2015 Maggie Valley Motorcycle trip
Day 9
|
July 3
 As usual, rain is a consideration today. It stormed all night until around 8am. Now there is a decent gap in the storms. Packed up, rain gear on, we left our vacation home and rode down the hill at ~8:30am.
There are blue skies to the east, but we are headed north. A little 'smoke' is drifting through.
 We took US276 north to I-40. After crossing into Tennessee I had plotted a non-interstate route involving US441 and US25W all the way to Berea, KY, where we will be staying tonight. Had the weather been nice we would have taken it. Given the crappy weather, we will stay on the interstates and use our speed to shoot a gap in the storms. I'd still like to ride the US25W route one of these days. Many times I've been on I-75 and looked down in the valley and wished I was down there instead. A CSX mainline also follows this road for much of its course so there would be a high probability of seeing a train.
 Powell, TN. 10:16, mileage 80,584 - Our gas stop for the day. We are only riding 226 miles so we will only need one fill up. Donna got teas and ice for the cooler. We've not ran into any rain to speak of.
 This ambulance was getting gas near us. Ambulances are close to my heart. This past February I resigned from the IU Health ambulance service after 20 1/2 years of being a part-timer.
A little closer to home.
 Four years ago when we came through here we were in a torrential downpour. We couldn't see each other and our CB radios were useless. We got separated when I exited here and the others continued on to London. Today we rode through about 15 minutes of normal rain as we shot the gap between two storm cells. With our rain gear and Goldwings we barely noticed. 
Taking a stretch break in North Corbin, KY. Only 45 more miles to go.
 As we approached Berea I was looking for exit 77. At exit 76 Donna said "John and Mike are turning". I looked over and they were cruising up the off ramp. That's not good. John wouldn't deviate unless he knew where he was going. I thought about spreading my butt cheeks because I was pretty sure my GPS was going to screw me. And it did...leading me right to the Red Roof Inn. Marvelous... We made a loop through town and worked our way back to exit 76. Along the way Donna saw a couple antique stores. We didn't mess up. We were reconning the area. Yeah...that's it. The Holiday Inn Express was easy to find and the other bikes were parked out front. John had made the reservations and remembered the hotel was located at exit 76. By the time he realized I wasn't turning it was too late for me.
Helmetless and looking for food. It was pushing 2pm by now so we dropped off our luggage and headed into town to find lunch. We didn't want fast food so we found the Main Street Cafe on the GPS and headed that way. When it said we were there we were at a pizza place. Friggin' GPS. We rode all the way to the end of town, and not finding anything good, rode back to the pizza place.
We parked at the Historic Boone Tavern Hotel. They have a plaza of shops.
 Well what do you know. The restaurant WAS there. It was hidden by trees. They had great food, large portions, and it was inexpensive. I left stuffed. After lunch we browsed some shops in the plaza and walked to a couple other craft shops in the area. We didn't really find anything. Just very expensive artsy fartsy stuff. On the way back to the bikes we found a fudge shop. The girls were all over that. They had good homemade fudge and bourbon balls. 
 Next stop...the antique stores. The first one we went to had parking in the back. When we are in antique shops I have one job to do...help Donna look for Pyrex dishes. She has me trained. I even found one! John's cold is still kicking his butt so he and Debby went back to the hotel after the first antique store. Donna said as soon as we left the house in Maggie Valley all of her congestions and aches went away. Hmmmmmm.
 The rest of us went to the other antique store Donna had spied. It was a big store but we only had 15 minutes before they closed. Donna doesn't like to be rushed when she is shopping, but we cleared the store like a SWAT team. She found a runner for the dining room table.
 When we came out of the store the skies looked horrible. I checked the radar and we were being wrapped by storms.
 Mike & Jerri went to the convenience store. John & Debby were setting outside when Donna & I pulled up. I don't remember if I was getting the good finger or the bad finger.
Mike & Jerri have returned. We retired to our rooms for showers and relaxing. Later we ordered from Pizza Hut and watched various fireworks displays from outside the hotel. Good news from Texas...Pat & Christy fought more rain today but are now home.
226 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure.
|
E-mail me