A Ride Through Sequatche Valley

The weather here in East Tennessee, like many other areas, hasn't been the greatest due to rain, cold, freezing, etc.  I have been able to do a few short rides but nothing more than running a few backroads or running errands.  With the weather clearing by noon Friday biker friend Paul called to see if I was interested in riding Saturday.  Our original plan was to ride up to Middlesboro, KY taking some good mountain coal country banjo playing back roads.  But because part of those roads or shaded in the mountains and the recent rain and below freezing temps, we changed to a more southerly route.

I backed Sweet Thang out of the garage at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, Jan.17th for a meet up at Seymour's MickyD's by 10 a.m.  I left early so I could gas up and have some coffee and a breakfast burrito with some of the local elderlies.  Temp leaving the house was a brisk 28*.  Gassed the Fat Lady up and pulled across the highway for coffee.  About the time I finished my eats and greets, up rode neighbor biker Robert.  He was going to ride with us today also.

About 8:35 up rolls Paul riding the White Rat scooter.  Ten minutes later after he managed to get out of some of his riding clothing he ate his breakfast and finished off a cup of coffee.  We three headed for the door and the day's ride.  Paul had re-programmed his GPS to take us southweasterly to Sequatche Valley, an area running Northeast above Chattanooga to Crossville, TN.  It actually starts around the small community of Pikeville.

As you can tell from previous posts, we never ride from Point A to Point B the direct way.  It's always backroads, byways and small highways.  This pic was taken by my new GoPro camera which I'm still trying to figure out the positioning and settings.  Nothing like being a 19th Century person trying to operate a 21st Century piece of electronic equipment.

The sky was so blue this morning and with the sun breaking through the trees it made them look like a bunch of stick people.

One of the little towns has a sawmill at its edge.  Small operation but big deal for some of these small communities.  Provides jobs for mill workers and those cutting and hauling logs.  Since they are within the city limits I'm sure they're paying a higher tax rate.

I titled this picture as "Keep America Beautiful".  This was a self-made spare parts for anything type place.

Meanwhile, back on the road, we left Seymour, rode the back roads to the edge of Maryville and then onward to connect with I-75 down to Sweetwater.  Here we left the interstate and was back on a nice two lane highway heading toward Dayton, TN.

That white stuff on the highway is what is left over from brining the highway to prevent icing.  It's actually a salt water brine mixed with beet juice.  After it dries there is a residue of fine white powder.  You have to be careful of this when riding in the curves as it can get a little slippery, like sand.

One nice thing about the country roads we ride are the farms and various out buildings.  Silos look like rockets, the older ones were made of brick and every once in a while you can see them still standing and performing their duties.  Most are like the one in this picture.  At one time there were a lot of dairy farms in East TN but like a lot of other businesses they are slowly dying out.

Some of the rural towns seem to never change.  They look like the late 1940s or 50s and very few buildings are changed.  The red vehicle is fellow biker and neighbor Robert's Spyder, a reversed trike machine.

Courthouse square on a Saturday afternoon.  Since it was a sunny day I noticed a number of people stirring about.  The gloom and doldrums of winter with gray skies and rain made the sunshine inviting.

From afar I couldn't figure out what this tower was.  I first thought it to be a fire tower but since this is farm land and not forestry acres I couldn't understand why they would have a fire tower.  As I got closer I could see it was some type of communication tower.  Maybe even for me cell phone.

Sites continually change and this was a most unusual site.  I'm sorry that I wasn't just a split second later in shooting this shot as the side, shown here, and the entire front of this building contained hundreds of gourds.  Back in my young days they would have been made into Martin bird houses or used as dippers.

On this trip we crossed one mountain to get into the Sequatche Valley and then way later another mountain to get out.  That white stuff on the left side is what remains of a recent snow in the area.  You can usually see this on the shady side of the hills and mountains where the sun doesn't get there for very long if it gets there at all.

Our second break of the ride was near the North end of the valley.  Paul with his White Rat scooter in the lead, Robert and his Spyder and pulling drag was Sweet Thang.  Saddle bag lid was open because I had just pulled a snack out of it.  Need nourishment to make those miles.  And every once in a while a cup of coffee or bottle of water.

A nice little breeze was helping to keep Old Glory fluttering.  Patriotic.  See homes and businesses with flags a lot up here.  And Tennessee was one of those states that during the Civil War was half and half, Northern and Southern.

A short ride later we were coming into the town of Crossville.  At that stop sign we hooked a right to go around the town and headed toward West Knoxville area.  The highways in this area are well lined by places that sell stone.  There are a lot of quarries around this area of the state.

Since Crossville is on the Plateau we were going to climb a mountain and go down the other side to get to our ending destination.  The Plateau is East of Nashville and a mountain ridge and Knoxville.  This is one reason the weather is so unpredictable for our area.  And one reason we often miss the really bad weather as it will run the Plateau NE and miss us.

That white stuff on the left of the highway is ice, very long icicles.  The elevation here is higher than the Plateau and the temp is several degrees cooler.  These icicles were well over 6 ft. tall.  Sheets of icicles.

The city of Kingston has a nice lake on both sides of the highway which is a result of TVA having a very large power plant.  We usually take the lake loop because it is so scenic.  This is just one of the fingers off the lake.

Pellissippi Parkway or I-410 is on the final leg of our journey this riding day.  A good place to clean out the carbs.

An old barn with silo on one of the backroads off the Parkway.  It is getting to the end of its usefulness and we were getting to the end of our ride.  I hate to see old houses and structures deteriorate but everything has to go some time.






Today's ride was great.  Brisk morning, cool during the day and new sites to see.  Good friends having a good time together.  Total mileage door to door, 245.  Total fun:  Infinity.  So until the next adventure, ride/drive safe and enjoy your life and the life of those you love.

A Cool Day's Ride

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015
Temp. at departure: 34 Degrees
Temp. at end: 42 Degrees

After putting 20 miles on the bike running back and forth to the Post Office I met up with riders Paul and Ken at the Seymour McDonald's for a quick coffee before hitting the road.  Our ride was going to take us South and West today.  The heated gloves really felt good this morning.

We headed south on U.S. 411 and then later we would take some back roads over to U.S. 321 and head west.  The air was crisp, to say the least, and the sky was just a beautiful blue with a few white vapor trails and some whispy clouds way up there.

A few miles down the road from Seymour is the very old Eusebia Presbyterian Church, Circa. 1794 along with its cemetery.





A number of the headstones have no markings and some have their markings almost eroded away by Mother Nature.  

A bit farther down from the church starts a short stretch of curves and even though they aren't many in number, don't be fooled into believing they are easy to handle.  These are not all continuous curves, in other words, they don't maintain the same arc all the way around.  Thinking so can put you up against one of the trees seen here.

Shortly after the series of curves we turned onto a smaller side road taking us westward.  How about that sky.  And Sweet Thang just loves that cold air for her carbs on days like this.

Most all the farmland has been gleaned of its crops and now lay fallow with whatever stubble or grass that has remained.  Most are a brown or tan color and some even have a goldish tan color about them.

One of the old farm houses along our route today.  From the size they must have had a number of children, probably to work the farm.

Here we cross one of the many fingers of the Tennessee River.

As the highway twists and turns you have the opportunity to cross many lakes and rivers often due to TVA dams backing up water for generation of electric power.

After a while we ran into a straight stretch of rural America.  It looks so different in the winter with no leaves.  You often find houses setting back off the road that during the summer months the leaves on the trees prevent seeing it.

 A serene look on this frosty morning across a large meadow at some farm buildings off in the distance.

And shortly afterward you get to see some old farm buildings that are really close to the road.  There's a few roads that look as if you're going to ride through a barn or someone's house they are so close to the edge of the highway.

Traffic on these roads practically did not exist this morning making it a real joy to ride.  Paul led, I was in the rocking chair, and Ken pulled drag.

Here we are crossing some more water ways just south of Kingston, TN.

The sky was so blue that anything you put against it looked good, even this old tree and the old bridge rail to the right.

We ran along one of the lakes until we got Harriman where we stopped for lunch and to take a look at a Memorial Park dedicated to those that have and are serving in the military.

After Harriman we took a run West on I-40 by error, 6.5 miles later made a U-turn and headed east.  Just one of those riding blips that occur every once in a while.

Then we were back to the
back roads and old stuff
along the route.  More churches, cemeteries, etc., that make up the communities and neighborhoods.  

Outside of Oak Ridge, where they put the atomic bomb together, we rode by Melton Hill Dam, another TVA facility.  I have to admit, TVA does make these areas nice for the public with parking spaces, some boat ramps and lots of areas to fish or just relax and read a book.

After the dam we continued heading for home base.  The temp was starting to drop a bit but the color of the sky hadn't changed all day.

Another back road or two and we would have racked up another good day of riding.

This scene was neat as all of the trees were cut and about the same height.  Planted along the roadway backed by the slanting ground they looked like multi-armed sentinels posted for security.

I titled this picture "Sticks in the Water".  From a distance you can see all of the white masts sticking up as if they were growing out of the water.  This water source is a leg off the TN River and in a rather posh neighborhood.

As the day wanes and the end of the ride nears, one just has to take in the remainder of the afternoon with "Ole Sol" dropping on the horizon out of a clear blue sky letting its final rays of warmth caress the water.   Another good day on the wheels.  Good friends, good weather, and good friendship.  Total miles ridden today, 224.  Hours of enjoyment, 8.  Memories gathered, infinity.


So ride/drive safe, stay in touch with family and friends and enjoy life.  It comes your way once here on earth.

Polar Bear Ride, Jan. 1, 2015

Uhhra!!  Twenty-four degrees, lots of clothing on and Sweet Thang snarling because we pushed out of the garage for a Polar Bear Ride with some friends this morning.  Left the house a bit early, 8:00 a.m., to top off the tank before the ride started.  Meet-up is MickyD's in Seymour.  Grabbed a cup of coffee and a sausage-egg burrito to munch on while waiting for biker friend Paul to show up by 9:00 a.m.  Started on my second cup of coffee when he comes strolling in like a gnome, primarily due to the amount of clothing he had on.  A couple of minutes later biker friend Robert, who lives in the same subdivision I live in, comes driving up.  He rode with Paul last year and was game to do it again.

After my fellow riders woofed down their breakfast we wrapped ourselves up again and headed out for our ride.  You can see how nice the morning started but those clouds in the distance started moving in which will bring our rain tonight along with a little warmer air for tonight and tomorrow.  Heading toward Knoxville from Seymour.

We were going to stay on the main roads as an effort to avoid ice.  Since it was so cold last night, 22 degrees, any water or moisture can present a riding hazard.  We passed some nice old homes along the route which now is heading Northwest to eventually connect with another major 2-Lane road.

John Sevier Highway in this picture is crossing the Holston River.  The Tennessee River is made up of the Holston and the French Broad.  They join up just a few miles north of Knoxville, TN.  You can see the limestone bluff above the river and just beyond that is a huge quarry on both sides of the highway.  Not much gravel on this end of TN so they use crushed limestone.

A little farther up the road the row of trees caught my eye along with the silvery coated pasture.  The trees lined a driveway back to a house back in the grove of trees.  In this particular area there was a considerable amount of glistening foliage.

You can see the silvery color glistening in the upper half of the trees and bushes along the roadway.

Enlarging the picture makes it more dramatic.  I love to see this but do not like it when it breaks the branches and limbs along with the power poles.  I've worked with crews doing line restoration after an ice storm and believe you me, it is not fun.

The sound travels in cold air like it does over water.  But this morning all I could hear was Sweet Thang sucking that crisp morning air and enjoying it to the fullest.  Or maybe that was me sucking in that air and she was enjoying it.  Either way, riding early with very little to no traffic is a grand feeling.

And what better way to start off a new year than by riding those sweeping curves on a country road with friends that have similar interests.

Cold stones in the country side on a cold morning near the mountains.  They're going to have to fence this place because people are just dying to get in there.  The Devil made me say that.

Along the way, besides cemeteries, you can find little "fixer uppers" to while away your time or speed your investment portfolio to zero.  Rustic isn't what really describes some of these buildings.

And don't forget the barns.  Must be a million of them in this region of the state.  Little ones, medium size and large.  Some for storage, some for storage and animals and some for storing tobacco only.  Of course the latter rarely have tobacco in them any more.

And every so often you find a neat old constructed home that makes you wonder how in the world that house found its place in the neighborhood.

I believe there is a church of one denomination or another about every 5 miles.  Some have been around since the 1800s.  Some a lot newer, but always they are plentiful.

This morning we rode by a natural spring pouring out of the hillside.  Plenty of water draining off to who knows where and for what ever purpose.

We ran along no less than 4 creeks today and crossed about as many rivers.  This particular small river had numerous rapids, mostly with a foot or so drop from one level to another.  You could easily tell the bottom was solid rock.

For some reason this old house reminded me of the movie "Psycho" and the house where the owner of the Bates Motel resided.  Almost made my skin crawl just thinking about it.  No, that was just a little shiver from the cold.  I'm a big boy and can take the scary stuff.

One of the several one-laners we took this morning.  One of them was a little rough and had some patches of frozen drainage across them.  Had to keep your eyes peering for damp spots, etc.  Stability gets a little tricky on two wheels with ice beneath them.

And then you come to this, a view that just astounds the imagination.  All of those ripples in the background rising and dipping.  Can you just try to think of all the noise they made while the earth was shifting to make them.  I would imagine it could shake a cup of coffee right out of your hand.  One of the reasons I love this area.  For nothing more than the views.

I left the other two riders around noon to head back to Seymour.  Had to stop off and pick up lunch to take to the house.  This view is looking at the intersection at the top of the hill in Seymour.  Not a bad view even with the signs, etc., sticking up.

Door to door for me today was 128 miles with an average speed of about 45 mph.  A little nippy but also a lot of happy.  Hello 2015.  It has started out with friends enjoying friends and I hope it will continue this way throughout the year.  This being the first Valkyrie Adventure for 2015, I wish all of you a Very Happy New Year with loads of fun, miles of adventure, and God's Richest Blessings.  Happy travelling, Friends.