No bugs was harmed on today's ride......

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

We had ( 3 ) Valkyrie's in today's ride....Paul ( Wimp ) , Gordon ( Lucky 13 ) and Smokin'joe. Very cold when we took off this morning with temps in the low 20's and it did'nt warm up much all day. Paul had read about this BBQ place up in Rogersville,Tennessee that had some great Q.These first pictures was taken on Hwy.61 near Big Ridge State Park on beautiful Norris Lake they have it pulled down right now for the winter pool.








I'll be honest on the BBQ place in Rogersville it was a strong 5 at best.Paul had the sampler with three meats , Gordon had the pulled pork and I had beef brisket so we hit'em hard.








Wimp split off to head for Knoxville on the way home and Gordon and I hit the rural backroads for home. We was screamin' down Wolf Valley Rd just as it was getting dark and I thought to myself " Damn what a motorcycle to be this big and still able to attack these curves like this.
" The Money Shot " taken on Hwy 66 The Beast  just outside of Rogersville, Tennessee. You folks that plan to come play on The Dragon don't forget about these roads Hwy.61 and Hwy. 66 they are not famous but they are fun with little to no traffic.

[hal47]

Good report Joe, looks like they just about drained that lake,hope they left enough for thr fish. lol

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Good report Joe, looks like they just about drained that lake,hope they left enough for thr fish. lol

The town of Loyston was covered with water when they built Norris Dam back in the 30's. Norris was one of the first New Deal's to bring America out of The Great Depression. Way back in the early 80's we had severe drought conditions and Loyston was coming out of the water ( first and only time in its 80 year history ). The picture just shows a cove. Norris Lake, the largest reservoir on a tributary of the Tennessee River, has 33,840 acres of water surface and 809 miles of shoreline.Some spots in the lale are well over 200 feet deep and its one of the cleanest lakes in the south.

[hubcapsc]

Here's a bridge that came out of Lake Hartwell a few years ago during the bad drought... it got worse,
and the road leading to each side of the the bridge came out too...



-Mike

[Rams]

Here's a bridge that came out of Lake Hartwell a few years ago during the bad drought... it got worse,
and the road leading to each side of the the bridge came out too...



-Mike

OK, now I've gotta tell ya, that's a cool pic.  Thanks for posting it.

Hey Joe, get a pic of your bike on that bridge and that'll be a real money shot. 

[hotglue #43]

Thanks for the ride report Joe!!!!!  Looks COLD!

Mike, I bet that bridge would play havoc on a boatmotor lower unit when the water starts coming up!!!!

[fon1961]

Joe,

Does the section of 66 that you're taking about go between Rogersville and Bulls Gap?

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Joe,

Does the section of 66 that you're taking about go between Rogersville and Bulls Gap?

No....It's between Sneedville and Rogersville....If you take 11 out of Kingsport soon as pass 70 the next road you go under will be 66....Its a great road for motorcycling be sure to research Pressman's Home and go check it out while in the hood.

[fon1961]

will do, thanks Joe! 

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

will do, thanks Joe! 

You're welcome...If you go on a weekend give me a few days heads up and we'll hook up for lunch and do alittle ridin' 

[Serk]

Very cool ride report, thanks for posting it! I wish I had the time to get out and ride more, but with the kiddoes, well, they take most of my non-working time these days...

On the lake, we have a similar situation here. Lake Ray Hubbard near my house got REALLY low a few years back, and not only the old bridge, but the whole old road came up. I went out and got some pics:

(Normally just the very tips of the railings are above water. I used to ride my jet ski along the road between the railings back in the day when I was single and could afford toys like jet skis)





Ya' know it's bad when the lake needs to be mowed...

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Years ago we fished all the time I've got a 24 foot Carolina Skiff in my garage thats not been wet in years and is covered with motorcycle gear  Seems I can't stay off my bikes long enough to go fishing. We was planning a fishing trip to Texas to fish Sam Rayburn Lake about the time I really got into motorcycling.We did pull it to Santee Cooper Lake in South Carolina and had a blast....I say every year I'm going to pull it out of the garage and buy new battery's and see if it still runs ( not been started in 6 or 7 years    ) .

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Loyston, Tennessee is now under a mile wide part of Norris Lake....Little history...


Loyston was a community in Union County, Tennessee, United States, that was inundated by the waters of Norris Lake after the completion of Norris Dam in 1936.Established in the early 19th century around a foundry built by its namesake, John Loy, over subsequent decades the community's location along State Highway 61 helped it grow into a trading center for local farmers. By the time the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began making plans to build Norris Dam in the early 1930s, Loyston had a population of approximately 70 residents, and consisted of a post office and several small businesses.

Prior to inundation, TVA conducted extensive sociological surveys of Loyston's residents, and the community was documented by photographer Lewis Hine. Most of Loyston's residents relocated elsewhere in the area, with many forming the community of New Loyston in the hills to the south. Loyston was located near where Mill Creek empties into the Clinch River, at river mile 98. Mill Creek's drainage carved a broad valley known as Big Valley, flanked on the south by Lone Mountain and on the east by Big Ridge. At Loyston, State Highway 61 intersected a major local road. The trip to Knoxville from Loyston was a 30-mile drive on Highway 61 (which has since been re-routed). Loyston is now under a mile-wide section of Norris Lake known as the "Loyston Sea," located along the shores of Big Ridge State Park.

[hubcapsc]

Ya' know it's bad when the lake needs to be mowed...

You know it's bad when trees are growing where the water used to be, and then the
trees die from lack of water!

-Mike

[hubcapsc]

There's an old town under Lake Jocassee. They do a lot of scuba diving there since
the lake is so deep and clear. They say it is really weird to be down there in
the graveyard among the pine trees, you can see all around...



-Mike

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

There's an old town under Lake Jocassee. They do a lot of scuba diving there since
the lake is so deep and clear. They say it is really weird to be down there in
the graveyard among the pine trees, you can see all around...



-Mike

When I was young I worked at Anderson County Park along Norris Lake. My boss was a old man who had worked for TVA and his job was relocating thousands of graves. He worked all over TVA's 7 state power grid digging up graves ,cleaning ,repairing ,resetting monuments and headstones.TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams in those 7 states and all had folks that needed to be relocated and the dead removed before flooding....The Road To Nowhere A Broken Promise is a sad fact of how TVA treated the dead back then      To the best of my knowledge I don't think TVA covered graves like the picture you posted but who know's