if a picture is worth a thousand words .....

this is several thousand words long.    ; )

I got the camera out and played with exposures and took a couple hundred pictures. The fall colors are really pretty up here on "rocky top". anyway here are some pictures for your enjoyment ....

 

Mother Nature sure does put on quite the show during the fall months!

take a hike, eh?

It's been just about a year since Sean and I last got together and went for a hike. We haven't seen one another for a while and he sent me an email suggesting we do so. I am game!

Now, for the record, Sean is not the most decisive person, so for him to come up with this was good, but he also had a place and day suggested. I felt like typing "Who are you and what have you done with Sean?" Anyway, the details were sorted and we just had to wait until the time came to go.

Then the day before we were to go, he emails me that he thinks a different place would be better this time of year. I told him I didn't care where we went; to me, it was more about the company. It's all good! I just have to be home by 5 PM. He was fine with that, so it's a go!

We didn't have to go too far before the fall colors were presented in all their glory ....

I DO love this time of year! Pleasant weather and plenty of beautiful scenery!

This hike was only 2 miles each way and it was a fairly moderate level, too. Out of shape as I am, and with Sean nursing a bad back to health, it was the perfect call.

  

As we walked down the path, we would hear the crunch of leaves beneath our feet and the sound of the water as it coarsed over the rocks and boulders that made the bed the creek flowed through. Other than that, there wasn't much other noise. It was quite nice!

We made it to the falls and hung out for a bit taking pictures and taking in the scene. 

For whatever reason, I always feel the need to cross the water to get to the falls. I don't know why, but I just long to do this. 

photo taken by Sean Kelley

photo taken by Sean Kelley

photo taken by Sean Kelley

photo taken by Sean Kelley

 If you look really hard, I am at the top of the falls. Due to the time of day and the angle of the sun, it is a bit overexposed. There was little that could be done about that, though.


After getting my workout (scaling the hill up that falls, is tougher than it looks), I crossed the "creek" once more. After a few more minutes of taking in the scenery, we headed back. We goofed around and took some more pictures on the way back.

Between a rock and a hard place?
photo taken by Sean Kelley

Hey Sean feel like the weight of the world is on ya?

Photo taken by Sean Kelley's camera     ;j )

What a great day! Cloudless, baby blue sky, with temperatures in the mid 70s amidst some of the best that Mother Nature gives us, and all the while in the company of a very good friend. Hard to take!

Another ride, another deadline ...

A friend recently got a bike and has been wanting to get together and ride. We found a time we could both sneak off and I threw together a "short" run over some pretty fun roads. Cloud9 has a near-bald rear tire so taking the KLR is the smartest option. Besides, having the KLR will keep me at a more sane pace and help even the score between my bike and Ivor's Nighthawk. Although I will say, for someone who has been on a bike for about a month now, from what I did notice he seems pretty smooth.

We had set up a time and place to meet up and then would head out from Newport and cover roughly 150 miles before winding up in Sevierville, where he lives. Probably 180 or so, for each of us, I guess.

The only caveat was that I had to be back home by 4:30 PM, so that Melissa could head off to work. Oh boy ... Ed's got a time frame and on a bike ... you can only wonder how this will wind up!

This morning Ivor tells me he will be there around 10-ish. Judging from where he left from I tried to time it so we both arrived at the same time. I pulled in within a couple minutes of when he did. Sweet! I topped off, we chatted for a bit, and then headed down the road.

Southeast bound on 25/70 we go. We get through the 20 (Okay only 12 I think, but YEESH!) traffic lights and then are finally rolling. I am enjoying the serenity of the blue skies dotted with little, white, powder puff clouds and the fall colors filling the countryside while rolling along.

Then I realize that I hadn't reset the trip meter (for gas purposes) when we filled up. I figure it's been 10 miles since we left so just need to add 10 miles to keep track of when we need to fuel -- or rather when HE does. He gets 120 to a tank.

There is construction somewhere near the state line on 25 so they detour you. This is my normal route, even though it's a 20? mile detour, because it's a lot of fun. It was more enjoyable before the detour as traffic was less prevalent.

Anyhow, luckily today it wasn't too bad. We had pretty much all of 107 to ourselves which is a nice, tree-lined and shaded run through the forest. Gently curved -- good stuff!

Then it's onto TN-70. There is a two mile stretch just before the border which is a cowpath switchback climb of the mountain. You *always* want a free run at it when you can. (big grin) Knowing the road and that the KLR cannot get out of its own way, I knew passing two cars in the space allowed before hitting the mountain wasn't going to happen.

Still being about a mile from the upcoming switchbacks, I just backed the throttle down about 20 mph trying to generate space between us and the cars. It worked for the most part. We got a run at about 2/3 of the climb.

YEAH! right off the bat-- that first hard right ....KRRRRKKKKK ..... ground that peg most of the way through the turn. It is a perfectly banked right hander with a constant radius. that set me  on a pretty decent rhythm for the rest of that 2/3 of free space .. YEAH!

Shortly after this 70 becomes 208. It soon parallels the river with very clear, long sight lines all the way through the curves. You ... can .... reeeaally laaaaay into these turns with confidence! Great fun!!

Then the highlight! One of my favorite NC roads! 209! hands down! It climbs the mountain n a very snakelike manner. The first 8 miles is just back and forth, back and forth, zoom zoom!!

I managed to get past nearly all the vehicles I encountered. I came up on a Harley riding two-up, but sight lines were scarce. A few curves later, he finally waves me by. I accelerated into the next turn -- a downhill right-hander when, all of a sudden, there is s a group of people standing alongside the road, and IN the road -- "IN the road" in that they are IN my lane and just as I am accelerating through the corner.

WTF?!! I dropped anchor and nothing came out of it except for some dilated pupils, since there was a motorcycle lane to get around and before having to go onto the other side of the road. You would think they would try to find a safer place to congregate. I am sure I that came to their attention as much as it had mine.

The thing with 209 is the middle lulls you to sleep. There's a long, straight stretch in the valley that is quite the letdown after all the curves you were just on. However, it's been a LONG time since I have been on THIS part. Just as you are getting Ho-hum! WOOWEEE! crossing another mountain and the curves are back. These aren't as tight so you can really scoot along if you get in tune, so to speak. YEEHA!

We zipped up this mountain with very little traffic to inhibit us. Soon we were to the I-40 interchange and, since time was a concern, I incorporated about 20 miles of slab in the route. Now, that stretch of I-40 goes over the mountain and the wide sweepers are best enjoyed at about 85 mph. When you time it just right you can slalom between vehicles. Fun, fun, fun!

The idea was to pick up the Foothills Parkway (the eastern one) over to 321 then onto a road I hadn't rode for way too long -- 416. The Foothills Parkway was a great choice.

The leaves are really popping right now up there. Plenty of reds, orange, yellows .. really nice! The road gently weaves its way across the landscape and the tourists all seemed to be parked at the overlooks. SCORE!

However, 321 was a rolling traffic jam. Hadn't given tourists much thought until this point. Good Lord! I looked down and the speedometer at one point and it told me we were doing an agonizing 20 mph. GAH!

Now in fairness, it wasn't 20 all the time, but it was still friggin' slow! Again on a time crunch here so this is resonating in my mind. HAHA!

Problem was that there was a line of cars, and even if you picked them off one by one, it would take forever. I passed a few before I settled in line and just rode along knowing that 416 is coming in the next painstaking 15 miles or so.

We hit 416 and it is freshly paved. I have been on it, but it's been ... forever! WOW! I forgot how much a blast this road is. Swish, Sway, Up, Down. WHEE! It's very roller-coaster-ish. As Mr. Mazur would say, it's one tasty "ribbon of asphalt"!

We were moving along at a good clip now away from tourist traffic. What local traffic we encountered was quickly dispatched. Until, that is, we came upon a Sheriff-led Trash Pickup Patrol with trailer rolling towards their next stop.

He is crawling along, too. GRR! There is no way I am going to pass him ,though.

Granted, he has enough problems to handle he probably wouldn't chase me, but he DOES have a radio. At his first opportunity, he pulled over to allow us to pass by. That was pretty cool of him and I offered up a friendly wave and smile as we rolled past.

From there we wondered back to Ivor's house to drink a beer before I headed along my way. JUST ONE! ; ) After that, onto home.

I grabbed 139 along the river to Dandridge, then 92 south. It was about 5 miles up the road when the bike starts bucking. Out of gas! remember about not resetting the trip meter? Yeah! I forgot about that!

I switched over to reserve. However, I am unsure how much fuel is in the reserve -- I should really find out. So now I'm in fuel conservation mode.

Off the gas and coast downhill, just before ascending, gently roll on and hold speed, coast, roll on, no gas modulation in the cuves, etc. I soon found a gas station and my mind is at ease. I put in a gallon and a half to get me home.

92 south is another windy, twisty, fun piece of road. I had planned to take it to 411 then on home, but then came across a side road that I had forgotten about. Only thing was this ... isn't ... familiar.

There's a store there and storage locker place where there used to be ... nothing. I am curious if I this is the road I think it is. Ah well, I am going to find out. After a few turns, it is evident that this IS indeed the one I throught it was. I have used this as a tire scrub run before. Another joyous piece of asphalt.

I got home right at 4:30, which was my outside target time. Which was *just* enough time to see Melissa heading out the door. I was trying to make it by 4:15, and almost did, but I at least I got here "on" time. Hey it don't happen much, let me brag!  ; )

It's soo good to get seat time. Had perfect riding weather, good roads, no pucker moments, no imperial entanglements, and good comapny. What more can you ask for?

let me ramble (HEY IT'S MY SPACE ... oh wait that's part of the problem)

(for the grammar purists ... first off ... FUCK YOU, HAHAHA ... NO capitals in this and maybe run-on or fragmentary sentences, this is free-style writing but heart-felt, soulful issues that *i* need to deal with ... so accept it or move on!)

this could easily be titled self ________

 pity, absorbed, centered


..... the list goes on,. your choice!  and it's all about me! (sadly) -- which is the point of this post. these all describe my character ... or lack of!      you fill in the blank!

this is hard! but then i seem to have no problem calling out folks in my life so maybe i ought to examine myself with such criticism as well! that's always a tough thing to do without bias, right? if you cannot throw stones .......  but a conversation with the woman of my life (my wife) has made me examine this closer.

yes, i knew it is part of my makeup. i am not proud of it, but have become more aware. okay, i knew it was an issue, but maybe not to thsi extent. i was certainly cognizant of facets of it, but. damn it sucks to be called on it.

in a way it is a wake-up call to make yourself to NOT be that guy! thanks love! (yes she is likely reading this) sometimes i need that smack in the face! NOT ALL THE TIME...  but, SOMEtimes!

so i am selfish. i have perceived tendencies, values, priorities .... whatever ... that i hold dear and fail to find a compromise on; and that is a definite fallacy! admitting it is only PART of the problem, but i do acknowledge it!

i don't know why. i -can- say the examples i have had (my father and grandfather ... also quite selfish) have certainly impacted that, but shouldn't we strive to be better? why haven't i seen (all of) this before now? is it too late? how do i change this?

heh. i thought i was searching before! i reckon i had no idea! i need to figure out how to make ed a better guy. you know, the guy that makes everyone else in the room better, because he is there. not the guy that will take everything without thinking of others' welfare first.

hmmm got some soul- searching to do ............


oddly, megan, my daughter, is that person. she walks into the room and a light shines. it is a brighter, happier place, BECAUSE of her. she got past the darkness her father casts, why can't i be that person?

i guess it's about compromise. i can give in ... to a point! and i guess that's my point. i can't or won't just give in wholly -- it's conditional. i don't know how to leap this hurdle.

looks as if i have my work cut out for me.

Timeless lament

Sittting here in the darkness,
Searching for light.
This search appears futile,
But the notion makes me smile.
   Day in, day out,
   Time just rolls on.

Nothing ever changes here,
It sure is tiring.
The sun rises, the sun sets,
And older is all I get.
   Day in, day out,
   Time just rolls on.


Going through the motions,
Helpless and without purpose.
Having total lack of control,
Makes me feel as if I have no soul.
   Day in, day out,
   Time just rolls on.

Tellico bound

My SME started Thursday night when Skip Smith and Ben Russo stopped by to visit en route to Tellico. We drank a few beers and spent some time hanging out. Skip left me about a dozen or so craft beers -- most of them I have never had before. Very cool, thanks buddy!

Since Skip was trailering, he agreed to haul my camp gear down for me. That meant I just had to get on the bike in the morning and go. Sweet!

On Friday, I left around 11, I think.  I had to stop in Knoxville to get some brews. After picking out a couple, I headed down US 129 planning to cut across the Cherahola Skyway to get me to Tellico.

I was scooting along pretty quick down US 129 and one of the folks I passed, I recognized as I passed him. It was Erik and Jakob Kauppi with Don Scoda in tow. However, I came upon a Harley parade (8 or 9 of them) and was unable to get past, so I just pulled into the overlook and waited.

Shortly thereafter, Erik, Jakob, and Doug pull in. We chat for a bit and then decide it's time to motor on.

On the Dragon, I see a guy whose bike is over in the ditch. He had an old vintage Honda. Oddly, the last time on this road, I helped someone else pull their bike out of that very same ditch.

He was fine and there was nothing more I could do, so I mounted up and took off. I got to the Skyway and Mother Nature was showing off a full array of fall colors. It was so pretty up there. I was having a hard time focusing on the road.

I stopped at Tellico Beach for a burger and onion rings, that way I wouldn't have to go back out later. I set up the tent that KB gave me (thanks again Katherine) and was done for the night. Lies were told, beers were drunk, and good times were had.

call me anything but "late for dinner" ...

usually that is a true statement!

So Saturday dawned and I managed to get up at a decent hour. However, since breakfast is rarely dished out prior to 10 AM, that's not exactly a hard goal to live up to (although, I have slept through it before (including cleanup) once).

Lori and team once again served up a full complement of food for all of us to feast upon including (but not limited to) biscuits, gravy, bacon, sausage, hash brown casserole, scrambled eggs, and, of course, Ms. Wyn's Goetta .... OH MY! I went about hardening arteries and after breakfast Kent came up to me inquiring what my plans for the day were. 

Well, RIDE, of course! With the "glib reply" out of the way, I informed him that I wasn't sure if I were going to head towards Georgia or hit some stuff in central Tennessee that I haven't been  on for a while. 

Well, Kent mentioned he wanted to find something he hasn't ever been on before. Dude! I can fix you up! So the decision was made ... central Tennessee it is! 

I pull out the map and set us up a sweet route with some tasty twisties. Two problems ... one, it will be a LONG day and two, because of the first problem, we will have to slab an hour and a half to get there so we can be back in time for dinner. By now, Curtis Cavanaugh, and Bob Nelson have expressed interest in tagging along. Cool! I like all 3 of them!   ; )

Here is a map of the route we took:

http://goo.gl/maps/UsR2d

If you use this link ... zoom in! there's some *good* stuff here!! Actually I have run this very same route (with exception of the departure point) and it's always enjoyed.

So we got rolling right around 11. Lori typically serves dinner around 7 PM-ish. 8 hours? that's plenty of time right? (now, for context I did NOT take the time to try and assess how many miles we were looking at or our return time, we were burning daylight as it was!) Okay, by now I have tipped you off enough, you likely know the answer to that.   ; )

As mentioned above, the first part was slab. Nothing to report there. 

Upon exiting slab, we are in urbana and dealing with light after light. I finally look over after the third or fourth light (we been riding *almost* two hours now!!) and say, the fun stuff is about 10, 15 miles away. I don't know if I did that more for them or more for me!

(Not?) Soon enough we are on TN-61. Immediately a grin is pasted on my face. I *know* what's up ahead!

Suffice to say, ZOOM! ZOOM! swish, sway, repeat! all the while you are giddily laughing in your helmet! YES baby, I'll take some more of this please!

Then it's US 441 across Norris Dam. A really beautiful area as you ride right next to the river that feeds the dam most of the way in. Then you climb, cross, the dam and there's another short stretch of fun. 

Well, I had held off passing this pickup truck, giving the driver a chance to pull over before basic traffic tenets had to be compromised. I had been following long enough for him to get (the hell) out of the way, but he expressed no interest in doing so. Good stuff coming up, it's GO time! ... and I did.

I got around, Curtis did (as he was on my six ALL day) as did Kent. Past that I could not see. I later found out the guy must've gotten pissed because when Bob made his attempt to pass the driver put the truck in the middle of the road making it a balls on or just cool tires issue. What a prick! 

Bob chose the latter (and I would've too ... when a  driver acts like that, he may take you out! SCREW THAT! -- live to ride another day! good call Bob! but sorry buddy).

Uh-oh! Within a mile of that pass, four deer cross the road. I damn near stopped looking for #5 but it never showed. Roll on!

With Curtis' 120 mile range (on his big Magna), we needed to fuel up again. This would be the perfect opportunity to put the idea that gravels are a problem on the next road we are going to hit. The next road? TN-116 ... Rich Dluhy's favorite!   HAHAHA

I LOVE this road. Uber fun! y'know when you see the typical warning sign with the S (curvy road ahead) "for the next" XX "miles" I automatically grin. I just can't help myself. The XX in this case was 25. 

As it turns out, 3 of the 4 of us damn near tried to kill ourselves in different spots. Kent started this ride with "You've crashed (pointing to me), You've crashed (pointing to Curtis), YOU haven't (to Bob), whose turn is it?" 

Well on this road 3 of us took a shot at being that candidate. Kent must be the only paragon of virtue and self-restraint and representing Mo well! 

Curtis tried riding into a rock wall, Bob, was within INCHES of the white line in a left turn, with nothing but air past that line, and I was in a nice stretch of switchbacks kickin' ass and takin' names, when the bike DANCED laterally across a gravel patch that I managed to point the bike at. I'm not happy with that!

I had enough time to formulate two statements in my head. One was "FUCK!" the other was "Oh boy! this is gonna hurt!!" as I was moving about 40 MPH when the momentary slide started. Obviously, I kept it on two wheels, but I sure chilled the next few turns while trying to regain composure.

The irony of the potential of this situation was that I warned THEM about gravels and *my* dumb ass is about to go over the cliff. DOH!

Well all 3 of us escaped ... bum, bum, bum, bum .... certain death .... and lived to ride another day! YAY!

116 is an absolute hoot! There are some challenging road conditions to handle, but ... just! .... fun!

This dumps you on TN-62 and then US 27. These two are kind of ho-hum connector type roads for this route. It's still good, but not "Oh wow!" stuff!

27 brings us to TN-297 through the Big South Fork area just south of KY-TN state line. This is another mountain-crossing thrill ride. Up one mountain, then down, the right back up another and ride the ridge a bit. I'll take it!

This dead ends on TN-154 which has a  lot of roller-coaster type hills to play on. If you work your throttle right you get that "whoop" feeling in your belly when you crest a hill on a rolly-coaster. I kinda like that!

154 drops you on to TN-52, another "dead end". We needed to refuel here too. According to Kent's GPS, there were a couple within a few miles away. Apparently we entered the "Land of the Lost" as the first place we found wouldn't accept credit nor debit cards but WOULD  a personal check. REALLY?!?

Curtis had the cash and filled up. The rest of us were looking for someplace that works with plastic. The friendly attendant points us down the road a few miles to their Co-Op. Okay. It's closed, but they do have *a* credit card machine -- as in ONE! 

Never seen anything like it! There was a "kiosk" that accpeted CC info and then you plug in what pump you are at, but it was a get-in-line and wait-your-turn situation. Us 3 (unfilled) bikes were among 2 other vehicles that showed. I cannot swear to it, but I think between the other store and this one, we lost damn near an hour --- REFUELING!!!

We get back to TN-52 and descend the mountain on some nice lazy type, but fun, S curves that sashay back and forth quite nicely. Not technical, but still fun.

It was funny because just prior to this Curtis asked where we were relative to Knoxville. From his expression, he wasn't entirely pleased about our position relative to the time on the watch. Understandably!

It was now that I realized getting back to camp prior to dinner? Not so much. Bob's GPS had more confidence than I, but was still tight even at that!

It was then I asked what their idea was to missing dinner and still hitting the fun stuff. Nobody was complaining about the roads and even though time was tight we figured we wouldn't arrive too late that Tellico would have rolled up the sidewalks so we could still find food SOMEwhere.

BOOM! back on track. We got back to 52 and headed west (yes further from Tellico) to catch one more of Ed's fun roads!

This would be TN-85. We get to it and, thankfully, the cop we had been SLO-O-O-O-O-WLY following (DAMMITALL!)   for the last 20 miles stayed on 52 instead of turning onto 85! YAY! 

On to 85 and up, down, left, right, rinse, repeat. Oh and a couple grins here and there for good measure. 

This is as far as I "planned". I knew this would get us back to interstate to slab it if we were close to dark-thirty (read as deer-thirty). Well it kind of was! 

We decided to set the course for the slab (US 127 south to I-40 east) ... until ... I get the idea that maybe we can "play" on one more road before having to yawn on the slab. I KNOW that all 3 of these clowns hate slabbing (almost, if not) as much as I. 

I quickly did some math in my head and since leading, I aborted the "let's get to slab now" idea and opted for TN-62 east to US 27 --- this would mean less slab and the avg. speed on the slab may be 80 mph and the secondary road speed would likely be close to 65 mph avg. and more fun! No brainer right? Well I never heard anyone complain.   The math related to about 10 minutes time and that wouldn't have got us there *in* time any-fewkin'-how! may as well enjoy it, and I know I did! 62 isn't too tough to take.   ; )

Well at this point there is no disillusion in any of our heads. Boys! we will NOT make it back in time for dinner! Kent, being Mr. Technolgy (bluetoothed, MP3'ed, and Lord knows what else), had called Steeeeevve and asked him to set back 4 plates for us. 

We, at this point, beat feet! Onto the interstate, since it's already dark! Kent had the tech. stuff (as in radar detector), so he led. We were told "You see me drop anchor, follow suit!"

No imperial entanglements were encountered and we got to Tellico as quickly as we could. We got off the slab and are on 68 headed south. About this point, Kent, sitll in the lead, flashes on his bright light upon clearing traffic, which makes night daylight! What a luminous display of electrons!

Nearly simultaneously with the flip of the high beam switch was his twist on the happy handle. After the second or third round I figured out the routine. Not just twist when you see light, but twist up to 90 mph (indicated on my speedo). BooYah!

We made pretty good time and made all those pour souls worrying about our dumbasses at ease upon our arrival. Before dropping my kickstand I let out a  very enthusiastic "WHOOOOO!!!" What a day of fun twisties and GREAT company!!! I live for stuff like this! We did about 400 miles and it was ALL fun!

Catchphrase of the event? Jack Smith came up to me shortly after the "WHOOOOO!!" and asked how many Rock-e-Philometers I did. LOVE IT! 

First time I met Phil, Melissa told a story about my routing procedures. Phil is grinning the whole time and says "A kindred spirit!" I've liked that man ever since!  ; )

Ahhh! beer-thirty! AND food! because the Hunt entourage left food out (and covered) for the "latecomers". Yup, I reckon you can call me "late for dinner" now, dammit! Thanks Lori and crew for leaving some food for us.

The night passed quickly especially because of the good company and some good brew was flowing. The lies flowed as quickly the liquid did. Good times! This group is nothing short of AWESOME!!