I left out of here on Thursday headed for Clinton, TN. I never seem to go directly anywhere,
so it took me from about 9:00am till 5:00pm to get all the way there, I sure didn't drive down
any flat crowded interstates
I crossed over the first set of mountains on 215 out of Rosman, NC, it goes up to the Blue Ridge Parkway
and down the other side to Canton, NC. I stopped at the BRP to take a drink of water and picked a good
overlook to stop at...
I headed from there to Canton, where I used my "secret new road" to get to I40. 215 leads directly
to I40, so no "secret road" is needed, but Crabapple Mountain Road is hard to resist. It is a curvy
mountain road that turns into a series of 1st gear switchbacks...
... and then breaks out onto a great panorama... that day it was too cloudy to get the full effect,
and pictures don't do this kind of stuff justice anyhow...
... and then down the other side...
Anyhow, Crabapple Mountain Road is a good one to hit...
I used "the gorge" on I40 on the way up to Clinton, and on the way back from Bardstown. I'd never
ridden it before, it is a very Valkyrie worthy bit of interstate! There was not much traffic on the way
up, but on the way back there was tons of traffic. Northbound was almost a parking lot, but
Southbound was moving, and I was headed south that day. Imagine being in the fast lane running
with the big dogs on a day when this hiway is hopping...
I passed the place where the mountain collapsed on to the road a few months ago... the road is
open now, but there's still tons of work going on for miles. The most impressive sight was where
they hydraulically lifted two guys up on this platform... it was them and a drill with a motor the
size of a boat motor, and a drillbit as big as my leg... they were drilling a hole into solid rock and
rock dust was blowing back at them like... imagine sand under pressure being pumped into your face
out of a four inch pipe... one guy was holding up his shirt and trying to hide behind it, but it was
like trying to hold back the ocean with a kleenex... the little camera got this picture, I wish I could have
stopped and taken a good one...
There's a tunnel in the gorge... I like tunnels, even though they're a little disorienting... (maybe because?)
I left I40 after the gorge, and wandered around on some Tennessee backroads, here's Owl Hole Gap Road:
After I got near Clinton, I stopped to get some gas and ran into DG... he had just gotten his
Valkyrie three days ago, and was as excited about it as a kid on Christmas. He knows about the
VRCC, and I expect we'll see him posting, so - welcome DG! He was headed towards Clinton, so
we rode together for about 20 miles...
On Friday we had eight riders that left out of Clinton towards Bardstown. We stopped on this bridge
that went over a really deep valley. The echo was real good, so Joe preached at the top of his
lungs for a while. Unbeknownst to him, Gordon was filming - sounds like a YouTube classic could be
coming out any day now...
The Whiskey Run itself was a great ride. We stretched out to the the horizon...
It was real hot every day... stretches of road like this were a relief...
VRCC member Roadkill from Kansas was in front of me some of the day. You ever seen someone that
looked like they were having the most fun just riding down the road - that's him... I guessed he
must have just gotten his well-used bike and was just grooving on the Valkyrie experience, but he
told me he got that bike over ten years ago and put all those miles on it.
While we were in Kentucky we passed several giant installations of these huge buildings... they're
whiskey warehouses, there must have been 10 or 12 of them at this one location... smells pretty
good near them
You ever seen those people who talk with their hands?
At Maker's Mark they gave us the grand tour... we were right there in the middle of everything...
I remember a tour in the Clemson's computer room where some kid mashed one of hubcap's (yeah,
there's a computer named that) disks offline... I know all these buttons in the whiskey factory must
have been locked out somehow...
Left Bardstown on Sunday, and even though I meandered all over the place on the way home, I
made it in before dark. I left with six or seven guys, one gal (janet) and Big Owl in a truck. I really
enjoyed riding behind Gordon...
Gordon and some other guys saved one guys ride on Saturday night by repairing his starter switch,
and fixed Wimp up on Sunday when his radiator fan quit working... I think Gordon could get your bike
back on the road with nothing but a stick and some rocks to work with...
I split up with them after a few miles of I75 and headed towards home on a mountain hiway called
25E... much better than an interstate
There's a tunnel at the Cumberland Gap near where Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina come
together...
https://www.roadstothefuture.com/Cumberland_Gap.htmlI made a wrong turn not long after that and got off 25E and onto 33, it was a good road
...
Then back through the gorge and over the BRP and made it home by 8:00pm or so... my sweetie
had tea and a sandwich waiting for me... 1100 miles total for the trip...
These picture show a bunch of the good roads, but the best thing was hanging with all the VRCC
people... I shook Jabba's hand, Jiml bought me a cup of coffee, Ray and Laura bought me some enchiladas,
I talked to so many people who all seemed to know me (I think I post too much
) - I'm signed
up for inzane, but the way I wonder through the countryside it might take three days each way to get
there... anyhow, whether it is inzane or the next place, I can't wait to see everyone again!
-Mike
