Seymour to Dunlap, TN and Back

Old riding buddie and I connected Friday night to line up our Saturday ride.  No rain forecasted, which was good since it was going to be a long ride that day.  We agreed to meet up at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning at Weigle's, corner of Boyds Creek Hwy. and Chapman (US 441).  Temps were in mid 60s with a high in the mid 80s for the day.  We topped off our tanks and headed out.  I got there earlier, gassed up and had a coffee before Paul arrived.

Very shortly after 8:00 a.m. we rode off toward Maryville which is down US 411 on to Vonore for our first stop, a short breakfast.  The farm scenery down this was was exceptional this morning with a strong aroma of fresh hay cut and rolled.

Heading to Maryville and beyond on US 411 South.

Lots of hay fields down this highway and seems most are either cut and rolled or cut or about to be cut.  Either way, the air was filled with the aroma of fresh grass.

The route looked something like this but include in there several side roads and one nice gravel stretch that turned out to have a fantastic view.

South of Maryville heading toward Vonore.

We pulled into one of our regular meal places (they have nice coupons) for a quick breakfast.  After eating we walked out and was getting ready to ride again when this drove up.  An elderly couple got out and I had to ask him the model year.  It is a 1934 Ford 5 Window Coupe.






My father had a 1933 model.  The 1933, 1934 and 1935 all look alike.  This one, however, had a 351 Windsor Ford engine, Ford Auto trans and Ford rear end.  A very sweet machine.  The owner built it himself along, I'm sure, with a couple of friends.

Shortly below Vonore we turned West onto TN 72 for a short way and then onto a more scenic route.  A very pretty setting for an older church.

Further on was this Saltbox style small barn.  If you study up on barns you will find many different styles and shapes due to ethnic heritage and climates.

Some more hay ready for the shed.

And that tan streak in the center of the picture is grass on the ground.  They will "tether" (fluff) it and then later bale in square bales (which are really rectangular) or rolls.

Lots of rolling hills along with old barns and old houses.  Good old farm country.

The scenery is ever changing, hills to valleys to hills to row crop fields to hay fields to pasture land, etc.  And in between a lot of hardwood trees.  And let's not forget that big blue sky.

Did I mention that there are a lot of Red Barns in East TN?  If not, there are a lot of Red Barns here.

The big house on the hill.  Apparently not to bad off as that's a very large travel trailer in the back yard and a big late model dually pick-up.  Poor fellow, probably cries at night (thinking of how to pay all that off).

Well, the road changed again with this one considered a one and a half laner.  It is rather cool riding in the shade of a canopy of trees.

And this one has some nice sweeper curves too.

Whoa!!!!  Thought I had ridden up to the front of a relative but then figured really quick that I didn't have a relative that could have afforded all that stuff.

Rolling hills.  Sounds sort of like a Golf Course or maybe a swanky subdivision.  But no, it's just the terrain of the area.

Darned telephone line.  I would have had to stop and lay down on the road to shoot this without it in the picture.  Looks like a giant grub worm crawling across the field.  But it isn't.  It is a number of plastic covered rolls of hay all stacked together.  And me lying in the road would have been one very large "roadkill".

Meanwhile, on down the road we go and this one is a main highway with well marked lanes and even an emergency shoulder.

A bit later we are crossing the TN River on the new bridge.

Back to the small roads and the coolness of the shade.  Motors purring and wheels rolling.  The other sound is the wind whistling by your helmet.

It too, had some nice curves.  The guardrails in most of this state seems to be earthen rock or strong hardwood trees.  Saves a lot of money this way.









Climb, climb, climb up, up, up and finally you think you're at the top, but no, not yet.

So you climb some more weaving your way around the mountain.

And finally you reach the top which is now the Plateau.

And up on the top there is also a slough or bog on each side of the road.

The views start changing as you can see looking down this power line right of way, far off in the distance are the mountains on the other side of the valley.

Up here the farms seem to be considerably larger, some of the buildings older and are much greener.

We are in more into horse country now.  Large horse farms, no dairy barns in sight that we have just ridden from.

Big Sky Country and we're not even close to Montana.  And even larger fields of grass.

I bet up here you could hear owls talking to each other at night, maybe even a night bird or two calling.  And any lights would be way way off in the valley below.  But lots and lots of stars on a cloudless night.

We even rode pass a Tennessee Dude Ranch.  Paul and I wondered if they furnished the horses or did you have to bring your own.

A very fine Palomino grazing in the pasture.

From here you can really see the haze on the mountains.  Sort of looking into the sun too.

The far off mountains show some geological strata as well.

We continue riding the rolling country side heading for the valley below.

One of the roads we turned onto actually turned out to be a stretch of gravel.

At the top of the rise was one of the most scenic views of the entire trip.

We were on top of the Plateau at its western edge and down below was part of the Sequatchie Valley.  We stopped to take a pic or two.  Here's biker friend Paul with the two bikes.

After the pics the gravel soon ran out and we were back on a small asphalt road continuing onward to the valley below.

There are some very large houses up here and a long way from the bread store.

We came upon one of Paul's relatives.  I say it's Paul's because I know it's not one of my relatives.  Alert, but no Hee Haw.

And of all places, settled in this quiet beautiful countryside is another one of those Government Missile sites.  Just can't seem to get away from them.  I thought they were mainly located out west.

Roller-coastering toward the valley we go, Hi Ho, Hi Ho.

Then we reached the bottom.  And noticeably the temperature felt somewhat warmer.

More hay fields.  Hmmm.  I didn't see nary a hayseed either.

The scenery is very relaxing and with all of the frequent rains, every thing was green except the sky and the road.

Two very large chicken houses.  Probably hold 15 to 20,000 chickens.  No wonder all of the fields around here are so green.

On the way back we could see farmers at work, tethering or fluffing the hay.  Next would be bailing.

That big gash in the side of the mountain is a rock quarry.  And we are several miles away at this point.

The day is warming up but the scenery is staying refreshingly nice.  Just looking at it gives you a sense of being cool.

Miles roll on as we head back to the mountains.  

Getting closer to the house as we are crossing the TN River West of Maryville, TN.

Riding and trying to zoom is a challenge so I don't usually do it.  Here I wish I had stopped as the house was a bit unusual in design.  It would have looked better in a close-up.

Paul was going to stop off at the Maryville Harley Shop, get a free coffee and check on our friend Ian who is a service writer there.  I was going to continue on and pick up some sandwiches at the Maryville Firehouse Sub facility then head on to the house. 

Our original ride to Dunlap was to visit the coke ovens and museum and maybe listen a bit to the Bluegrass Music but we were only going to be able to stay there about an hour before heading back to the house.  The fee was a little higher than we wanted to pay for such a short time so we didn't stay.  Instead we took a little longer than usual break for a bite at Wendy's before heading back.

It was a great day to ride.  Weather cooperated well, roads were good and the sights gratifying.  All in all it was a very nice day in the saddle.  For me it was 277 miles door to door.  This ride totaled up to over 550 miles for this week's riding.  So until the next Valkyrie Adventure grab a bottle of water or a cup of coffee and maybe a PB&J Sammich, get on or get in your mode of transportation and go look at what's out there that you haven't seen before.  You may be surprised, you might like it.  Remember to be courteous and drive safe.  The life you save could be me.