Came across this old ride report so wanted to share. Was my favorite thing to do years ago when I could. My bike for travel was a '95 BMW R11GS.
RETURN TO SHILO
The best rally by a dam site
1997
is a rally by the very noisy Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee River just south of Savanna, TN. The noise coming from tugs signaling to go thru and the dam saying "Go for It".
So we have quite a few horns going off most of the time. Couse, earplugs take care of that.
An annual event by the RAMS BMW club from Memphis, TN. Guess I'll have to look up what RAMS stand for. Rider's Association of the Mid South I beleive. Close enuff. I've been
told a dozen times and forgot a dozen and one times. I personally think they need to simplify the name of their club. Like Memphis BMW Riders or something simple for people like me. Anyway, the area is saturated with Civil
War History. The reason for the rally being named "Return To Shilo" I'd guess. Bet it's a close guess. Well let get on the road and get there.
9-3-97 4:AM Roll out time. Gypsy's full of gas and fresh oil and filter in her. We'll wait on the gear oils and valve adjustments when I get back. We're not really pushing
the window on them at this time. Tires on the down side of 3/4 s worn to the point where I will change them out. So it's rock and roll time. Hook up the speakers in the helmet, plug in the radio, tune to a station and
get on down the I-10 eastbound path. Not in a particular rush so holding at 70 mph. The air is cool with misty sections seen about the country side. The cities pass by in silence. Crowley, Rayne, Lafayette, Baton Rouge. No
fuss, no hassle, not even a lot of people stirring around yet. It's usually like this in the early A.M. I-55 comes up and we lean into it headed Northbound. These sections of road are like a ribbon laid out thru the forest.
Can't see to either side most of the time. Just ahead. Just road. Occasional billboads to let you know what lays ahead. Other than that, daydream, drift, play with the new radio set-up.
We run, Gypsy and I, eating up the miles and hunting stations on the little portable radio. Finding some here and there. A bit noisy, so have the volume turned almost all the way up.
The earphones are tucked up into the helmet ear recesses. Didn't try the tape player part of it. May-be next time. May-be need a larger radio/cassette player with digital tuning and a search mode. Helps the time go by
when there's nothing but trees and road before you. Not much traffic even thought it's Friday.
Thru Jackson, Miss. and we elect to get on the Natches Trace for a change of venue. It's our road now till get off time for Pickwick Dam. Not much doing on the Trace. Traffic very
sparce and I don't need to stop for the Historic Markers as I've seen them all from other runs on this section. Still need to run from Jackson to Natches and I've got this thing whipped. Soon we reach our get off
point and head straight North to the Tennessee border and the dam. Pulling in we see lots of tents and people. Seems like more that last year to me. Roll on toward the check-in area just checking the people out and waving
and them checking me out and waving back. Pulling in I see my old friend Paul from Memphis who is the Rally Chairperson. We yell at each other and he comes over as I pull up to a stop. We shake hands and hug each other like
long lost bros. (The same Paul Rhodes mentioned in the Wilderness Rally Page).
Soon as the others of our little group hear me they come and it's more shaking hands and back slapping. These are a bunch of fine people and we have a really great friendship together,
even thought we only see each other about 2 or 3 times a year. Them being in Memphis and me being in Jennings, La. helps keep it that way. So we do coffee and I see a few other people I know from past rallies and walk over
to talk to them. Some from Louisiana, Arkansas, Tenn. and all the surrounding states. Finally break away with the excuse that I've got to set up camp.
I pitched my tent in just about the same place I did last year. Only takes about 20 minutes to do it all. Tent, ground clothe, thermorest, sleeping bag, lantern, off with the luggage
and place it all about the outside of the tent or inside. Depending on what it is. Swap to tennis shoes and yell at a few other people I've seen before. Lyle Grimes from New Orleans is there. Retired and a very hi milage
rider. We talk for a bit and I question his R1100R BMW. Not quite two years old and 100,000 + miles on it already with few problems as in replaced headgaskets and transmission. Heck, Gypsy's 2 and a 1/2 and just 40,000
on her.
Camping amonst the pines of Pickwick Dam Park.
The rest of day was spent just meeting people, checking out the bikes to see if anybody had any modifications that I might want to incorporated myself. Can't ever tell what you'll
see at a rally. Had a band playing tonite. Really good group, songs from the 70's, 80's, folk stuff, country stuff, a bit for everybody. Not anybody dancing, just sitting back and listening, drinking what ever, quite
little chit-chat groups here and there. Bands a bit loud real close so every body move out a bit so we can hear ourselves talk. Bed time comes early and I go out like a rock, not to awaken till 6:ish AM.
10/4/97 Saturday > Next day, it's coffee, pancakes (from some of my buds in the RAMS) and conversation. We wash up the kitchen stuff and about 9:AM it's off on one of the
two road trips that have been mapped out. Really neat map format that Mike Pandolf has put forth. Even with several questions to answer on the sheet which we turn in at the end of the ride. A sheet is drawn and if the sheet
has all the answers correct, he gets the money from the $1 a sheet kitty. Like one of the questions was "What is the name of the Ferry your own". This answer you get as your crossing the Tennessee River on a little
ferry. All part of the mapped out trip Mike put together. Really neat.
Then it was to the Shilo Nat'l Battleground Park. A real eye-opener. The guns laid out as was in the battle with signs telling you who, where and what about the battle. Signs telling
what infantry unit was were and what time. A person can just sit back and vision the guns and fighting and men dying. Real face to face stuff. Oh well, won't ponder on this much, but this is a great and large park and
a must if you're in the area.
After that it was backroading it a bit to find some lonesome, curvy roads to play on. Did find them off the beaten trail on unmarked little county roads without center lines or speedlimit
cautions we usually see coming into curves. In these situations, we run what is called a late appex at reduced speed. Gotta see what the corners gonna offer you and make sure it's clean before you go for it. Best to go
in slow and come out fast rather than go in fast and not come out at all. 'Nuff 'bout riding techenics. Stopped at a little country store for gas and food. I'm not into fancy eateries. In fact, very at home in
little backroad general stores or cafe's. Talking to a young man in the store about the local roads had me draging the Tennessee Road map into the store with me and having some really nice roads highlighted out. They were
very vacant and very neat.
Getting time to get back to the campsite, so we motored on so we could be there for the afternoon evens. They are usually fun to watch. Ones for this year were the:
"Roping toilet bowel with a roll of toilet paper" where the driver runs as slow as they can about 3 feet from the comodes (comode seats on plastic buckets) while the passenger
trys to rope 4 buckets. A dab with a foot or running out of the marked boundry lines ends your chance. The team with the most 'buckets' wins.
"Slow race" is precisely that. Who can reach the finish line last without dabbing or running out of bounds"
"Baloon toss" is a rider/passenger thing with them running under an elevated bar and the passenger tossing a baloon filled with water over the bar and catching it as they
proceed past the bar. It's amazing where the baloon ends up at times.
"Egg toss" is done without bikes. Just two people tossing a raw egg to each other and backing up futher and futher untill one teams egg remains unbroken.
Next on the list was the awards which were given out for things like "Oldest rider, male & female; Longest distance from home, both sexes; Oldest bike driven to rally; etc.
The mind blower was the "People's Choise Award" which the riders entering thier bikes roll them into a roped off area and the rest of us vote on our choise of the bike we liked the best. There were a few real
fine older bikes which were highly detailed and I even voted for one of them. But, the one that won was a rat bike. A non-washed, greasy, old clear plastic fuel tank, old army ammo cans for saddlebags, just generally trashy
bike. Even smoked a bit when running which fit the theme along with the loose baffles in the mufflers. Man, the other guys with bikes entered in the show couldn't believe it. Thought it was kinda cute myself. They say
function before form sometimes.
After this and all the prizes were given away they was another band. It was ok but not as good as the one last nite in my opinion. So it was to the campsite to get all things ready for
a quick getaway in the morning. Then, retiring to bed to read abit. Did all out "Good-byes and see ya at Arkansas or see ya down the road bits".
10-5-97 Sunday > Up and packed out by 7:AM. Daylight bearly. Did a little coffee and told a few more "Later dudes". Figured I'd do breakfast a couple hours down the
road. So we took off headed toward the Mississippi river. I wanted to run down the river roads today. Mostly followed Miss. SR1 and US 61 down to Natches where we crossed the Mississippi into Louisiana. Then down SR15, 417,
419, and 105 to US 190.
So far this route has let me see many fields of cotton. Some fields were so full that it looked like snow. Past several fields with people working at picking it up also. And many large
bales of cotton by the edge of some fields. Really is a sight to see. I even got down and fondled some of it. Hadn't done that in a long time. Started to bring a bowel or two home to the wife as a joke. But, on the other
hand, since she use to have to miss school to pick cotton in grade school, she most probably would not have been impressed one bit. But riding the levee road , some gavel, mostly pavement, is a trip. The Plantation homes are
here and there, the old shacks where the workers stay are still around. In general the country side is very clean, neat little camping communities near the oxbows (these were once channel of the river and when a part of the
river became sand/silted up, the river choose a different path leaveing these as little lakes). Life is slow back here. No body seems to be in a big hurry to go nowhere. I like it on the backroads of the USA.
The other outstanding thing were the flood control gates at 3 Rivers and Morganza. These are some really big gates for controlling water when the Mississippi floods and to keep the river
flowing to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The river has been trying to go back down the Atchafalaya River for years now. But if they let it do that, it would be the end of the shipping in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Another
case of man against nature. Some day nature will win. Heck the whole coastal plain was built like that, the water shifting from river to river, the path of least resistance from the silt it was dumping. Now the Louisiana coast
is eating away from central La. to Tex. cause it doesn't have this feed anymore. Well! We're though with that.
I had intended to cross the ferry at Melville, La. on La 10 but once I got there, found out it was closed on weekends. Were not any signs saying anything about ferry runtimes till you
get there. Heck, only runs for 3 hrs in the AM and 3 hrs in the PM. All this running back in this part of Louiaiana is gravel roads, some of it loose stuff. So if you're ever back there, pay attention. Did see a guy with
a road map out when I got off the gravel and back to pave. He was thinking the same thing so I saved him a round trip on 13 miles on loose gravel. Good deed for the day. He was on a Honda Ace crusier. Took my hat off to him
for being back on these roads. Don't see many crusier riders doing that. Classified him as a Rider and not a Biker right away. Well, it started getting dark on me so it was time to quit playing around. Stopped at the next
service station I saw for a top off of fuel. Dude running the place was in the side building with others eating crawfish and drinking beer. Asked if I wanted to join, declined. Still had a good 80+ miles to home. So after
finally getting on US 190, we just burned it in to Jennings via I-49 and I-10. The end of a 726 miles day. Enuff don't you think?
