Frost Bowl Ride, Jan. 1, 2020

Wednesday, January 1, 2020, New Years Day.  Temp. is 34 degrees at 8:00 a.m.  I am heading South to meet up with a group, Country Roads Group Riding, in Walland, TN.  They have been doing this ride for about 20 years.  They ride to Townsend then down to Cades Cove in the Smoky Mtn. Nat. Pk. and do the 12 mile loop then back to Townsend to have lunch.  This year lunch was at one of my favorite restaurants there, The Riverstone.  Hello grilled ham and cheese sandwich with beer battered fries.

Beautiful sunrise this morning but I was busy putting on my winter riding gear to take a pic.  Here's what it looked like at 8:00 a.m. when I left the house.

Heading for Walland on this route you pass several very nice homes.  As a friend of mine says, they are the
1% ers.

Getting ready to make a left turn in a bit. This is the Univ. of TN Agriculture Center.  Sun was out, sky pretty and blue with some puffy white clouds.  Air, chilly, as I was on Redbug and it doesn't provide much wind break.  At these temps and 45mph, it gets a bit icy.  However, gear keeps me warm.

Meet up at Marathon gas and convenience store in Walland.  Also acts as the Post Office also.  First bike is Redbug, second is a 1998 Honda Valkyrie with the same color scheme as my 1999.

After topping off the tank, sucking down a cup of coffee we headed out for Cades Cove, a.k.a., the Frost Bowl.

We have now entered the Loop Road.  It appeared to be a great traveling day, then we caught up to all of the vehicles taking a last look at the Cove before the road is shut down for repairs.  I mean the road just outside of Townsend where the tunnel is.  The tunnel is going to be worked on for about 2 months.

A serene look at the mountains withing the Cove.

More of Cades Cove before the road starts curving around.

A lonely tree exhibiting no leaves on a cold winter morning seems to be the start of a story of some kind.  

Continuing the ride.  Total of 22 bikes I believe I heard the count right.  All out for a first day of the year ride.  I was positioned No. 5 from the front.

From practically any angle, the scenery is grande.

One of the two churches in Cades Cove.

Blue sky to the left and the second church to the right.

On the backside of the Cove.

Those clouds look like a roll from the exhaust of a very large plane.

We pulled over at the parking area for the grist mill to take a short break.

After the break we mount up and head out for the rest of the Cove ride.

Nice looking 995cc Triump Tiger.

We ride past several old farm houses, some with barns and Spring houses.  There were a number of families living in Cades Cove until it became part of the National Park lands.

Riding out toward the end of the Cove.

This is one of the old farm houses.  The first little building you see is the Spring house where they kept their butter and milk along with other eats that needed refrigeration.

Looking off the right mirror is another old house and a storage shed.

It is a quiet and somber place.  No electricity, no farm tractors in its first days, no internet, TV or telephone service.  Wonder how we would fair living like that today?

I also notice a lot of storm damage to the trees along the route to the Cove and in the Cove itself.  This past year we have had some severe storms with high winds.  Park policy is to cut it out of the road and leave it where it falls.








We ended the Loop Ride and headed back to Townsend to the Riverstone Restaurant.  After eating and saying goodbyes I mounted Redbug and we headed back to the house.  The temperature had warmed up some to about 44 by the time I got back to the house.  It was good to see these folks as I don't get to ride with them very often.

Door to door for me was 90 miles.  Not a real long ride but a very enjoyable one.  2019 was full of things I would like to forget but they did happen.  Senseless killings, terrible forest fires, tornadoes by the dozens and even a few hurricanes.  And a lot of hatred between people.  I sure hope this new year gives us more of a 2020 vision and a much better outlook.  So, when the weather is nice, take a ride/drive someplace and see what is going on.  See some of the prettier things of life.  And close to the top of the list, be safe.

Until the next Valkyrie Adventure, may the sun smile down on you and may the worries of the world be nonexistent.