Riding The Plateau

Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014, time: 7:00 a.m., weather: Foggy.  Reason for trip:
Fun.

Weather today was some low possibility for rain so Paul and I decided to ride.  I was to meet up with him at 7:45 at the Wiegel's convenience store, corner of Boyds Creek and Chapman Hwy.  Then he called to see how the fog was at my house.  I told him it wasn't bad, pretty good visibility and he said he could hardly see his neighbor's house across the street.  I told him I was going to ride up to the meeting place, gas up Sweet Thang, and ride next door to Micky D's and wait for him.  And this I did.

Wednesday I rode over to Fountain City which is adjoining Knoxville to a shop called Electrical Connection.  I have used their services several times in the past to convert the rear lighting on my bike to LED lights.  This time I was interested in adding front driving lights, about 2" in dia. to the front.  Problem is he doesn't have a bracket that will hold the light he makes to the crash bars of the bike.  But, he just happened to have 2 four inch LED driving lights containing 6 LED bulbs in each that would just fit my existing sealed beam driving lights.  So we tested one against the other and the LED was 3xs brighter with a better beam.  Now I have two new LED lights on the front and will be ordering a headlight LED bulb to replace the existing light.  I know, this isn't interesting to most but I like to be seen front and rear in inclement weather and at night.  I have an air horn so I like to be heard also.  Some car drivers are blind and deaf.

 Here's a look at the front of the bike at 7 a.m. in a light fog condition.

And here's the rear of the bike at the same time and same conditions.  Even brighter at night.

So now back to the original story.  Paul showed up as I was about half way through a cup of coffee so I took a couple more sips and away we went.  He had picked out a route that would take us through Knoxville, up I-75 toward KY and then we would take backroads to our lunch destination at a quaint little town of Rugby, TN.

I won't try to tell the highway numbers because we made so many turns that Google couldn't keep up with us.  My left foot was tired out from shifting down and up so many times.  But that is part of having fun riding the back roads.

 This pic is leaving Seymour heading West toward Knoxville.  As you can see, the fog wasn't really bad but could get thicker in places.  Seems to love to hover in between the hills where the air currents are less and the temps are cooler.

 The picture on the right is closer into Knoxville.  Has the tendency to fog up your windshield with the cool damp air on one side and the heat from the motor coming up on the back side.

 This is out on I-75 where the fog was high off the roadway.  Visibility was over a mile plus causing no problems for drivers.

 Having worked for a power company for 42 years I still can't resist looking at power lines as I travel down the road.  Mainly to see the differences in the way they are constructed.  This is a lone sentinel standing in a foggy atmosphere, one of many that traverse East TN since this is the home of TVA.

Traveling North on I-75 is a nice ride as you are in the foothills of the mountains with long rolling hills and deep cuts of the mountain sides.  Once you get out of Knoxville you can crank up the speed and stretch the distances between you and the other vehicles.

 At Caryville, TN we left the interstate and hopped on TN 63, a nice wide 2-lane highway with long sweeping curves among the rolling hills.  We rode this highway for a ways and then turned off onto one of the backroads running alongside an almost dry stream.  I was surprised to see how little water was in it since we had the big rain a week earlier and several smaller rains since then.

 On these roads you have to keep alert at all times to make sure you don't hit sandy or gravel spots, chuck holes, and yes, even deer and turkey.  We have a biker friend that wiped out his Harley a couple of weeks ago when a deer ran in front of him and he and the bike did a cartwheel down the road.  Destroyed the bike and broke the rider's hand and beat him up a bit.

At the intersection of one of the roads was the remainder of a once upon a time business.  Today it's just a relic of a building taking up space, run down and left in the yesteryear.  You get to see a lot of these type structures riding the backroads.  Small communities that were once thriving but now have faded into history.  Bigger stores a few miles away now draw the people.

You also get to see a lot of old barns that seem to be just wasting away, old silos that have served their usefulness as well as houses.  And some of those have a number of abandoned vehicles, farm machines, etc., in the surrounding yard.

   

 After the silo shot we made our way back to one of the better highways with a beautiful mountain view dead ahead of us.  The morning fog helped to accentuate the rolls of the mountains and gives them a real soft look.  But not too far down the road we turn off onto another back road that takes us to TN Hwy, 27 and to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Park.  It is a beautiful place.  If you love horses and trail riding this is one place you need to put on your bucket list.  Lots of horse farms, stables and trails through this national forest area.

For us it was another good backroad to ride on with good scenery along the way and even better at the end when we turned into the park area.  We pulled into a parking spot to take our first stretch for the day and walked the short path down to the river.




We dismounted and headed
for the river.  You could see that during the year the
water level had been much
higher.  There was lots of round river stones shortly after walking across a small sand beach area. 

 

From the highway above we could look down at the old bridge crossing that is no longer in use by vehicle or foot traffic.




After Big South Fork we headed to another very pretty place.  This was Bandy Creek National Park.  Yes, another national park in TN.  I didn't know this place existed.  It is very unique with nice facilities, a campground, stables for horses, a center for education, etc.  It is rather remote but if you wanted peace and quiet, or had a horse you wanted to ride the hide off of, this is the place to do it.  And it is paid for with your tax dollars.

The left picture is the office and gift shop.  The right picture is the interpretive center and another building in the back area housed the campground facilities.  Just down the road were stables for rent.
 
Back on the road again we decided to take a 3 mile stretch of gravel road from the National Park over to another highway we were going to ride rather than make a U-turn and ride more miles back.  Gravel and cruiser bikes aren't the best of friends as you're going slow, tires are aired for highway running and the gravel is loose which makes it harder to handle.

                                                                 

Along the gravel road we came across an old homestead no long used and a rather old cemetery.  It was probably a family cemetery plot that grew over the years but is not tended by the National Park Service.  Rather lonesome way back here off the beaten path but the headstones are just markers for the dead and only their remains reside in this place.

After getting back on TN 297 I told Paul, over the CB Radio, that I was about ready for a cup of coffee.  This happened just as we were going by a small store.  So we made a U-turn and rode the short distance back.  We each got a cup of coffee, in a real cup, not plastic or cardboard, and was told we could drink as much as we wanted.  I guess so, since it was $1.85 a cup.  I took the picture of Paul selling fire water to one of the natives.

Not to far after the coffee we took the turn it to Pickens State Park which started out as a CCC camp during the Great Depression days.  The initials stand for "Civilian Conservation Corps."  This and the WPA provided jobs for people during the depression.  The CCC camps were run by the Army but did work for the National Park Service, National Forest Service and other such organizations.  People were paid $30/mo. with $25/mo. sent back to their families to live on.  They were basically in the Army with their rules and organization but were actually civilians.  When WWII started many of these workers became soldiers.

The water was as still as a mirror today, no breeze blowing which made for some great reflections.  A lot of people hike the many trails and canoe or kayak the river.  Nice little beach.  

A statue honoring the CCC workers.  This group built most of the large state parks in TN and many other states.  The little museum provides a lot of information on their activities and time line. 





One interesting aspect is the suspension walk bridge that crosses the river.  It's not the Golden Gate but for this area and the purpose it is as good.  A gazebo shown on the other spot is a great place to meditate.








After a while we crawled back onto our bikes and headed for Rugby, a British-American town built in 1880.  The only paved road in Rugby is the highway that runs through it.  All of the side streets are gravel to keep it in the time period of the town's development.

I have an article listed about a ride to Rugby that can be referenced.  However, I shall show a few of the buildings there.  There are also a couple of B & Bs, a couple of restaurants, museum, church, and a number of homes.  If you want to get away from it all, this is the place.  No Walmart, no shopping mall, no fast food outlets, no movie theaters, etc., get my drift.
                                                                                                                               

One of the straighter roads traveled.


Right, Paul in front of the restaurant we dined and I resisted those delicious cobblers for dessert.   

That, my friend, is a chicken fried stake on top of a pile of mashed potatoes covered with milk gravy nestled next to some southern cooked green beans.  That's why I resisted the dessert, I just didn't have room for it.




Some of the houses in Rugby.
    

   
This particular building is unique by design and all the buildings are very colorful.










After Rugby we set our compass for Knoxville with the full knowledge of participating in a historical treat.  This particular business has been in operation for 70 years and is open every day the weather will let the workers get there.  As a tribute to them and the length of service this facility has provided the citizens of Knoxville, Paul and I made a stop there to pay tribute.

Roads back to Knoxville.  Water is a lake off the Clinch River.  The other pic is just one of the many roads heading back to the barn.   

 
This is the place of tribute.  One Cherry shake for Paul and a Pineapple shake for me.  Down the hatch and Salute.  May you continue to feed the hot, the tired, the hungry, the thirsty and anyone else that can lie their way to 1,000 calories.

A great day for a ride.  Approximately 248 miles door to door and well worth the foggy start and the sweet ending.  So ride/drive safe, and have fun.

Breakfast Ride to 66 Cafe

Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014, riding again?  Well, yes.  That's why they make those wheels round so they roll.  Standing still to long could make them have flat spots.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  So I contacted friend Paul who had sent me an email yesterday about possible breakfast ride.  Sounded good to me so I called him last night to get meet-up time and place.  As usual, for most of our rides, it would be the Exxon Sta. on Boyds Creek Hwy. and this time at 7:30 a.m.  That's morning for some of you sleepy heads.  However, not for son Shane who is an early riser.

Since it had already been misting rain, I suited up and pushed Sweet Thang out of the garage at 7:10, ran up the road about 5 miles to the Exxon station and topped off the tank.  Then I pulled up away from the gas pumps to watch for Paul.  I then decided to change gloves and remove my camera so it wouldn't get wet.  Bad move for I missed some great pics and it didn't rain hard enough to have gotten my camera wet as the windshield catches most of the raindrops.

This was the opening sunrise on Boyds Creek Hwy. between my house and the Exxon station.  This blue soon disappeared into overcast and then darkened a bit releasing a small sprinkle of rain.  We lucked out as there were some places where the rain was just ahead of us and made you ride more carefully due to the damp road.  Couldn't turn and burn this morning.



It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to get to our breakfast destination even by taking the interstate for part of the ride.  Shortly after we turned off the interstate the countryside became beautiful, riding in the valley on the state routes.  With all the beautiful scenery you have to stay on your toes due to blind hills, blind curves, blind driveways and in come cases, blind people.  There's also the gravel that drifts off the edge of the road or out of the home driveways which can give you an instant heart attack when your tire slips on the rolling pebbles or soft sand.  It's called "hugging your seat" or "tightening up".

Paul getting ready to leave 66 Cafe.  Now this place isn't marked on the national restaurant registry but they make some of the best sausage gravy to pour over those biscuits that you'll ever flop a lip over.  And the fried eggs, choose your color (blue, green, white, tan) because the owner and a friend of his have chickens that lay eggs with the shell colored according to the chicken.  One egg, one biscuit with gravy, a side of bacon and coffee is less than $5.  Just getting there was worth that much and more.   

Leaving I had my camera hanging around my neck.  These pics show the better of some of the roads we rode on this morning.  Ever notice some of the highway signs along the routes you take?  Well, this morning I found one to be very funny.  We were on a single lane road, no striping, just old asphalt.  All of a sudden there was a sign saying "Single Lane Bridge".  I had to laugh.  Over the CB I asked Paul how could there have been anything other than a single lane bridge on a single lane road.  It just struck me as very funny.

The barn and the church
appeared to be not in use.
Then we came upon two
chimneys without a house.    

A little later we came upon a house that was a little
fixer-upper.  Well, maybe a
bit more fixing is needed. No, the road doesn't end behind the barn, it does continue onward.


There are some great old farm houses out on these little roads making you wonder how they ever found some of these valleys.  Back then the roads were not paved and the routes didn't have road signs.  Some places had great soil and some was so rocky that a goat would have a hard time surviving on what little grass grew between the boulders.  Maybe I'm wrong, they may have been growing rocks to sell to the crazy city folks.

 

Above left is one of those one lane roads mentioned earlier.  The next is a meadow of blue wild flowers, then back on a bigger highway carved out of the mountain side only to exit back onto a lane and a half road.  The red roof square log cabin is a long way from a Walmart or shopping mall.

A country church on a
country lane.    


A rural farm house a bit more modern than most in the area.

Cherokee Lake from a ridge
where a monument has been erected honoring our
Veterans. 

 On a road leading back to the house.

Looking through the
windscreen checking the
next curve.

Off the ridge crossing a finger of Cherokee Lake.

The ride of the day, approx. 175 miles.  Not as far as the last ride but just as exciting and enjoyable, even with the weather.  Crazy?  Maybe.  Happy to do it again, just let me know when you want to leave.  Cost of gas, approx. $12.  Value in fun, priceless.

Until the next ride I hope all stay healthy and happy.  If not, see a doctor and change your attitude.

   

Cradle of Forestry Ride

Thursday, July 31st friend Paul and I pulled out of our meet-up place at 7:30 a.m.  Temperature, 58 degrees F. on the last day of July.  Unbelievable.  This ride will take us back over some of the same areas that I rode on my last ride over the mountains.  We ran the back roads up to Marshall, TN where we stopped at Ingle's Food Store, a major grocery chain in these parts, to have a cup of coffee and apple fritter.  In fact, we had two fritters.

Cool heavy skies with the sun trying to peek out.  On the way we connected with I-40 for a ways and then off to a good highway through the countryside.     

There was some high fog
this morning but nothing to worry about or cause
visibility issues.





The cool morning air made the exhaust sound a little deeper, like Sweet Thang was getting just a little hoarse, but have no worries, she was ready to stretch her legs today.  We cruised along some more back roads and then caught the Blue Ridge Parkway at a point well above Asheville, NC.  The sites and scenes were delightful.

    

These are some of the road scenes along the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Lots of Kudzu in this part of the world but not as bad as GA.  Notice the water in the river is brown due to the heavy rainstorm that came through Sunday night and earl Monday morning.



We were riding along the Blue Ridge enjoying ourselves, chatting back and forth on our CB radios just taking it all in.  As we started climbing in altitude we started noticing the cloud layer was laying on top of the mountains.   And it had started to drizzle rain.  Now that's a combination you really don't like when riding a motorcycle.  The fog conditions were below FAA minimums.  That means you can barely see the ground and we didn't have any kind of homing signals to keep us on the highway.  I could barely see Paul's taillights and we were down to 25 to 30 mph, all the time praying that the two cars behind me were watching for us and not texting or trying to find their phone.

Rain clouds over the
mountains.  These pics are
from the Blue Ridge
Parkway.





 This is one of the longest
tunnels on the Parkway.
Only to find the clouds on
the other end of the tunnel
were the same rain clouds, no sunshine here.



We arrived at Cradle of Forestry, a U.S. National Forestry Service tourist spot on the original grounds that were owned by the Biltmore family of Asheville, NC.  This was the first school of forestry, a school to train people about trees, care, cutting, etc., in the USA.  The instructor was from Germany.  There were houses, a commisary, blacksmith shop, train, and lodging for the students.  It cost approx. $960 a year to attend.  The reason for the school was that people were cutting trees from the land that they did not own.  So Mr. Biltmore hired some people to watch over the land.

 

 

The house on the left is a dorm, double bunks to each room, two rooms.  The pics of the furnishings and kitchen are from the instructors home.  Girls, how would you like to dump your microwave and start back using one of these as your primary cooking tool.  Brings back memories of my Grandmother's kitchen.  The two birds are Hawks wearing their hoods and tethered to a stake.  Love those birds.

This is a one man carriage for a steam driven sawmill on the property.  They could cut the trees, haul them to the mill, saw them up and then haul the lumber easier than hauling the trees over a distance to a larger mill.    
    



This is the train used for
hauling logs and lumber.
It is small in size but has
a mighty strength for a
narrow gauge railroad.
A real workhorse.  It even had it's own steam driven crane to load the logs.

You can see the fog low to the road as we leave the Blue Ridge Parkway for our route back to the house.  By this time it was easy riding but still an occasional drizzle or two.









Lush farms providing plenty of corn, soybeans and tomatoes.  And some more rain yet to come.

  
One of our last larger towns to ride through was Canton, NC where a large papermill is located.  If you couldn't see it you could certainly smell it.  It is right in the edge of the town.




Shortly after leaving Canton we hit the interstate back to Newport, TN and then US 411 to Sevierville where Paul and I split, he to meet his wife for dinner and I to travel on to Seymour and the house.  A different day of riding.  While at the Cradle of Forestry we walked 2.5 miles of paths, a bit unusual for two old birds.  We had a free hotdog lunch, rode in fog, rain and sun and tallied 265 miles for the day.  Another good day of riding regardless of the weather interference.

So enjoy your life, be a part in the life of others and have fun, safely.