Putting UltraWing to test...

Using last minutes to get packed and underway for East Coast trip beginning Thursday the 12th. Wife and I will spend first night in Tupelo, MS. Second night in Kimball, TN. Third in Hendersonville, NC, Fourth in Eden, NC. Fifth and 6th on the outer banks near Kitty Hawk, NC. Then return via Florence, SC, Savanna, GA, Troy Alabama, Starkville, MS to Rison.
Highlights of the trip will include: Natches Trace Parkway, Paper clip holocaust museum in Whitwell, TN, tail of the dragon, Blue ridge mountain parkway, 3 hour ferry ride off of the outer banks. Many other sites too numerous to mention on return side of the trip. Weather shows 30 to 40 percent chance of rain for entire trip to the coast. I look at that as a free cooling advantage. I gave my wife the option of leaving the trike at home and using the car instead. She said " it can't possibly rain as much as it rained on the Colorado trip." We will see. Gonna give it a shot. I am excited and anxious at the same time. Trike is new and unproven on long distances. No reason to expect problem, but it is a long way from friendlies in case there is any unforeseen glitches. I guess there is a little "Deliverance" syndrome in the back of my mind. I am going to be very suspicious of any banjo players sitting on porch. I don't have lap top, but, do have smart phone. Will try to post some updates. Maybe some photos, ( I have had mixed success using my phone doing the pics and videos) but will upload more pictures from camera when I get home at end of trip. Until then I am going mostly dark. Wife will keep me very busy.
Until I get back here,

40% chance of rain means 60% chance of fair weather and you always look on the bright side. Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Hi Gary, You, Deb and Bettie, are going to have a GREAT time.

You will enjoy riding the Blue Ridge Parkway through the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. It is my goal to ride the entire parkway this summer on my SilverWing. I was on it from Asheville, NC to the southern end by car this year when we made our annual trip to Florida during the late winter. It should be quite a trip when everything is green.

The only thing I have to decide is whether or not to ride from Midland, Michigan to North Carolina on my bike or to trailer the bike and then ride the parkway. I rode to Kentucky and back last summer on a Honda Helix. I'm 73 and that was just about too much for me. Riding all the way to North Carolina, then on the parkway and then back to Michigan might be more than I can handle. We shall see. I'm still planning the whole thing. I have to get an AirHawk seat cushion and a back rest first.

Garth Williamson
Midland, Michigan

Do not forget to checkout Cherohala Skyway ( http://www.cherohala.org ). Here is a topography map ( http://www.cherohala.org/images/imagespresskit/cherohalamap2.jpg )

Opalsboy wrote:

Wife and I will spend Second night in Kimball, TN

Is your wife cognizant of the reputation of public bathrooms in the great state of Tennessee?

Who do you think will clean them before she goes in? Yep... the old potty man... that's me. I will try to take water samples and pictures for the record.

BTW Bill, I looked at the suggestion you made for the Cherohala Skyway. I don't know if we will have time to do that AND the tail and still make it to our motel before mamas bed time. Especially if it is raining.
Those two highways do run kinda together, but we need to come out the southern end of one to continue on to motel in Hendersonville NC. We are gonna run out of daylight already I think. Remember, my original intention was to visit the Holocaust memorial in Whitwell. That was set even before I had ever heard of the dragon tail. I want to spend some time at Whitwell before going on. Thanks for the suggestion. Who knows, may change my mind when we get there.

Can someone from the area tell me how long it will take to get from Whitwell to the southern end of the tail. Remember, I am old and on meds. I will not be passing a lot of crotch rocketers. Unless thay are wrapped around a tree already. This must be a relaxing enjoyable trip.

Gary and Debbie,

Have a great trip and a safe one. Will look forward to hearing all about it when you get back. I can't wait for my trip to the Cherohola Skyway and the surrounding area in June. I enjoyed the area as a passenger on a GoldWing. I look forward to riding on my Swing. Talk to you when you get back.

Houston... WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!! Launch of UltraWing test has been posponed until Monday the 16th.

I finally convinced the little woman that with 50% THUNDER STORMS in the forecast we would not have an enjoyable trip. Not just for one day, but for EVERY DAY of the trip to the east coast. We mulled over the idea of taking the car instead of the scoot. Just wasn't going to be the same. We looked at going in reverse order of original schedule. Rain is EVERYWHERE. We looked at going North, South, UP, Down and around. Nothing worked. So we are taking a little delayed launch of the trip. Maybe in those few days the weather will settle down enough for us to try again.
As I told her, we are disappointed. But our house is dry and still has a roof on. People are still suffering all over the east and south part of the US.
We can wait a little while to do this trip right.
TBC

Opalsboy wrote:

Launch of UltraWing test has been posponed until Monday the 16th.

Were you able to postpone the vacation time and other commitments?

My vacation time is very flexible.... good thing about being retired... Deb called her boss at home tonight and moved her vacation out with no problems. Now if the rain will just move out to do its part to help the situation things will work out just fine.

I have spent at least 50 hours making schedules and reservations at motels and ferries.. all have to be scooted over for five days... will keep me busy tomorrow. Launch is still on go, just has a built in hold sequence at t minus 120 hours and counting... or whatever...

I, for one, am really glad that you chose to postpone the trip. I hope a week is enough, but I have my doubts. The La Nina seems to be especially stubborn this year. Change your destination, head for west Texas (they are in a serious drought, maybe you can drag in some much needed moisture?)

Jon

Jon... if we are unable to leave after this delay... I am going to offer to come live with some farmer in a drought area. The problem will be... he will need good flood insurance.

The weather here today at this time is the prettiest day we have had in weeks. But the STORMS are suppose to be here later in the day. Still glad the wife didn't insist we go today. She can be VERY stubborn sometimes.

It is early Monday May 16th. All packed and ready to do. Weather is a lot more promising for the trip. We may see some rain, but the thunder storms are out of the forecast for the entire trip.

I wish I had taken picture of all the gear before loading it up. We have the under seat storage packed. The 53L top box packed and two flexible cloth bags packed.

Prayer for safe trip before shipping out. God is so good.

Will post when I can.

Ride safe - have a great trip!

Gary, Have many great adventures, my friend.

Have reached Tupelo, MS, eaten and resting up for second leg tomorrow. Left Rison at 8 this morning and tied up this afternoon @ 430. 276 miles at 41 MPG. Trike performed great. No problems at all. Weather was dry, cold and windy. Sun popped out three times for almost 15 seconds each time. We saw flood waters in several places in eastern Arkansas and along the Mississippi River in Mississippi. Also near Oxford, MS evidence of the tornado that went through a few weeks ago. Homes leveled and paths through wooded areas. Awful.
Tomorrow we run the Natches Trace. A little over 100 miles of it before ending the day in Kimball. Wednesday will get us to Whitwell to tour the holocaust memorial. I look forward to that as much as any other part of this trip.
Signing off for the evening. More to follow.

Returned home mid afternoon yesterday 5/27. Had one glitch near Tate GA just north of Atlanta. Caused a two day delay getting that repaired, but no big deal. I could talk for a long while how God worked that out for us.

I have a bunch of pictures and videos. I am going through them now to choose which ones to post. Then it will take A WHILE to upload them to the new host site. In the mean time, I hope to rest up enough to tell the story of our trip and some of the good things to see in our great country. Will post as soon as I can muster up the energy. My brain is still in passing mode right now. Just checking in and letting everyone know that the mission has been completed.

Great to be back home.

Welcome home.

Toto, we're not in Kansas any more... Glad to hear you made it home safe.

rest up after your trip , but don't take too long for pics and write up.

Glad your safe and home.

MaxB

Pics and Videos are up and available in my signature. I apologize for the wind noise in some of the videos. My wife and I are not professionals. I seperated the photos from the videos to make it easier to only watch what you want to.

we only took one picture on the return trip after leaving Canton, Ga. Not that there weren't some sites to see, just that we were buggieing to get home.

Trip write up will follow shortly.

This is kinda long but I couldn't figure out how to post it differently... in a few days I will remove it to clear up some room....

Trip to East Coast in May of 2011

Trip started at just after 8 am on May 16th. Had prayer and adventure began. Very cloudy, windy and cold. BUT no rain. We crossed the Mississippi River almost exactly at noon. River was over a mile wide at Helena bridge. Casino on Mississippi side was flooded. We arrived at our motel in Tupelo Mississippi around 5 pm. Later we rode down the highway to find place to eat. Promotions of Elvis everywhere. After a good nights rest we entered the Natchez Trace Parkway. It was a beautiful sun filled morning. Trace was busier than I expected. Lots of commuters using it to get to work early in the morning. But no trucks and speed was pleasant. We rode for about 110 miles on the Trace before turning East towards Kimball, TN for second night. Many pretty scenes along the way.

After spending the night in Kimball, we got up early and drove the 12 miles to Whitwell, TN to visit the Holocaust Memorial at the school. If you haven't heard about that do a Google search for "Paper Clip Project" and read about it. I first heard about it on Netflix about two years ago. I have been to the national memorial in Washington DC and it is very moving, however, the Whitwell memorial, to me, is more special due to the way it was born and came into being. Very moving.

From there we started to the Smokey Mountains. The plan was to get to the Tail of the Dragon and ride it. However, the copilot of the trike made a statement just before we go there that she sure would like to see the Smokies. I tried explaining that we would be in the Smokies for the ride down 129. Not good enough. "I just looked at the map and we are going to be just (holding up her right hand with her thumb and first finger showing only a distance of abut 1 inch) this close to the mountains and I may never get another chance to come here." Well, we slid right on by the sign that indicated highway 129 to the right. Now I knew that the tail was out because that one inch was equivalent to at least three hours in and three hours out. We arrived in the park about an hour and a half later and began seeing the "Smokies". Honestly, I don't regret not doing the tail. I know it has more twists and turns, but I twisted and turned enough. My arms were sore for the next day. But that is not the end of that days adventure. When we began leaving the park out the back side toward North Carolina, I am not sure when we actually left Tennessee and entered North Carolina. We arrived in Cherokee and spent a little while looking around there. Then we got serious about finding our next destination of Hendersonville, NC, a sub-burg of Ashville. Things went well for a long while. At one time we were 40 miles from our motel and it was only 530 in the afternoon. Even allowing for traffic and being unfamiliar with where we were, I figured that we shouldn't be more than a little over an hour from the motel. WRONG. We did a restroom break in a nice little town and I saw two city police officers taking a break as well. I asked them about getting to Hendersonville. "Just follow this highway and it will take you right to it. You will think you are getting to the BOON DOCKS, but you will get there." Sounds pretty safe. We crank it up and start down the road. About an hour later, we reach a place that has a sign that says "Last chance for Gas". I am looking at my gauge and know that even with a full tank I am riding off and very soon will drive off the edge of the earth into oblivion. Memories of "Deliverance" return to my mind and I am getting a little anxious. We pass a little church that is just getting out (Now is it about 8 pm and getting dark). I stop and ask a nice man if the road I am on will take me to Hendersonville. The look on his face answered my question before he opened his mouth to make a sound. "Well, yes, but not really. If I was you, I would turn around go back to (someplace we passed through about 30 minutes earlier). It was at this point that I became the captain of the ship and overrode the pilot in the rear seat that has had eliminated all interstate travel. I tied her arms down and applied duct tape to her mouth and proceeded to to a point that the GPS suggested that would put us on the Interstate. Got to the Interstate and turned south. Now we are making progress, it is just after 930pm and we are only 40 miles from our exit 129b. I am flying down the roadway and when I get to the exit, I take it and the GPS shows that at the end of the exit ramp, I make a u turn that I assume is on a service road. WRONG... it was for a street that is actually one block from the road I am on. BUT because the road I am on is 4 lanes and so close, it just looks like a uturn. Well, anyway the Uturn I make takes me back to the same interstate going, you guess it, in the opposite direction I came from. The nearest exit is 5 miles up the road. I take it and call my nephew and after talking to him he tells me exactly where I am and how to get to the motel. Now, it almost 11 pm. We haven't eaten dinner and guess what. Even the fast food places all shut down at 10. We do find a drive through that has some food. I am too tired and too upset to really enjoy food, but I gulp something down then actually find the motel. Great place to sleep and very nice room. I bet it would have been even better if we had arrived at 5:30 or 6.

Early the next morning, we began the most beautiful 100+ miles I have ever seen in my short 66 years here on earth. We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway on the outskirts of Asheville. Immediately it was like being on a different planet. I am not going to try to describe what it was like. I don't have the words. I know the Trace PWK is nice. But the Blue Ridge is SPECTACULAR. We rode through mountains, under canopies, through tunnels every inch was breath taking. Without a doubt this was the highlight of the whole trip. We met nice people from everywhere at any lookout point we stopped for (and there were many). One problem we had here was that we might have intended to only stop for a minute to take a picture or take in the view. However, without an exception, at least one person and usually more, would come over to the trike and ask about it. The one minute stop would turn into 15. On one occasion, we were passed by a motor home that pulled into a lookout point and the driver flagged me down. He just "HAD" to ask me about the trike. He has a Silverwing that has the Danson kit. We compared notes and moved on. Similar incidents repeated themselves where ever we stopped on the trip. It delayed us quite a bit.

We began the next day bright and early. Traveling on the back roads was interesting. One stop we made was in Macon, NC. My dad's name was Macon and I have heard of Macon, GA. But I think every state has a Macon. We stopped and ate a sandwich in Macon. Very good Philly Steak. Too much for one meal. As we approached the outer banks, the sky became a little threatening looking. It began to rain ever so lightly, so, I decided to pull over and get the rain gear out. After getting back on the road for about a mile. The sun came back out and we finished the trip in the sun. Got to the motel and visited the beach right away.

Spent two nights on Outer Banks in Kill Devil Hill. While there we ate some good food. Visited a light house. Went to Wright Brothers Museum. Met a real nice man that was attracted to the trike. He had just bought a new HD that he had had for only a couple of weeks. Spent a couple of hours with him comparing notes on riding.

On Sunday the 22nd, we left motel early (about 6 am) to ride the 70 miles to catch a free ferry that took us to a pay ferry. The ride on free was about 40 minutes. The pay one lasted over 2 hours. Arrived on Cedar Island NC to drive to Dillon SC. Very flat country after all the mountains we had been on just days before.

Our intentions were to go from Dillon to Savannah GA. But in Dillon, the wife was getting a little home sick (as was I). So, she asked about forgoing the southern route and just heading west back home. I agreed and we set out in that direction. We reached Gainesville, AL early that evening.

Plans were made to get up really early and make it to Tupelo that afternoon and then reach home early Wednesday. We were on the road before 5 am the next morning and things are looking good.

Approximately 2 miles East of Tate, GA on highway 53, as we were assending a very steep hillside. About 100 feet from the crest something snapped, I heard a flutter and we began slowing down. The highway is a very narrow roadway with NO shoulder. There was a line of about 5 vehicles behind us which caused me to worry about how I was going to get out of their way. Now, this is where the good stuff starts to happen. As we lost momentum and began to creep to the top, it was as if God was using His hand to give us that last little nudge to get over the top. Then as we did, I began to consider where to try to land. Less than 50 yards from the top, there was a wide driveway. I coasted into that shady place with an abandoned house complete with porch in case of rain. We had been over 2100 miles and there were a gazillion places in mountains, tunnels, wilderness, out of phone service, but, here we were safe and ready to tackle this challenge. I got my thoughts together and called my good friend back home and asked him to get on his PC and see if there was a repair shop in the area. Soon he called me back and gave me the name and phone number of one less than a mile from where we were located. I called the number he gave me and as I talked to the man, he told me that he actually worked in Atlanta and only did the repair work on the side. While I am talking to him, my friend back home calls my wife’s phone and gives her the name and number of a Honda Dealer in Canton. She begins telling me the new information and the fellow I am talking to is telling me the same thing. I thank the first guy and then call the Honda place. The man that answers the phone asks me, “is your wife with you and did she have a yellow helmet?”… I tell him yes and he says”I know exactly where you are. I passed you on the way to work and thought you might need help, but I was in my pick up and knew I couldn’t help you right then. But I told my boss when I got to work that I was going to go back to check on yall later if someone didn’t call” About 45 minutes later help arrives, we load up in the trailer and head to the shop. When we get there, I, along with everyone else, believe it is the belt. Parts check and there is not a belt in Georgia. They order one for overnight delivery from somewhere. They then take us to a nearby motel. The motel is within walking distance of the dealer. There are several eating places as well. The next morning I go to the dealer about 9:30 to see if the belt came in and the service manager meets me at the door and explains that I have a more serious problem than the belt. The cover over the belt is removed and the belt looks like new. But the mechanic shows me that the hub connected to the front sprocket is spinning without moving the sprocket. The three bolts that bolt the two pieces together have sheared off. Now, I am going into a little panic mode. Here I have a new piece of equiptment that very few people on earth have seen and I am thinking about how far I am from home. After only a few moments, Mike, the mechanic tells me he can fix it if that is what I want them to do. Wait Mike, let me think about this…duuhh... of course, fix it. I can’t push it the nearly 600 miles home. I get out of his way and about 7 hours later, I get on it and drive it back to the motel. It appears there is a problem with the binding of the two pieces because of the ABS pulser ring. Trinity used a recessed bolt with a slot head that backed out just a little and with the stress on the bolts when the pieces separate, they shear. I have made the suggestion to Trinity that they remedy that by using a better setup. Either a bolt that goes through the hub with a nut on the outside or using a bolt with a hexhead instead of a slotted bolt. Either setup would allow better tightening of the bolt. The problem I had is only possible with ABS units.

We got underway before daylight again and this time did ride all the way to Oxford, MS. A couple of things that I want to report on that leg… we had about 15 seconds of rain near Cullman, AL. I talked to the nice owner of the convience store we stopped at to get out of the rain we expected to last longer than that 15 seconds. He told me they had had a real bad storm the night before and that made everyone pretty nervous. I didn’t know why until we drove through Cullman just a couple of minutes later. Storm had gone through there earlier (I guess same system that did so much damage to Tuscaloosa), hundreds of homes were damaged or completely destroyed. The main steet of the city was in the same shape. Construction was going on everywhere. Linesmen were stringing new lines. Tree services were cleaning up downed trees. But life was getting back to normal. It was understandable that folks would be a little extra nervous at the sight of a storm.

That 15 seconds of rain added to the rain we had near the outer banks added up to about a minute. That was all of the rain we had in the 2600+ miles, 12 days trip. We were either just ahead or just behind several periods of rain. Sun shone for 10 ½ days. Cloudy the other 1 ½

We pulled into home driveway about 5:15pm Friday. Great trip. Many things seen. Too many to remember them all, but the arrival back home sure felt good.

Just plan GREAT......Thanks

Gary,
Sounds like a fun trip.

I used to go to Camp Blue Star in Hendersonville N.C. every summer, and I went to college in UNC-Asheville. Always loved that area.
Been on the Blue Ridge Parkway many times.
Too bad you couldn't spare a day in Kingsport TN.
A fellow there would have been happy to put an Audiovox Cruise Control on your Silverwing.

Last time I went through there, there was a farm house with giant lettering on an old weathered sign in front saying (I am not changing the spelling here) "Whorse rides $25". I thought about going to the house to correct his English, but there were two barely teenage girls doing farm chores out front and I didn't feel safe.

Dan

Wow Gary, sounds like you really put the UltraWing through the acid test. Considering how untested it was and how much could've gone wrong, it sounds like it performed admirably. I hope Trinity will take your comments to heart regarding the ABS ring. They should give you a rebate for R&D work!

Thanks Bill... yeah, that trip was an acid test of a lot of things. Me, our marriage, gravity AND the trike.
I am not asking for any rebates or compensation for R&D. I want Trinity to be successful, because they do have a very unique product. I mentioned the interest people had when we came by, stopped at lights or intersections and parked in various places. It is not an exaggeration when I say it took us two extra hours to ride the Blueridge Parkway. Because of onlookers.

Opalsboy wrote:

Mike, the mechanic tells me he can fix it if that is what I want them to do.

Did Mike fix it permanently?

Bill, not sure what "Permanent" is... Mike did use a harder bolt with a hex head that helped torque it down better than with a slot head bolt. Also, he pinged (not sure that is the right word) the head of the bolt and the sprocket with a small punch to add more resistance to the bolt working out again. I feel confident that this is more "Permanent" than before. I am going to do a routine check for loose sprocket for the near future. This trip WAS an "acid test"... lots of miles, loaded, up mountains and round and round curves. All in all, as bad as the sprocket thing sounds, the UltraWing performed well. A few squeaks here and there, but by far more good things to say than bad.

Gary,
It's not real clear to me where the problem was. I understand the result of bolts under pressure breaking, but where were the bolts exactly. Do you have any photos of the failure, what was done, etc. Also, what makes this a problem for "only ABS" conversions?
Thanks,

Jon

Other than that, it seems that you had a very good trip, it had all of the elements of one. You got very little rain, you got a little lost, you saw a lot of very pretty country side, you probably had some pretty good meals and John Grinsel's Tennessee potties didn't strike you down. Congrats.

Jon

With your report and pictures, I may need a bigger bucket for my bucket list. When do we get Deb's report or has she escaped from the duct tape yet? I'd sooner put a bowtie on a wildcat.

You need to update your states visited avatar

Mr. Yo... my bucket list has actually shrunk after this trip. The sky dive is still in, but riding scoot to west coast is not gonna happen. That is just too dang far. It took us two weeks to go East and that is half the distance as the west coast. A month is a long long long time. I just have never put the pencil to the paper to figure that out. So, unless the big earth quake comes soon and brings the west coast to the middle of Oklahoma, we are looking at going to the Grand Canyon next year. That may even happen in the Ford.

BTW... who told you that Debbie has escaped.

Jon, I do not have pictures... but I will try to describe what the deal is. With ABS only, the pulser ring is attached to the hub. The sprocket is attached to the hub. The bolts from hub to sprocket have to be recessed to allow clearance for the pulser ring to be attached. Since there is no pulser ring for Non ABS, they do not have to have the recessed bolts to attach the sprocket to hub. Non recessed would allow a normal bolt and washer to be used to really snug up the two pieces. As I said in my report, Mechanic in Canton used a harder recessed bolt with a hex head instead of the supplied slotted flat head. I will keep a close eye on that area to verify the remedy works. I hope I have described this accurately. I have helped a friend water trees and plants all afternoon and it is HOT HERE TODAY. I would walk out to the shop and see if I have the parts involved in the right order, but you should get the gist. I am assuming that the non abs does not have the pulser ring. It might have some other item that causes a complication for that type of unit. I am just not aware of any.

Bill, I will have to go back and read up on how to update the states. Been too long. BTW.... should I refer to you as Mr Bill or your honor or somethijng royal? I remember you when you were just old Bill.