SPRING RIDE WITHOUT LONG SLEEVES

It's a great time of the year, don't you agree? The time when nature gives you a freebie, a day of sunshine accompanied by heat, warmth, and sun burns. The time of year when we take off our jackets and expose our Lilly white arms to the warmth of the sun. Exposure of a sort that don't do much for the libido but sure helps us forget the gloom of the past few months of winter!


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Sunday March 10th was just such a day. I waited for the fog to burn off. I puttered about the house until almost noon, then started the bike and headed for my spring destination: The Snake (US-421). I took a round about way to get there. I live less than 30 miles from this semi-famous motorcycle destination in Shady Valley, TN.

The way I take is SR-37 to US-321 in Hampton TN. US-321 heads up into the mountains and around Lake Watauga. This is a nice little twisty road that eventually leads out of Tennessee and into Western North Carolina.


image caption: Into the mountains

Our winter has been quite wet. It's a rock strewn ride around mud and rock slides as I travel this road.



It's here the road becomes of interest to me! All of a sudden, even though I've traveled this road for almost 5 years, I realize there are some very cool back roads that need exploration. I decide to take one of them as I enter the valley floor near US-421. The road is called "OLD US-421". I decide to take it. How can ya go wrong? It was worth the ride.


image caption: A blast from our past ESSO

Not far into the detour I ride into a small town known as Sugar Grove, NC.
As I'm weaving down the road, I spy an old ESSO gasoline sign! "This is gonna be good!" I think to myself. I was right! Here in little Sugar Grove, across the street from the Library is a little museum. It's known as "D.T. Garage Museum".


image caption: Antique gas pump


image caption: Antique gas pump


image caption: D.T. Brown Garage

Leaving the Garage Museum behind, I travel a few miles down the road to discover these photogenic buildings standing next to a creek whose soft, misty undertones helped produce a hypnotic beauty in my mind. I hoped to capture that same beauty through the lens.


image caption: early 20th century architecture

I barely kicked the bike into 2nd gear after leaving the old buildings, then I came across this old steam engine. I've not a clue what it was once used for. Do you?


image caption: Vestige of a steam engine

I'm a fan of the old style country church. I saw one that caught my eye as I was riding down the road. I decided to snap my camera as I rode. I like the way the tarmac of the road gives way to the speed of the bike while the old church sits center frame in the distance.



All too soon, Old US-421 rejoins the new and "improved" edition of US-421 and I turn my wheel toward the town of Trade TN. Trade sits on the shared state lines of Tennessee and North Carolina. It has a fun festival every year which celebrates the old grist mill that still sits in town. Some time, I'll have to look for the photos I took when I attended with my sister a few years ago.

Just after passing the grist mill is SR-67. I turn right at this road and follow it up into North Carolina again. The road now becomes NC-88. A fine road for photo ops, but I don't stay on it long. I want to get back onto US-421 and head for Shady Valley via Mountain City. I was ready for a few technical twists and turns on US-421 known locally to us bikers as "The Snake".


image caption: the Mountain City side of The Snake.



In one shot I took (on the west side of Shady Valley heading toward Bristol TN.) I stopped to get a few shots. I never noticed my lens took a hit from a juicy bug, but it tends to lend character to the photo.


image caption: Shady Valley

I turned the bike around at South Holston Lake, retracing my ride back to Shady Valley. I didn't stop at the Shady Valley General Store, which is the prime destination for many riders. I came to ride, not socialize. No time for the hundreds of bikers standing around telling war stories. I like to make my stories as I ride, and I'll them to ya here. Much better this way. Don't ya think?