farewell ride

rode up to chattown to see the lil brother one last time afore he moves way out in the cold ass rocky mountains where i shant be visiting any other months but july and august. figuring it'll be a long time until we can party down together again, i played hooky friday and hit the highway. after a biscuit stop in triune and a brief visit with my cousin in shelbyville i jammed it as fast as i could through middle tennessee until i snaked up the switchbacks onto the cumberland plateau, and then i eased off the throttle and took a lazy afternoon crawlin up and down the mountainsides. took the time i'd been meaning to spend in cowan at the railroad museum since my last visit; last time i rode through i had time constraints. even got caught by a mile long coal train, emptied at the tva power station and deadheading back to montana for more.

i meandered lazily, smoking at least one cigarette in every town square i came across, waded in a couple of creeks. it was a good ride, but i was sore and sunburned by the time i rode in high above moccasin bend; the city is gorgeous from up there, been more than three of decades since i came into chattanooga from that side.

we partied down, ate seafood and even did some late night drunken drywalling(well he did, i stuck to the partying).......enough so that he woke up with the hurls. the groans and the nap-time face clued me in that he was going to be worthless for several more hours & led me to tighten up the chain, bungee up the gear and hitch up my already grungy jeans; pointing the front wheel northwest i headed out, suck creek road here i come. i still haven't managed to find it coming from the west, and i know i've said it many times already, but damn i love that road. i imagine it's what the dragon is like, but shorter.

so down into the sequatchie valley and back up the plateau, i hit foster falls on my way through grundy county. just didnt have it in me to hike down and back up out of that gulf, but someday. coming back in, just to the east of tullahoma i turned off at a sign for ledford mills thinking i might see an old mill, but found out later it is on private property and that you can't drive to it. as i'm mistakenly on that fools errand i notice a pull off on this tiny one lane rd and look back barely in time to catch a glimpse of a waterfall. super secret 12-15 ft waterfall at the end of this tightwalled run-off canyon. seriously great smokebreak/snacktime spot. well worth the detour...

 pretty uneventful ride through the flatland, but spotted a storm just before unionville. i pulled over at a store and waited a good 30 minutes and no movement out of the clouds, so i decided to try and make the gas station at unionville. when i got there it was still clear so tried to make the gas station at eagleville. no such luck, but i pressed on until the drops got so big and frequent each one felt like hitting a junebug at 50mph. i got thoroughly drenched before i ran across this tiny station in bfe and huddle up under shelter with another couple of bikers. finally gettin back to the highway sopping wet, i didn't have to worry about the heat anymore; miserably refreshing...

i pushed on into the city and arrived satiated,dirty as hell and sore as a blond whore in bangkok. win

 
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