Between Nashville and Knoxville, TN a plateau runs in a northeasterly direction. Out west they would call it a mesa but it would not have as many trees as there are in East TN. This plateau keeps the area between Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains shielded from a lot of the really bad weather. The weather, coming out of the southwest, hits the plateau and goes up along the plateau towards the Bristol, TN/VA area. Knoxville eastward to the mountains is more like a valley with a few high bumps in it. The plateau is a very pretty area and it does have some mountainous portions.
Our Valkyrie Adventure of Saturday, April 5, 2015 started out early. I pulled out of the drive at 7:00 a.m. to grab a quick breakfast at one of the two meet-up places on this journey. White Star Market is a convenience store about 2 miles from the house and has a large drive area which lets you see up and down Boyds Creek Highway very easy. It also has a pretty good breakfast and good coffee, so I partook of these this crisp morning. Temp was 45 warming up to high 60s by afternoon. Now that was the temp story for my area. However, I forgot that we were going to ride south, then west, then northwest and climb in elevation which will make it "cooler". Duh!!! I was dressed rather lightly for this excursion as I later found out.
Biker buddy Paul met biker Henry a few miles north of my house at 8 and then they met up with me shortly afterward. I just fell in behind them so they didn't have to stop. The first leg of the trip would take us down US 411 from Seymour to Maryville, TN. A nice two lane highway through farming country and rolling hills with one three mile section that had 11 curves. Paul had met Henry over the internet and invited him along for the ride. Henry is in the same age group as Paul and I along with the next rider we were to pick up near Lenoir City.
This is one of the older homes as you enter Maryville. It is a decent size college town which is the home of Maryville College, a Presbyterian related learning establishment. There are some very fine old homes in this town and the downtown area has been re-vitalized making it quaint.
As you can see on the right of the highway, the Redbuds are in full bloom and seem heavier in bloom this year than any time in the past. Maybe it was because of all the very cold weather we experienced this year. That little box thing sticking out ahead of the mirror is a GoPro Camera and if you go onto YouTube you can find some of the same rides posted there. If you do you can feel like you're swinging the curves along with me.
Paul, Henry and I met up with TerrE just out of Lenoir City for a meet and greet occasion and then took off heading west on US 321. Many of the roads on today's ride were bigger highways with long sweeping curves and rolling hills. Here we're crossing the end waters of Fort Loudon Lake.
This is the route of today's ride. Sort of an elongated figure 8 as we did ride a piece of the same highway up and back. After Lenoir City we turned off US 321 and ran back roads around until we caught TN 27. This started us in a northwesterly direction toward our highpoint of the trip, Jamestown, TN.
Along our route the trees and shrubs were blooming at max rate. Big high puffy clouds are leftovers from Friday night/early Saturday morning rain. Roads were pretty much dry in most places.
The rains sure muddied up the rivers and streams along the way. That old red clay taints the water a rusty brown or reddish brown depending on how much rain and how much red dirt is in the area.
As I said earlier, the roads for today are wider and smoother than most of our rides. Nice long sweeping curves, a.k.a., sweepers, let you run at normal highway speeds without having to slow down for sharp curves.
Now you can't ask for much more of a scenic picture than this. And scientist want you to believe a big bang cause sites such as this. Phooey. It was a big bang but molded by the hand of the Almighty.
If someone was handing out Bradford Pear trees, somebody from East TN was in line and bought a whole train load of them. They're everywhere, they're everywhere.
One of our first points of the trip was to get to Clarkrange, TN. We would be riding TN 62 into it and just outside of Clarksange we would turn onto TN 85. Now it doesn't look like much when you first get on it but later you would be kissing your rear end on the switchback curves coming down the mountain.
It appears the ground is kissing the sky but it really isn't. Just imagine this view when all the trees have leaves. A forest of green against a bright blue sky.
As the sign indicates, the long sweeping curves have shortened up a bit to some sweepers and some kinks in the highway. Your safety guard from running off the highway is a sturdy hardwood tree of some species. Nontheless, you will come to a very traumatic stop or at least your bike will. Just love those squiggly yellow and black signs.
As mentioned earlier, this smooth nice wide pleasant highway will later become a bear out to get you. Looks like a highway to the sky from this angle.
There are some very large farms on the plateau mainly because the land is more level, somewhat different in other areas east of here.
I'm always amazed at what you can see while riding along a highway. Since you're out in the open you get a much better view of everything than you would riding in an automobile or a vehicle with a cab. This scenic view is a "lawn mower graveyard". What you're seeing is only part of what was parked around that house.
The ride has now turned into the mountains known as Clarkrange. The senses have spooled up a couple of notches as you prepare for handling the curves, watching for loose material on the road surface and changing gears whenever necessary. Aah, the thrill of the ride.
Paul, the old man of the group, is in front on the White Rat scooter, Henry on a 650cc BMW that he bought from a friend in CA and rode it back to East TN, then TerrE on his Indian Chieftan. I'm pulling drag on Sweet Thang.
The road changed often and the scenic qualities also. Practically zero traffic on this road today, how marvelous.
Another one of those places that needs to be fenced. People are just dying to get into that place. I know, bad joke. But true.
Lush valleys and mountains as a back drop makes for a nice artist's paint pallet. Blues of the sky, white and some gray for clouds, grayish tan or taupe for the mountains and shades of green for the pasture lands. Now you've had your painting lesson for the day.
Just change the position, change the colors and you've got a whole new scene trapped in your camera.
I like to look at the various strata in the rock cuts along the highway. You can see the various layers of dirt and rock that time has built up, some thick and some thin. A lot of material was moved to make this highway but not as much as I've seen in some areas. You can even see the drill marks made to place the explosives in some places. In others it's just drilling to make the rock crumble into smaller pieces to be hauled off.
By now we're getting close to Jamestown, the high point of our trip. This old building has seen a lot during its time but time is leaving it behind along with some clutter. After a quick burger stop and facility use we turned back southward heading for Wartburg. In this general area is where we rode on the same highway when we went north.
A few more miles of mountains and we arrived in Wartburg.
The courthouse in Wartburg. It is a pretty little town, very clean and well maintained. It has a lot of patriots in the area and recently built a memorial to those that have and are serving in the military from this area.
A few miles south of Wartburg the road crosses the top of Potters Falls. We stopped here for Henry to see them as he had never been in this area before. This same stop is where I took the "million dollar shot" of Sweet Thang taking a short rest.
My cohorts are L-R: TerrE, Henry, and Paul. I called them "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Let them decide who is which one.
TerrE split off at Oak Ridge, home of the Manhattan Project of World War II to gas up and head south back to Lenoir City. Henry later peeled off to take I-40 back up to Dandridge, TN where he lives and Paul and I kept rolling on I-140 better known as the Pellissippi Parkway. Redbud trees and Daffodils a plenty.
I just love those Redbud trees.
About 15 more miles and we would be back in Seymour. Where this highway ends we take back roads to Seymour. It was a little cool until after lunch when it warmed up a bit. That 10 mph wind didn't help much either and then riding along with that you could definitely feel the change in temperature when you got off the plateau.
It was a beautiful Easter Eve and we spent it doing a nice ride with lots of scenery and scenic views. Camaraderie was great, no mechanical issues, no dents, ditches or dangerous situations and all fun. Priceless again. Mileage ridden today, 234 miles door to door.
Until the next adventure, I wish you all a time to enjoy life, experience new things and travel to new places. Along the way renew old friendships. Life if short so enjoy it. Let the little things go away and concentrate of Faith, Family and Fun.
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