The story talks about various aspects of what happens at these kinds of events, how far attendees travelled to get there (California and Ontario, Canada), and provides some pictures.
The video has 3 parts:
Some of the shots were taken when I was experimenting with the Fat Gecko suction cup mount.
This non-commercial video includes the transformative fair use of copyrighted material as part of a personal reportage.
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Duration: 9:28
Video codec: H.264
Audio codec: AAC
Duration: 9:28
I stayed on the smaller Highways for about a third of the day, bypassing Columbus to the south. But soon after I joined up with I-70, headed over to Pittsburgh, north to Erie, then Buffalo, and finally home.
Some random shots from earlier in the day.
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My next expedition was going to be to Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada beginning of July, but that is now in question due to various things.
Carlisle at the beginning of August is still pretty much a lock. And I am really trying to make sure I can make my BIG expedition to Utah starting Labour Day weekend.
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I really didn't want to go all the way up to St. Louis and if you look closely at a map, you will see that there is no other bridge for around 60 miles south, down at Menard.
Ahhh, but wait a minute, there's a ferry crossing right on my way back home. When I got there it sure was interesting ... a little 4 or 5 vehicle ferry that zips across the river for 10 bucks.
I look at it this way:
All my mods are functional and are ready for that one time when the trail or the conditions or the circumstances actually end up requiring them ... for peace of mind if you will.
Lots of interesting discussion, great to have met so many Trailvoy owners, some curious locals came out, there was the BBQ, and the raffle. A good cross-section of Trailvoys was represented.
April 25 track zoomed:
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After the BBQ Big Ed presented the Roadie and me with some great plaques for attending from so far away. Thanks very much again to Big Ed and everybody else, it was a really nice thing to do.
And finally a big thanks to High Voltage for the Trailvoy.com Offroad decal. It looks great up on the windshield, more pictures with it on my trip home.
Here are some more posts with pictures from the meet, the campground, all the various Trailvoys, the plaque presentation, and finally some scans of news of the event in the local paper.
More Pictures 1
More Pictures 2
More Pictures 3
More Pictures 4
Entire MORA picture and video thread
I do have to say that the trail/road that continued further was much more interesting and exciting with the deeper water crossings, muddy terrain, hills, etc. This came with a price though as we were flying by the seats of our GPS units and going down unexplored territory.
Again, this was all discussed in another thread. Two things in particular stuck in my sides though:
But in any case, we ended up meeting the forest rangers on patrol which very graciously escorted us out in the dark.
Looking over my GPS tracks at home was fascinating. I marked 2 spots where we went in a particular direction, both of which took us further away from major roads and deeper into the brush with the Current River being the major obstacle. The zoomed in Garmin track shows one turn where going the other way would have taken us out to Hwy B, and another where going the other way would have taken us out to Hwy 106.
The other thing that the track shows is how very far going north to Hwy 72 was. This is what I saw on my GPS at the time, miles and miles of road with more than a few crossroads. That's why I really wanted to get the road quality information before heading out.
The Garmin GPS took me across Tennessee, through Nashville, up into Kentucky and Paducah, through the south-most tiny tip of Illinois, and then into Missouri. One of the more interesting sights was the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. I now wished I had stopped and taken some pictures as it truly was an awesome site but I was weary of making it to camp by daylight. Here's a close up on Google Maps though.
The last leg was pretty tough as the highway passes through a long flat area of farmland. It was extremely windy that day and with my roof rack, I was getting pushed all over the road. Plus I was a bit nervous trying to go over 60 mph as my Surco was really bouncing from all the wind buffeting.
I stopped at the supermarket in Ellington for some supplies and also met up with some MORA attendees at the hotel people were staying at. A quick stop at Big Ed's for gas and some "liquid refreshment" and then it was off to the campground.
I found it no problem and set up right next to the Roadie and his traveling comfort station! We had lots to talk about that night. Later on additional MORA attendees made it out to the camp and we exchanged lots of interesting technical and travel stories.
Here's some pictures of the campsite and Ellington in one of Roadie's posts.
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The last bit of road has been paved due to its steepness. At the end there is a parking lot, picnic area, and toilet. The views are great both to the east and west with the cliff right above the parking lot. Several groups came up with rock climbing apparatus so I assume this is a great spot if you are so inclined.
There are hiking trails that lead in all directions, including to the top of Table Rock Mountain. I did not take my hiking boots with me on this trip as I still have some tenderness in my toes from old cuts.
Here's a different angle of Table Rock after heading west to meet up with the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The Parkway is beautiful as it winds its way along the Appalachian ridges. There are vistas almost every 5 minutes and stopping for each one would extend your drive tremendously, so you need to pick your spots.
My main destination on the Parkway was Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the US east of the Mississippi. Second is Mount Washington in NH but that is potentially for another expedition.
The road up to Mount Mitchell turns off the Parkway and is paved all the way to the top, where there is a parking lot, picnic areas, snack bar, and trails to the actual peak. It was early in the season so everything was closed but all the crews were out preparing, I assume for the Memorial Day weekend.
The only glitch was that the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed south of Mount Mitchell. It seems that a cliff gave way during the winter and as a result, heavy road repairs were needed, again, I assume they would want it open for Memorial Day.
Using my GPS I improvised an offroad route which which did not take me all the way back to the official detour. Again, a graded gravel road but interesting nonetheless.
Rejoining the Parkway in Azalea, I headed south again. There seemed to be many more short tunnels in this section, which also included the highest point on the Parkway itself.
Along the drive I stopped at a couple of vistas. One was a nice frame for the Trailblazer, the other was an interesting dome-like rock formation.
My destination was the Days Inn, Alcoa. Which is where the airport is for Knoxville. A couple of interesting things on my way down from the mountains:
There was definitely more to check out at the Outer Banks and its a place I would like to come back to and stay longer:
After grabbing some fresh-cooked crab cakes at an oceanside seafood stand, I headed over the Washington Baum and Virginia Dare Memorial bridges to get back to the mainland. Once there, Hwy 64 follows the Alligator River/Canal for a while.
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Unfortunately this was the time of year that most of the beach areas that jut out into the ocean (the points) are closed. Most of the long, straight, narrow sections are open though. So I chose an access point, aired down to 20 PSI and headed for a spot with nobody around to relax a bit.
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As the sun started to fall below the dune, I packed up and drove back to the access point. I aired back up to road pressure and headed north to the hotel. I did stop one more time to get a picture of the last house in Rodanthe.
One last picture for the day. I wanted to try out my HDV Camcorder's night vision mode, so I took a picture of the hotel's court (the camcorder can take pictures to a memory card instead of taking HDV video).
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I then took some time to fill my Sceptre water containers and strap them down securely to the Surco Safari Rack.
Once that was done I headed south along Hwy 12 with my goal being Ocracoke.
The building architecture is very interesting, I would assume all very functional to protect against hurricanes.
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