After a very satisfying lunch at Lexington BBQ, it was time to continue west into the mountains with a couple of stops along the way to Asheville to get royally reamed at the pump.
Darn it…I knew I should have stopped at that one station in Mocksville!
But no matter…it worked out well to do another splash and go at Black Mountain and give the Traverse a proper tank of the high-octane petrol before really tackling the mountains proper.
The original plan was to head to Chattanooga via Murphy but the time and the weather suggested the better move was to stay on I-40 and traverse (!) the Great Smoky Mountains which were living up to their name with low-hanging clouds.
Now, if you’ve not done the bit between the Waynesville exit and Newport TN…do it. It’s a right fun and twisty road that includes a tunnel three miles from the state line! And unlike everyone else round me who were doing their best to set their brakes afire…I rarely touched them at all during the entire 37 mile segment.
Engine braking is such a wonderful thing! Shift down to 4th or 5th for the climbs, let her have a rest in 6th for the flat bits, and then back to 5th (usually) for the descents.
Once you’re past Newport TN, you’re on the plateau pretty much from there to Chattanooga so you can settle in with some lovely tunes (thank you Mindi Abair!) and a nice ride through Knoxville which is MUCH larger than I remember it being 22 years ago when Dad and I passed through for Grandma’s funeral in Marion IL. And we remember when Knoxville was truly a very sleepy and small town way back in the 1970s as it was generally the preferred route for his family to Florida! 🙂
I made to to the hotel round 2130 and did the usual first night’s shuffling things round from bag to bag and sifting the pictures before finally heading off to sleep.
Tomorrow will be visiting Lookout Mountain on the border of Georgia and Tennessee…what happens after that, your guess is as good as mine. But stay tuned for the next episode where this secret will be revealed! 🙂
