After the HOG Rolling Rally: History in the Hills was complete the second half of our motorcycle vacation started. Debbie and I were going to go south of New Orleans to visit her sister for a few days and then head home via the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The intent was to “blast” our way south in order to maximize the amount of time we could visit with her sister. “Blasting south” meant interstate highways, hot concreate on hot days, drinking lots of water (which means lots of bio-breaks LOL).
The compensating sprocket under the front sprocket.
The first leg of the ride we stopped for the evening to visit in-laws in Alabama. The next morning back on the highway, but something was not quite right with the bike. We made it to Tuscaloosa and pulled into T-Town Harley Davison. The service tech took only seconds to state that the compensating sprocket was loose and the bike went straight into the shop.
I am not sure what it does but if your compensating sprocket does not compensate then your transmission is having issues.
I have to give the team at T-Town a lot of praise. Knowing we were on a long trip they took us to the head of the service line. Worked with us on the cost (gaskets & transmission fluid) and had us on the road in about three hours (a chunk of which was the bike cooling down so they could work on it). Debbie and I felt that they really cared about making sure we could get back on the road as soon as possible!
Can’t go to New Orleans without one of these pictures.
By the time we did get back on the road it was nearly 100F degrees and high 90s in humidity! Once on the interstate it was quickly apparent that that the concrete was hotter than the ambient temperature, it had to be well over 100F. This was where we figured out when it was time to call it a day. At a certain point in this heat we would begin to verbally snipe at each other. When we started to argue about where do you what to eat, where do you want to stop, where do you want to sleep it was time for a cool room and long shower!
The rest of the ride to New Orleans was really uneventful. We had a good time with Mark and Vicky, got to see a bunch of the local area including Alligators in the wild and a fishing trip/boat ride into the Gulf of Mexico. Mark is a fishing guide and runs Hunting Red Fishing Charters, if you are into fishing check out what he has to offer
Too soon it was time to begin the trip back to Virginia. My next post will be about our ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
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- We stopped at an Indian dealership to look around and cool off.
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- The superdome in New Orleans
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- Jackson Square.
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- Had to stop by and visit…right?
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- We visited the Tabasco facility, very neat tour.
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- Out looking for ‘gators.
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 
Glad you got back on the road so soon.
Those Harley compensator nuts really bug me! Every Harley I’ve ever owned has needed the thing tightening up at sometime – including my 2015 Ultra Limited which with 12000 miles on the clock has just had the job done under warranty! When oh when will H-D sort this problem out?
Top marks for the dealership fixing your bike so quickly, I guess that they get lots of practice on those compensators! 😂
Great holiday photos as well.
Thanks for reading! For two years in a row now our summer trips have had breakdown issues on the new 2014 Ultra. Not to happy about that.
I’ve had that happen twice! When mine was fixed the first time they didn’t torque it down properly. Safe riding!
Love following your adventures, the photos, and you’re such a cute couple it’s almost like riding with you.
I’m from the UK and a Harley rider, my dream is to ride a Harley through the USA, probably route 66, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading!!!! Some of your country men just did US Route 50 coast to coast. You can check out their trip on facebook …. https://www.facebook.com/Ride50at50/