The Last Cheese Run of 2015

Friend Paul and I decided to make a cheese run down to Philadelphia, TN Saturday to pick up some cheese.  Since there will be a number of out of towners coming in for Christmas I thought this to be a great idea, and besides, an opportunity to get in a little ride.  I left the house at 11:00 a.m. for the meet-up and to gas up Sweet Thang before our 11:30 departure time.  Temp was 42 degrees, high would be 54.  Just as I was about complete with topping off the tank, Paul Rides up.  Called me sissy because I was riding Sweet Thang instead of the new "Naked" bike.  Sweet Thang has a lot of windshield and the Baker Wings on the sides that keep a lot of cold air off your body.  I just replied to him to remove his windshield and he admitted that he was a sissy too.

We pulled out and onto U.S. 411 heading south to Maryville, TN and over to Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson to meet up with Terry for 12:00 noon.  Sky was so blue and the air nice and crisp.  We arrived about 15 minutes early so Paul and I was sitting on the lounge seats near the fireplace drinking HD's coffee and eating a snack bar we brought from the house.  Up walks Terry so we finished up and headed out to the bikes.

We pulled out taking a number of back roads, loop roads and an occasional main road.  Mostly farming country and cattle in this area of rolling hills.

Seems so naked with the leaves all gone and the sun making the trees and their limbs ghostly arms dangling about the highway.

One of the 1 1/2 lane roads traversed along a small stream for a good ways. A little error in judgement or too long of a glance at the scenery could get you a bit damp.

Old grave headstones look grayer in color since the grass is no longer green.  And this cemetery was without a fence too.  I guess the trees are acting as sentinels.  Needs a fence.

It was such a pretty day and with few to no clouds in the sky, the blue just seemed to go on forever.










The highway here is almost half as high as the barn.  Know what the part of the roof sticking out is called?  It's usually referred to as a Crow's Beak.  Usually a pulley is installed and hay or feed is hoisted up and pulled into the barn loft from that position.






Curvy roads, narrow roads, and when you're on one like this and it has a sign that shows the road is going to get narrower, makes you wonder what the reason was to do so.  Well, here it means there's a culvert bridge and there won't be any shoulder to the roadway.  Heck, there's no shoulder anyway.

After about an hour or so we arrived at Sweetwater Farms.  Cheese, about 20 plus varieties.  Mild, sharp, pepper, and hotter pepper.  Some plain, some smoked.  And an aroma of barnyard about the outdoor part too.



We normally buy the end-cuts.  They are where the blocks are trimmed up and then put in bags.  You get more for your money, they just aren't in block forms.  My milk and crackers doesn't know the difference, maybe with a dab of pepper jelly.




With our purchases placed in the saddlebags, we mount our trusty steeds for a rambling return trip.  Here's Terry on "Ole Silver" pulling away from Sweetwater Farms.







We run down the highway a short distance and then head off on some more backroads.  Paul leading, Terry and I'm the tail of this parade.

I just love the geometric designs the tree limbs make especially with their dark gray bark and the bright blue sky for the backdrop.

Over hill, over dales, across the way we ride like the 6,000.  Or something like that.  With the weather as it was, who cares about anything but listening to the pipes and watching the scenery.

We pulled up to an intersection and to the right was this old farmstead with its rustic out buildings.

Ahead of me at the intersection was Paul on the left and Terry on the right waiting patiently for that car to decide if it was going to turn left or go straight.  It finally turned.  Was a local license place so must have been on lunar cruise mode today.

Riding through the arches.  No, not really but the tree limbs grow so that it looks as if the roadway is covered by an arch.  When the leaves are out it really looks like an archway.








This is a beautiful old farm with a house that is quite large.  Wonder how many was in that family.  With the amount of land it was probably a sizeable number of kids to help with the plowing, milking, etc.

Off on another turn we we departed from Terry as he was headed west back to his home.  Sun was getting a little lower in the sky by this time and when you rode into the shade you could feel the temperature drop a few degrees.

The road and the small stream ran side by side for a few miles and with the small waterfalls I wished we had been riding in the opposite direction to capture them on film.  Or at least on a disc.

Looking back behind you can see the small drop-offs making the water cascade down as little waterfalls.







Getting closer to the house we get to see the grayish-blue of the mountains off in the distance and housing developments in the foreground.

This is The Univ. of Tenn.'s Agriculture Department's experimentation farm.  A very nice piece of land, quite large and used in developing new faster more productive agricultural crops.  Or sometime they just try to improve what is already out there.  

Across from the U.T. Farm is a river used for some fishing but a lot for summer swimming/picnics.

This very large older home sits on a very nice piece of pasture land used by their horses.  They are far enough off the highway that car noises do not bother them.  People or horses.

This would be referred to as a gap in the mountain, that low place sort of in the middle of the picture.  It does not mean it is easy to cross, just that it is lower than the rest of the area.








Old farm building almost blending in with its surroundings next to a row of Cedar Trees that seem to run toward the mountains.  A celestial sight for sure.  No noise here except that of our engines.  Peace and quiet.  Country living at its best.

One last farmstead on today's ride.  Next stop, Highland Park Drive.  It has been a very pleasant day for a ride especially knowing that most of next week has rain predicted.  The temperatures were just right, the fellow riders very nice guys, and the end results of having fun and picking up some cheese was just the whipped cream on top.



The total ride for today was 132 miles door to door.  Not a long ride by any means, but a nice ride.  Met some nice folks at Sweetwater Farms, saw some very nice scenery and enjoyed the company of my two fellow riders.  All in all, a darn good day.

So until the next Valkyrie Adventure, here's wishing each of you and yours a Very Merry Christmas.  If traveling to family or friends, be safe and stay alert.  And be very thankful you're in a country that allows the freedoms we have.  Merry Christmas to all.