Well, I have started my homework on the  inner workings of the Tennessee law enforcement branches and the local culture.

They have this special training available through the internet now.

It  is a two year program of four semesters each to get you completely current on the culture and the inner workings of Tennessee, but you can do the sessions as quick as you want to because you're on the internet.

No, before you go to traffic school they have to give you a real ticket.   Warnings don't count.

Well, I am very disappointed in my training course after only watching 2 episodes.   I have discovered my actual instructor Mr. Olyphant is a Hawaii born California raised surfer boy and my training materials are actually all shot in rural California rather than in Tennessee, not in Lexington and Harlan county as advertised.

I began to get suspicious in the very first training episode when Mr. O showed a man get shot dead center of his breastbone at short range with a .45 colt and the man didn't die and his spine wasn't impaired in any way (in short, he lived and walked again).   That ain't real, not in Tennessee anyway.  

As we all know, this can only happen in California, where Gov. Arnold S. had mandated the use of Joslyn Elders "Kinder and Gentler" bullets.

So, I now know what the Califoricators would like to think folks in Tennessee are like.

Actually, my training materials were so bad that in the first season the folks from Harlan county actually invited the cast and producers to actually come to Harlan county and tour it and review the local history by talking to the actual people so they could portray it better.

And they did.   Season 2 got somewhat better for tone and historical accuracy.   The white supremacy Nazi skin heads thing got moderated somewhat but the drug making, moon-shining and coal company mountain raping shenanigans continued as they were all "real enough".

Training, you gotta love it.

"Immersion method of learning Tennessee."


What does that involve?   Going skinny dipping in a big ol' vat of Jack Daniels?





.... and what are the odds of me living in a place with the default statewide speed limit set at 45 mph ???

For the next point, we have to kinda sorta agree on a number or two up front.

And this is for everybody to chip in upon and it counts for all the 10 years we have been doing this mountain trip thing, all summed up together.

How many North Carolina local cops or highway patrol or Sheriff's Deputees have we ever seen busting people's chops while we were tooling around in NC?    Remember, up at the Dragon was TN troopers & Sheriffs, not NC troopers.

Scratch your memory and come up with a number.


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Next number, let's make this one relative to the posted speed limits to accommodate all them various road surface conditions we have ever played upon.

How many MPH over the posted whatever do we generally go safely and in confidence while riding in NC?


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Once we have these numbers we can use them at various times for comparison purposes while trip planning.

So Lancer, how many cops/sheriffs have we seen in NC running speed traps or issuing tickets right and left?

Add them up on your fingers for all the 10 years we've been going, how many?

The THP boy done told me this was my one and only warning, that I was flagged in Tennessee such that if they every saw my plate again they would be looking to finish the job up on me.

Now it was a speed trap set up all the way -- the Highway Patrol officer who gave me the warning was less than 2 miles up the road from the hidden in a cut away Sheriff's Deputy that was supposed to give me the coup de grace BIG TICKET.

The gimmick on the first trap (warning) was that there was a 35 mph section of the Dragon that broke free into the straight road.  Since there was no change in signage, the 35 mph on the previous curvy road sign still ruled (Tennessee rules).  

I was clocked at 50 on the straight road section that in NC would have been 55 mph by default (no speed limit sign in view).   In NC the curvy road speed limit only applies to the curvy road section, the default 55 covers all other sections unless posted otherwise.

The long straight away speed trap section was ALL still 35 mph in Tennessee's rules because of the last previous speed limit sign.  The Sheriff's deputy down the road was supposed to catch me going over 35 after JUST being warned, then slap the big big ticket on me.

Yes, I got lucky on the second speed trap because I read a little satisfaction in the body language of the THP boy, such that I was suspicious and was looking for the rest of the screw job his attitude had implied.   The other boy was in a cut out on a long gentle curve that would have been 55 minimum in NC.   I was going 35 and waved at him as I went by.    

The fock of it all was that the default general speed limit in Tennessee is only 45 which is just a little bit  too slow for 5th gear on a Savage.  

I still would have gotten the warning ..... or the ticket.   All my NC road habits are death up in Tennessee.

So, I will stay on the marked interstates in Tennessee where the local mounties generally act fairly reasonable if you keep to the posted speed limit.

BTW you can pull a trailer to 75mph in Tennessee on an interstate if the wheels carry that rating or higher.    Mine do.   (yes, I checked)

I still feel a little uncertain about hauling guns through Tennessee, since they apparently like to confiscate things and not return them.   Apparently the local cops think anything they can confiscate belongs to them now .....

Okay,  I didn't mean to stress you.   just kick your slippers off and count them on your toes.

This little piggy was at the market .....

This little piggy was near home ....

This  little piggy was by Arby's roast beef ....

But  that little piggy got none ....

And  all the little piggies went wee wee wee all the way home.