Disclosure: this is not a live blog and I’m writing it on
June 4 back in Dallas
Tuesday morning, time to head to ride to Virginia and West
Virginia.
Of course we stop at the Shell and gas up and grab a breakfast sandwich. Service much better than last year!
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| Shell station with the Parkway Grill. |
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| Blackberry goes along on our ride. |
Head out to Sevierville (traffic there) – pass the Bush’s Baked Bean
plant in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee (also a museum and restaurant and store that we didn’t stop at). They
have a big tower of a can of baked beans! Bush Beans Visitor Center
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| Bush's Baked Bean Factory |
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| Bush's Baked Bean Museum, Restaurant and Store |
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| Bush's Baked Bean tower |
In Johnson City, we stop at the Wrecking Crew Harley
Davidson (https://wreckingcrewhd.com/) . We like it when they name the stores with cool names – Tony gets a
Bristol Motor Speedway shirt – I get one with purple and pink.
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| Wrecking Crew Harley Davidson in Johnson City, Tennessee |
Then stop for
lunch at Pardners BBQ on Route 11, pretty un-exciting from the outside (Pardners BBQ)
. I get sweet corn nuggets. Tony gets a “Texas beef brisket sandwich.” Rick the
lunch buffet (Chicken fried steak and salad bar). Tony’s sandwich is good – but
it’s ham, not beef brisket…
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| Pardners BBQ for lunch |
Next stop: Bristol Motor Speedway – they said we can’t go in
but can get a photo at the Bristol Baby? This stop is something Rick and Tony
want to do. Me, not so much. But, when we get there, we go in through the
parking lot, and pull up to an entrance. Get a picture there. But, see that the
entrance gates are open. And walk in. This is super cool – the Bristol Motor
Speedway track is TINY (only half a mile): Bristol Motor Speeway
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| It's Bristol, Baby! |
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| Freeman's Map around Bristol. |
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| Outside the Bristol Motor Speedway. |
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| Bristol Motor Speedway |
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| Bristol Visitor Center |
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| The Bristol Motor Speedway Track |
Well worth the stop before we do the Snake into Virginia.
The Snake is a nice ride and the road is well maintained and marked -- no debris or gravel. It’s 33 miles, but we only do the first 12 miles in
Tennessee to the Shady Valley country store (Shady Valley Country Store).
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| The Snake -- Freeman Maps |
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| The Snake Map Sign for the OCLL |
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| The Snake |
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| The Snake |
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| The Snake |
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| End of part 1 of the Snake |
Pick up a patch, sign and sticker! Our next turn is 133 – not a bad ride, but
the road was rough in a bunch of spots – and debris and gravel – we don’t like
debris and gravel. The little tunnel was cool. Since we’re on back roads, we
don’t know when we crossed into Virginia.
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| Shady Valley Country Store |
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| Chair and trike at Shady Valley Country Store |
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| I need a Do not pet the fluffy dogs sign (to go with my do not pet the fluffy cows tshirt) |
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Cranberry Festival?
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| Christmas Tree Farm |
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| At one point, we get on the Crooked Road. At some points we're also on the Virginia Skyway. |
We jog through backroads in Virginia
over to Marion – that’s where the Back of the Dragon starts. We gas up.
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| Gas up in Marion |
The
Back of the Dragon (route 16) is 32 miles and 438 curves from Marion to
Tazewell (https://www.backofthedragon.com/). The elevation is more than the
Tail, but there are stretches of fewer curves. It’s not like doing the Tail for
32 miles – that would be a long time. But it’s a nice ride with a mix of forest
and curves and countryside with houses (being late in the day, we wish we did
it earlier in the day).
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| Hungry Mother State Park |
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| SLOW car in front of us (thankfully he pulled off to let us pass) |
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| Cows live on the Back of the Dragon! |
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| Some rough road on the Back of the Dragon (but overall pretty good) |
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| Kudzu |
Then over to Bluefield, Virginia (Bluefield is partly
in Virginia and partly in West Virginia) – to the Comfort Inn on Governor GC
Perry Highway (https://www.bookonline.com/hotel/comfort-inn---bluefield?msclkid=48999bdc664b128bd85dfd83466b039b)
. We’ll be staying here for two nights.
The Comfort Inn is a perfectly fine place to stay – they let
us park our bikes under the portico.
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| Comfort Inn, Bluefield, Virginia |
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| Joe's Pizza and Subs, Bluefield, Virginia |
Nice because it rains when we get there. And
find a menu for Joe’s Pizza – they deliver (Joe's Pizza and Subs)
! Dinner is pizza delivered right to our room. It’s pretty good. Wednesday is
up to the New River Gorge Bridge.
Editing with a link to our scenic ride for Day 1:
https://scenicapp.space/route/rVhsowgb
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