Devil's Triangle!

Saturday weather has changed and looks pretty good. No rain. Tony’s lamenting buying a new helmet since he’s not going to wear (or bring it) on our ride to Devil's Triangle (https://devilstriangletn.com/). We stop at the Shell station on E Lamar Parkway to gas up, ice up, and grab their $3 breakfast sandwiches (what a deal at this price because they are big).  Al takes us in the “back way,” stopping at the Bootlegger HD dealership (https://www.bootleggerh-d.com/) on the way that we hadn’t been to. I find out that I only took some of the film off of my helmet. Removing it makes it much clearer! I do like this extra visor – and the buttons to release. Wonder how long they’ll last – don’t feel really well made, but who knows. Tony gets a shirt, but nothing grabbed my attention (I wish they would offer better destination shirts for women – and I wish they would cut down on all of the sparkles and fringe and unnecessary roses on women’s shirts). Then, off to the Triangle, with the first stop being the Brushy State Prison (https://tourbrushy.com/).

The definitely weren’t really doing what I would call social distancing here, even though people kinda were. They offer tours (we didn’t do) and have a restaurant and a distillery and you can buy all kinds of “moonshine” – lots of flavors, like Butterscotch. We drove up to the prison and then off on our ride with Tony and I leading, followed by Tom, then Al and Eileen (Tony says that trikes should be last – LOL).

Lots of moonshine flavors at Brushy Mountain Prison

Closest we've gotten.

This is our usual stop, but now Brushy is open for tours.

The ride starts off quickly with switchbacks, heading uphill. Don’t know when they do it, and always forget the picture, but they have a wall with lots of graffiti on this section. I forget that this section of the ride is longer than I think – road is pretty good, a bit of gravel with all of the rain. And, there are a few sections of the road that have been patched – but the patch job was poor and bumpy – not something you really want in the middle of a switchback. I can’t imagine people who live up on this road – and it’s the only way in and out (I think). But, there are quite a few houses – not fancy houses or vacation houses, but houses (one of them is RIGHT ON the hardest switchback! And there is a church, and I think a school on this ride. We end the ride at Al’s Market – which isn’t technically the end of the Triangle, but we always stop. Al’s has never been open on our rides, but it is on Saturday. Not much there since they are waiting on late deliveries. They are closed on Mondays – and often on Sundays (because they like to ride too).

Map of the Devil's Triangle

Yes, a church on the ride.

My pictures don't do justice to the curves, because it's hard to take pictures on the curves that don't end up the back of Tony's shirt.

Al's Market (it was open).

Waving to a cop directing traffic on the route (no, we weren't pulled over).

We finish up the rest of the Triangle and look for a place for lunch – on the map, there’s a place called Ridge Runners, 259 Warehouse Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 (they don’t appear to have a website, but do have a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/Ridge-Runners-106188084071114/. On our way there, looking at the map, think we have it – but, the thing about motorcycle ride maps is that they don’t always have all of the roads, just the designated ride. In this case, we discover that the bar isn’t really on the ride, but a little road off of it – we also discovered that this map that Ridge Runners “advertised on” – isn’t right and misses stuff. Yes, as the “Navigator,” poor maps can get you turned around (and making U turns). We finally get there – only to find that they’ve just finally opened, only serve beer, no liquor, no food. It’s a pretty big bar – with lots of tables, including pool tables. A few people are there, but not many. That’s not good for Memorial Day weekend. We stay for a beer and then off to the Shed, since we know that it’s open, for a late lunch.

Get home and discover that Kat did not enjoy her stay in the bathroom all day (was fine last year) and “destroyed” herself bloody by scratching. We’re going to try leaving her on the screened porch/deck on Sunday. She’d been doing so great on the drive to Maryville and the trip. Poor old girl.

On the shorter side ridewise on Saturday, but Sunday, we’re planning on a “big ride.”

And, thankfully, we didn’t have a drop of rain on Saturday. We thanked Tony for his rain insurance through the purchase of a new helmet!