground is the lovely Andre, who had ridden down from Canada solo for the first time, her husband hadn't been able to get the time off work and so she came on her own. To my good fortune, she set up tent next to me and proceeded to supply me with my early morning cup of tea in bed. All I needed to do was wave at her through the window/air vent on my tent and she would bring a cup over.

It had been a bit of a raucous night, and the evidence was obvious as I looked around



One GS Giant hadn't made it back to his tent....

I was busy, packing my stuff and trying to get it all to fit back into my panniers as well as the things I had been given such as my plaque for furthest travelled International Rider. The blue tarp attached to the fence was my attempt at getting soime shade for my camp spot- my Dad would be proud of me, as I checked my compass bearings when I arrived at the camp and chose this spot with the fence to the east so that I could create some shade, by 7.00am each morning it was already hot.


On the hunt for a souvenir, Thelma and I tried to fit the GS Giants' sign into our luggage, but it wasn't going to happen



We'd also acquired a mascot...and it's in the right colours




Saying goodbye to various friends and some of the great people I'd met, I struck lucky. The guys at Twisted Throttle (one of the GS Giants' sponsors) felt so sorry for me in my European winter coat - yep that's right I've been sweating through all this intense heat - hence the multiple bad hair days and me looking not at my best. Anyway, Erik and the guys produced a Macna summer jacket for me, complete with all those vents and mesh that I'd noticed the Yanks in this part of the world have.
How excited was I and it matched Thelma



We were both looking a bit more spruce, me in my jacket, Thelma with her new tyres as I loaded up my panniers, bidding farewell and headed out on my own once more- after eight days with the GS guys, it was a wrench saying goodbye and returning to my solitary ride, I knew I'd miss them all. I'd especially like to thank Ian who organised the GS Giants event (I was joking about nicking the sign, honest Ian!), Tracey the Queen and Score Keeper and all the rest of the women and guys for their friendship and the fun we had. I'd also like to thank the BMW MOA Rally organisers for inviting me to the Rally in the first place and Bill Mayer Saddles for getting me a vendor's pass to get in.

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

I was back on the road looking at the farms I was passing, which all seemed to be in contention for the Most American Farmhouse in the Mid-West competition.



And loving signs as simple as this



Yield??? That's not something you do with a vehicle, it's a wrestling term, or something that kinights used to demand in days of yore.
Despite my best efforts I'd been just about the last rider to leave our camping area (probably not a surprise to the others)- I must remember not to chat so much, the late start meant I didn't get too far on my day's riding...I'd been expecting to camp somewhere in Tennessee but my map is small and I somehow managed to be in a different state, though on the plus side I did get an unexpected view of that archway thing in St Louis which I've heard about on the telly.
I ended up in Illinois and stumbled across a great camping spot, which I have to confess I accessed via a small footpath which was a squeeze for Thelma, but when I saw the view from my tent in the morning, it was worth it



I'm sure a real camp site would probably charge a fair amount of money for this type of location. Further round it became even more picturesque



Much as I enjoy camping, I was looking forward to a couple nights in a real bed having spent the past 14 nights in my tent. Humidity was rising as I went southwards and arrived at Fabrizio and Geoffrey's house in Atlanta, that bastion of southerness. The combination of a warm latin american welcome combined with legendary southern hospitality welcome was fantastic, some wine, great conversation and a comfortable bed awaited me. I also had a go on Fabrizio's BMW bike...



It looks a bit like Thelma without her seat and was a lot of fun to ride.

I stayed in Atlanta for a couple of days, my hosts were amused by my version of a GPS



Yep folks, that's right good old pen and paper (and a nice view of one of the dents in Thelma's fuel tank!) A close up of the pages, and apologies to those of you wincing at my liberal use of sellotape on the petrol tank, but a few adhesive marks are nothing compared to the the battle scars that Thelma has.

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo

Most nights on this journey have been spent in my tent, which is my little home from home when I'm on the road. I love camping and now I was about to have my final night under canvas.

Dragging myself away from the great hospitality of Atlanta, I rode north and found myself passing through seven States in 24 hours (and I wasn't even trying to!). My small map book was struggling to cope.

I found a wonderfully green camping spot, I think I was in one of the Virginias.



I had mixed feelings as I put up my tent, looking around and making the most of being outside and in the fresh air. I was getting towards the end of my trip (had you noticed that the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean were getting closer?)



I was aware that this was going to be my final night in my tent (unless things went wrong), I cracked open my half bottle of wine and toasted Thelma and my tent drinking a nice Shiraz out of my enamel mug.

__________________
Tiffany
On the road from...I'm not sure any more
http://www.tiffanystravels.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAUhV1r-kUo