Westward bound!

June 04, 2020

Westward bound!

On Monday, we came up with a western route so that we could get Tom towards Nashville, but still enjoy the ride. The intended route: 321 to 70 to 304 around Watts Barr Lake. Up 68 to Crossville – hopefully grab lunch and say goodbye to Tom and ride back to Maryville. We got the 321 down. But Al said that the road we turned right on on Saturday was a left on Sunday. But it didn’t say 70, it said 11 (to find out that sometimes 70 and 11 are the same road, but not this time). It ended up being fine because Tony wanted to change from his new helmet to his old since it wasn’t raining. And we took 72 – this was a pretty nice, well marked road, with a little bit of everything with the exception of switchbacks. Took us through woods and fields. Then a quick job on 58 to 304 (on the “advertising map” this is called part of the purple ride loop).

You can "kinda" see the lake.

From the map, I thought we’d see more of the lake. It was so close, but only a glimpse. 304 wasn’t really exciting. We did stop at the marina before heading to 68 – passing the nuclear power plant. 68, OK, but nothing terribly exciting. We get close to Crossville, the Golf Capital of Tennessee, but didn’t see any golf courses (http://www.golfcapitaltenn.com/). According to the website, they have 10 championship golf courses.

Nuclear Power Plant

We're so perplexed that this five lane highway is only 40 MPH -- that we almost miss our turnoff.

Didn't see any golf courses in Crossville (the Golf Capital of Tennessee).

Tony and I look for places to grab lunch – nada. And then we get into the shopping areas and only the drive ins are open, no dine in. We stop at a gas station and see cars that may be at open restaurants. And, yes, a couple of places are open (barely), with only four people per table (Eileen and I sat at one, the boys at another). Burgers and fries for lunch – and I think the first time I’ve sat in a restaurant since March.

We say goodbye to Tom (he’s about 80 miles from home) and head to 70 back to 321 and home (well, we planned to stop at HD on the way home to see about a helmet bag for Tony to bungee to the tour pack. We get to Kingsport and the sky is getting darker and darker and we stop. Radar is pretty red and Tony decides to don his full rain gear – including helmet, gloves, rain jacket and pants! It’d better rain! Get going, and yes, it’s raining pretty good. If his helmet visor starts fogging, I’ll start hearing words. All I get about 10 minutes in the rain is a thumbs up!

Ready for some rain!

We still stop at HD since it’s stopped raining. Check out helmet bags – nope, and the luggage at HD is REALLY EXPENSIVE. But, I find a shirt, and Tony finds chaps and a vest and a belt (he needed new). And Al gets a new helmet. We spend enough that we get two more boxes with $300 purchase. And then we have to figure out how to load all of this on our bikes to get home! Thank goodness for bungee cords (and a short ride back to the house).