July 4th Ride to Sharps Chapel and .......

Between working on my deck, taking care of the yard, helping my son's family pack to move to CA, and tending to his yard, I needed a break.  So, Thursday night, July 3rd, I called rider friend Paul to see if he was planning to ride the next day.  He hadn't planned anything but since we haven't ridden much lately he called back later with a plan.  For me, any plan would do as long as it contained riding.  So Independence Day, off we go.

Friday, July 4, 2014, Fourth of July Holiday, temps were in low 60s, sky looked great, sun was just coming up and Sweet Thang backed out of the garage at 7:15 a.m. to meet up with Paul at the Exxon Station about 5 miles up the road.  Meeting time was 7:45 so getting off early allowed me time to top off the gas tank and grab a quick coffee before he got there.  And that I did.  Just as I was paying for my coffee he walked in.  So I paid for his coffee, we drank it while chatting about things going on and our route then tossed the empty cups in the waste container and cranked up.

Early morning sky was spectacular.  That long white thing in the right picture is not a grub worm, it's rolls of hay wrapped in white plastic to help keep them dry. 

Riding North on Boyds
Creek Highway.

We ran the back roads all the way to Sharps Chapel except for a short burst on a 4-lane every once in a while.  On the way Paul asked if I wanted to stop for a coffee and breakfast sandwich or do it later.  I told him it didn't matter to me so at the last minuted he decided to go ahead and stop.  Good thing about riding with Paul is that changes doesn't bother either of us.

Lots of corn and hay grown in this area.  Some very pretty old farm houses are also seen along these country routes.    






Along the way you can also
see some small communities that have dried up, stores boarded up, buildings becoming run down, etc.  However, life still goes on, you just have to go farther to a Walmart.

We stopped at Petticoat Jct. for our coffee and biscuit.  Paul found a biscuit that had sausage and ham in it.  Country ham, the kind that makes you want to find a water trough after an hour or so due to the salt it has been cured in.  There was three fellows sitting on a bench out front of the store.  Paul has been there so many times that they know him.  We just got off our bikes, said our greetings, and went inside, helped ourselves and walked out.  Later after eating and drinking we paid, or at least Paul paid, for our biscuits and coffee and rode off onto another country road.

 This old house is very unusual.  It's unique in its design and looks quite mysterious setting back off the road.  I can just imagine a yard full of kids many years ago because it is a large house with a number of out buildings.

 The house to the right is a standard size farm house for the area.  It too, is quite old.  There's some elegance in some of these old structures and who knows about how much history they represent as this part of TN was occupied in the middle 1700s.  Now I know this house isn't that old but it probably is a good 75 to 100 years old.

Since Eastern TN is
considered a part of the
Bible Belt, there's no lack
of churches in the area. 
The old style country
churches are pretty and
usually very near the
church is a cemetery.  

Lots of good curvy roads to ride and with all the rain we've had lately everything is lush and green.  In fact
there's a lot of things you
can't see in the Spring to
Winter time frame due to
the trees and bushes.   

 We were now in the Norris Lake area which is very beautiful.  The pic on the bottom left is Paul standing on the graffitti covered new bridge looking over at the original old iron bridge.  They have made it so that you can't ride on it nor walk on it unless you bring a very long board to cover the span where they took out the road bed. 

There are lots of nooks in
the lake and Paul is riding
down the dirt road to take
a better look.  You can't see them, but near the highway a couple is tent camping .    


After a few miles Paul's GPS, a planned route, took us into what Paul refers to as the 1% people's living area.  That means they've got some banks full of money just to purchase the lot much less build some of the large homes here.  We just rode in on a really curvy road and turned around and rode out.  I felt richer just riding among their homes.

It would be a grand place to live except it is a long way to a shopping mall or grocery store/gas station.   

 We continued on to Sharps Chapel which is a small community and then wriggled our way back toward the house.  Along the way we passed some old barns, the town of Sharps Chapel and a bunch of boaters on Norris Lake.  You could smell the hamburgers and hot dogs as you rode past many houses.  I didn't see any "Stop by and join us" signs.

The barn on the right was
almost close enough to ride through it instead of ride around it.

What's left of Sharps Chapel area. 

Back at TN Route 66 and Boyds Creek Highway we said adios and I gassed up Sweet Thang for a continued ride.  Left the station and headed into the stomach of the tourist beast, Pigeon Forge.  This time of year it is bumper to bumper and worse since it was a 3 day weekend for a lot of folks.  Managed to get through unscathed and headed for the Gatlinburg by-pass to the Smoky Mtns.

I love entering the park.  It's like running between canyon walls of trees, lots of shadows and flickering of sunlight among the trees.  Very serene.   

Entering one of several
tunnels as you work your
way to the top of the
mountain at Newfound
Gap.  Yours eyes barely
have time to adjust from
he darkness entering to the brightness exiting the tunnel.    

Looking East from the parking area at Newfound Gap.  This is the point where TN and NC split the mountains.

Who can stand here and say they don't enjoy looking at these layered rolls of rock and earth?  Not I as I've been here more times than I can count.  Some times I have been here and am the only human standing looking at this site.  Not often along, but occasionally.  Temp, 68* at 3:00 p.m.

 A nice shot at one of the tunnels.  They are very cool in the summer and can be very tricky in the winter as water tends to freeze near the entrance and sometimes on the inside.  Slick is the word.

Following the trail of tourists coming down the mountain.  Ahh, the smell of burning brake pads.  I could have a job by telling people how to use their engines and transmissions to slow them down which would save them a brake job.  But then, they wouldn't listen and we'd still have the aroma of burning brakes.

It was a very relaxing holiday for me and I hope yours was the same.  Good friends, nice scenery and riding the bike.  How much better could it have been.  So enjoy life, ride/drive safe.

A Moving Experience

No riding since the Arkansas trip.  I've been busy helping my daughter-in-law pack up their furnishings and load them onto a 28 ft. trailer which will be hauled by Ark. Best Freight from Seymour to L.A.  Worked all day yesterday loading and most of this afternoon.  She had 3 friends come over at noon yesterday to help and boy was I glad.  They did a smash-up job along with carrying boxes and stuff to the trailer.  Janene's nephew, Spencer, flew in last weekend and he's been a busy lad ever since.  Ian is in L.A. going through a refresher class at the LAPD police academy.  Janene and kids will leave for L.A. Tuesday morning, 2300 mile trip.  Should take about 4 days to get there or maybe a little more if they stop along the way to site see a bit.

Every muscle in my old tired body is aching.  If you timed me getting out of the bed this morning you could have used a sundial as I was just that slow.  And I wasn't the only one sore this morning.  Even the kids said their arms ached.  But with their Kindles, games, DVD player, etc., they will have a joyful ride to CA to see their Dad.  And he will be glad to see them.  None of them will be to glad to see that ABF trailer pull up as it will mean "back to work" mode.

I shall miss them immensely.  It's been nice having one of my son's close to enjoy a cup of coffee with, or a little man conversation, etc.  And fun to have the kids to play with, show them places and things, and do stuff with them.  Having them at the house overnight, special breakfasts, etc.  It makes my old heart lonely.  Seems that I get more sentimental as I get older.

But, Alas, my other son, his youngest daughter (my second granddaughter) and my mother-in-law will be coming up in early July for a few days.  That will help take my mind off the departing family.  I don't know about you who may read this feel about your kids and grandkids, but I thoroughly love my sons and their families.  It is nice to have family around to share things and times with.

I also hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July celebration.  We are a very luck people to live in this vast country, the USA, and we should join together to celebrate what it and this date stands for.  I love the old saying, "If you don't like it, leave it".  I see a lot more people trying to get here than depart from here.

Keep safe, and enjoy life.

NW Arkansas Here I Come

Tuesday morning, June 17th, been eagerly awaiting this day for some time now.  All loaded up and ready to go, so when 4:30 a.m. came about, I pushed Sweet Thang out of the garage and took off.  Next destination, Harrison, AR, 618 miles, just a good day's ride.  Rolled onto Chapman Hwy. (US441) into Knoxville to catch I-40 West.  On trips like this I usually take the fastest route so it will give me more time at the other end to play.

It was just a little foggy in spots but not enough to slow you down.  Pic on left is coming to the mountain between K'ville and Nashville.  Then you hit the Plateau and back down to Nashville.  Cool in mtns.

The picture on the right is coming into Nashville on I-40.  The loop around town was slower than the interstate so I just stayed on the main road.  A little morning traffic but not too bad as I was there about 8:30.  Wheeled through Nashville heading to Jackson, TN where I would exit I-40 for U.S. 412 and ride it all the way into Harrison, AR.

After Nashville the terrain changes to long rolling hills all the way into Jackson, TN.  After turning onto 412 you come into a big camping/fishing area called "Land Between The Lakes".  Lots of water.

Plenty of fishing done here.
As the land flattens out a bit you roll into Missouri.  You really can't tell one state from the other in this area.  Lots of farming land.


This stretch of highway is mostly a four lane highway which eventually runs into I-155 just north of Dyersburg, TN.  Take a left onto I-155 and after a few miles you cross the Mighty Mississippi into Arkansas.  You'll go under I-55 and on to a town named Kennett where I stopped at a Walmart to check my Garmin GPS.  It had quit just before I crossed the Big Muddy.  Lady there plugged it into store power and it wouldn't come on.  Kept saying "battery low".  I had it plugged into my auxillary power source but I guess it wasn't making good contact and was running off the battery.  I don't have a house power adapter for it with me so there goes the Garmin.  Then the fool thing would come on by itself.  I tell you, I believe my wife, Diane, slipped out there and put a hex on my bike.

Still running 412 I came into Paragould, AR.  Now this area is strictly farming country.  Rather flat with fields of rice, corn and soybeans all along the route.  Further on down the road you hit Walnut Ridge, a sleepy little town which didn't take to long to go through.  Now you realize Sweet Thang gets thirsty just like I do so every 125 or so miles we have to give her a drink.  Those six carbs like to go and so does the gasoline.  But I often never get off the bike, just give her a drink at the gas well and take off again.

All of those fields and no mountains make for long straight highways.Boring.
The only thing to keep you awake are the small towns you go through.     

Then you finally start to get into some hills and curves.  Now the ride sensation starts to pick up but you realize the feeling in your butt has long since gone with the miles you've ridden so far.

Even in Arkansas people die as the picture above right indicates with tombstones in a cemetery.  They are going to have to fence that place since people are just dying to get into there.  GROAN.  I must be getting tired to think like that.

I roll on through Cherokee Village, Ash Lake, Salem and into Mountain Home.  It's been some years since I've been here and it sure has grown.  After Mountain Home comes Gassville, Yellville and finally Harrison, a city of about 12,700 or so people.  Nice size place.  Sort of a hub city with highways going in almost any direction into and out of it.  I pulled into the Family Budget Inn, a low cost motel but clean with nice folks running it.  All of us bikers were on the pool side of the building bunched together.  Makes for less walking to meet up for rides, eats and BS sessions.

Pulled into Harrison in 13 hours door to door.  Not bad for an old retiree riding an old motorcycle (1999), but don't let Sweet Thang know or she may get her panties knotted up and leave me beside the road someplace.  I try to treat her nice and keep her neat and clean.

The next morning a bunch of us pulled out heading for Eureka Springs, the Gatlinburg of Arkansas.  We rode through town, no pics as my camera quit working (remember the hex).  Quaint and historic.
   

Jeff (JetDriver), Lloyd (a rider from Toronto, Ont., and I broke away from the group ride and took off on our own, the long and curvy way back to the motel.  Then at this stop my camera came alive.

The pic above shows Sweet Thang in the forefront, Jeff's bike in back same color, and Lloyd's Goldwing F6B in the back.  We had two riders from Ontario and one from Montreal this reunion.  Several from Illinois, one from Wisconsin, one from Kansas, one from Indiana, several from Fla., and the President of the club who lives in the SW corner of North Dakota.  There were a few others sprinkled in the group from other places.  This year as two years ago, there were 4 bikes the same color scheme as Sweet Thang.  We eve had a couple of non-Valkyrie riders.  We don't snub anyone, just bring your toy and ride.

We were on the lip of a big
canyon in the Ozark
Mountains.  Tese mtns. are not as curvy or steep as my Smoky's but still very pretty and nice roads with sweeping curves.  

MP, our club Pres., and his charming wife ride a Valkyrie with a side car.  That way she can take a nap while he's tooling along.  Maybe she's not asleep, just doesn't want to see what's coming.     

This is just one of the beautiful sceneries you will see in the Ozark Mtns.  The curves allow you time to see the scenery and as shown, take a picture or two.  I ride with a Canon Power Shot SD630, an old camera by today's equipment, but still takes great photos.  I hang it around my neck on a tether with a swivel so that I can use my left hand to hold the camera and punch the buttons.  Thus some pics are level and some are not.  I just stick it up, point and shoot.  Love that digital.

We ate in Jasper a couple of times, lunch once and breakfast on Thursday.  This day we stopped at the Cliff House Rest.  Good food and wonderful scenery.  It's also a motel with cabins.    

That handsome fellow in in the red shirt is one heck of
a guy.  Loves his bike, loves to ride and has been known to enjoy a meal or two.  A mountain view from across a field.   

One of my working buddies, the last of the original gang, rode up from Searcy, AR Friday to visit me.  We rode to dinner that night in a drizzling rain.  He's riding a nice BMW Touring bike.  Since it rained all Friday afternoon and Saturday wasn't going to be much better, he and I said our goodbyes to the remaining VOAI group and pulled out at 8 a.m. Saturday for Little Rock.  He called ahead and contacted two other guys now retired to meet us at a restaurant for lunch.  We took AR Hwy 14 back to U.S. 167 that runs into North Little Rock.  It is a great road, lots of curves and a biker store along the route out in no where. 

We arrived at the restaurant, met the other two guys and had a lunch BS session all rolled into one.  I don't get to see these guys very often as they all three live in AR and I live in TN.  We worked together for about 14 years until I retired.  Next time we want to contact another buddy living in AR so we can have a reunion of our own.  After lunch I headed for TN.

Taking I-40 from North Little Rock I didn't have to worry about route changes as this route takes me right into Knoxville, TN.  The problem was the weather and highway construction.  Got tied up in a 5 mile traffic jam due to construction and a tour bus that broke down.  In and out of small showers until I finally passed through Nashville, bone tired.  Made it about 40 more miles to Lebanon, TN at 9:30 p.m.  We left that morning at 8 a.m.  Unloaded gear, showered and died.

Woke up Sunday morning and pulled out of the motel at 8:30 a.m. burning and turning all the way to Knoxville with a fuel stop and a cup of coffee in Crossville.  Arrived at the house at 12:45 EDT.  Crazy, just past Crossville you go from Eastern to Central time while in the same state.  Total miles this week, 1,808.  Cost, who cares.  Excitement, more than money can buy.  Great trip, great friends, great food, great scenery and a safe journey.

Time grows shorter with the years, fun is still young at heart.  Ride safe.