Exploring North Carolina Back Roads, Again

Thursday, September 15, 2016.  Temps in the 60s with high in low 90s.  Rain, slim to none.  Time to ride.  Pushed Red Bug out of the garage at 7:30 a.m. to meet up at Exxon on Boyds Creek Hwy. for 8:00 a.m.  Late leaving due to rider friend Terry coming up from Lenoir City, TN, about an hour's ride south of us.  I got there early so I could fill up with gas and grab a cup before hitting the road.  Did that, and was about half finished with coffee when Terry rode up.  As I was finishing Paul rode up to top off his tank.  It was going to be a good ride.  KSO at 8:00 a.m.

Compared to earlier rides, it was already daylight for today's ride.

A few miles up Boyds Crk. I started noticing some fog, mostly over the land masses.  Ole Sol is trying to come up indicated by the light pinkish look on the horizon.

Paul, the old man of the group, gassing up his bike before our departure.  Methodical.  He can tell you how many gallons of gas bought, miles per gal., etc., for decades.

Meanwhile, the younger sprouts of this ride are awaiting Obiwan to get us on the road.  Terry's 2016 Harley Davidson and Mr. Red Bug.

Terry said that he had some heavy fog on the way up.  Well, it wasn't quite over as we hit it shortly after taking off.

Vail shrouded sun rise this morning.

Even out on TN 66 you can see the fog streaming onto the highway.

It was pretty heavy over the river but soon cleared as we got nearer the TN 139, our cow trail over to Dandridge and Newport, TN.

All is clear, traffic is very light, and wheels are turning.

This is one of my favorite houses in Dandridge, TN, home of TN's Scotch Irish Festival each year.

Leaving Dandridge we crossed a finger of Lake Douglas.

Later we hit I-40 heading to our turn off point that would take us into North Carolina and some exploring of back roads.

On the interstate we could stretch out the bikes and have a good run to clean them out.  Great riding weather this morning.  Nice and cool.

Power over the mountain, over the water and over us.  Keep us safe, Oh Lord.

Some of the pictures are of roads seen on our last trip to NC.  When trying to get from one point to another in the mountains is rarely a straight lint.

Corn fields past Newport with mountains on the horizon.

Hello North Carolina.  The fun times will soon start (as if they haven't started already).

We ran some great roads today.  Most were nice and wide with some long sweeper curves.  Some were in the hills, some in the valleys and some in the mountains.

Notice the colors of the leaves on the left.  Fall is coming quicker in NC than in TN.

The scenery changes about as fast as the road changes.  Wide open farms to riding through a tunnel of trees to hanging off the side of a mountain, all within just a few miles.

One particular road had a long long stretch of downhill at 9% grade with very little traffic.  Truck speed limit was 35mph.  Bike speed limit was 55mph, I guess.

There are so many churches in NC and TN that if you really mess up it's not too far to go to the services.  And by each church is a cemetery.  Some even fenced.

What's that old saying about Montana was Big Sky Country.  Plenty of Big Sky here and it is very blue.

We wore heavier coats and gloves until almost noon.  And every time you ran into a shady spot or on the off side of the mountain you could certainly tell the difference in the temperature.

Those ridges seen on the side of this knoll are made by cattle grazing and no, they don't have legs on one side shorter than the other.  They just have built up hooves on one side depending on which way they want to graze that day.

Every once in a while you come upon a building that has seen its better days.  This is one of those buildings.

And when you see a mobile home that has become run down, you know things have been bad or you're in the wrong neighborhood.

This shot was taken while riding on Lonesome Mountain Rd.  The Kudzu is taking over and in some places has already done so.

Now if you feel all has failed and you have just gotten tired of everything and every one, jumping off this bridge will definitely be your demise.  There's no water beneath it, just a hard packed asphalt road.  Smack.

Nice rolling hillside crowned with a stand of trees.  Almost like a close cropped Mohawk hair do.

And with a few gallons of red paint left, I decided to paint the barn rather than the house.  Ain't I purty.

Church Services will start promptly at 11:00 a.m. every Sunday.  A pew will be set aside for your attendance. 

Meanwhile back on the rambling road we ride, with the whir of he wind and the sound of tires on the road surface, ride biker ride.

I just love this old house but this time I was too late to take a picture of the building to the right.  I noticed that it is built in an octagon shape.

Yep, the road curved all the way around past that house and cluster of trees in one long sweeping curve.  I just hate those road signs with those curvy arrows on them.

Now here I don't know if the road came first or the barn but if you're not rather steady you will be on the road and wind up in the barn.

Hay rolls scatter about the field.  Farmers are gathering them up and storing them in barns and under sheds.  Winter will be here before long.

One day I'm going to do a whole blog on barns for in this area there are plenty of them and some are very stylish with the way their planking is put on.  Designer stuff.

See what I mean.  This is a barn with a loft.  The building in the picture above is a tobacco barn, built tall so the farmer can hang tobacco in it for curing.

 Nice country lanes, like riding through a tunnel of trees.  Dangerous because many of those curves are blind and sometimes drivers coming in your direction are also.

As the mountains continue, so do the roads.  And our job is to ride each one of them.

Remember that bridge seen earlier?  Well here it is from a better angle.

And right below the bridge on one side of the road is a wood working shop.  My first time going by it I thought it was a building that was falling down and a lot of trash around it.  That trash is wood of varying sizes, widths and ages.

Now how to you suppose they keep the floor level in a building that is built on a slope.  Maybe everyone inside leans like the hillside.

Crossing one of the streams of today.  In fact, it could very well be the same stream as you lose count turning curves and twisting around the mountains and valleys.

And now the day is starting to wane so we must light a shuck and head for the house.  There will be other days and other rides and more discoveries made.

With the temps climbing and whispy clouds in the sky, trees starting to show their Fall colors, nice people in regular places, all of this is taken in to add to the memories of rides of yesteryear.

As we ride a long curved bridge we get one last good look at the sky and the white whispy clouds as we head for the house.  It has been a safe day of riding with Terry and Paul and that's what counts.  The scenery and thrills of riding new roads is secondary.

Door to door for me today was 276 miles of good times.  So until the next Adventure, talk to your neighbor, play with the kids/grandkids/great grandkids, and enjoy some of the simpler stuff life has to offer.  Ride/drive safe.