sorry for the lack of updates but we haven't had any wifi service

We rode our bikes from north Florida to Jellico Tennessee in a day; it was a hard ride and all Interstate 75. We took breaks about every 100 miles or so and at gas stations, we would fuel up the bikes and get something to eat and some more water. We made it almost to Jellico without rain, but 14 miles from our destination the bottom dropped out of the sky. We rode in it until it became too hard to see and were too dangerous to proceed. We took refuge under the overpass / viaduct along with another couple on a bike, just after we took our helmets off in ride a couple on a Harley-Davidson and the rider yells “ What’s the matter you sissies!” then parks his bike and laughing.

We stayed the night in Jellico at the Jellico motel, it was a nice relaxed place, they let us change tires and sprockets right there on the sidewalk in front of our room. We changed out or 16 tooth front sprockets to a 14 tooth for better off-road riding torque. After a good night sleep we rode over to the post office to pick up a package Daniel had forwarded. While he was inside I put my roll chart in its holder and walked down to the drugstore for a coca cola. Daniels roll chart holder did not arrive so I took the lead on our first leg of the Trans-America Trail. There was a bit of a learning curve with the roll charts but we only got lost once and missed out turn twice. I dropped my bike three times on the first day. The first time we had just filled up with fuel recently so I had about 30-36 pounds of fuel way above the bikes center of gravity. I led us up the wrong rode, so I went to turn around on a slope very slowly because we were in someone’s yard. I lost footing and dropped it and I went rolling head over feet down their lawn. Daniel was laughing and I saw fuel leaking out of the tank so I yelled that I was going to need help getting it up and he said hold on I’m trying to get my camera out. It was very hard to pick up since the top of the bike was on the down hillside, but we managed and were back on the road in no time. The second time that I dropped my bike we had just completed a long section of nonpaved road mostly gravel some mud and several washes. Daniel was waiting at the end for me to join him for a quick break. I pulled up along side and there it went. A couple of men were driving up in a county pickup truck; they stopped and asked if everybody was ok. I said yea, that it was a pretty tough trail and my bike was tired so she laid down for a rest. The third time dropping the bike came when I was trying to turn around on an embankment near a barbed wire fence. I thought my bike was in first gear but it was in second, we were still getting used to the new sprockets and gear ratios we changed, well that bogged the engine down and killed the engine I was on a slope so down I went. Only the first drop did I need assistance in picking the bike up, and I am getting better at finding a turn around point and I quit worrying about trying to stay off the grass and just concentrate on riding. We stayed the night at Rock Island state park