Day 4 - Iron City, Tennessee to Big Hill Pond State Park

Last night was another great night to sleep outside in a tent. Very comfortable temperature and a full moon. 

Breakfast at Shoal Creek Trading Post was big and great.  Can you say "supersize me?"   I had burned all the calories by noon. 

As I was checking out, I got to talking to a local. He had the regular questions, where are you from, where are you heading, and the big one, why?  We got to talking about work, and he stated he does not work, but is not scared of work...he could lay down beside work and go right to sleep. I told him I was retired, but worked part-time at Dollywood this past summer. You would think I was a star. The cashier heard me tell him that and she got a very happy, excited look on her face.  She wanted to know what I did at Dollywood, and I told her I worked at Daredevil Falls.  She knew exactly what that ride was as she went to Dollywood about 3 years ago. They then commenced to tell me what rides Dolly got from other parks such as Opryland.  It was interesting how much they knew about Dollywood. 

After we had breakfast, Bob started his return trip home. He texted and let me know that he made it to Athens State College and is camping there tonight. He is also hoping to hear some music from the musicians that are going to be playing at the Old Time Fiddlers Convention at the college this weekend. 

This morning my route took me on some very isolated country roads. I spent several hours on roads that looked like these

During the hours and miles I rode on these roads, there was nothing out there but me and my thoughts. There were no cars in sight. It was great. Very peaceful.  However, I had to be really careful on some of the gravel because it was like riding on marbles.

I enjoyed looking at these guys also. There was quite a long stretch of road that had these growing beside it. 

But I guess all good things must come to an end. I eventually ended up on Tennessee Highway 69. It was a fairly busy 2 lane road with no shoulder and a 55 mph speed limit. I went thru Walnut Grove on that highway. 

Did you notice the image on their city sign. Well I know why they have that image on there. About every other vehicle on Highway 69, and therefore that goes through Walnut Grove, is a logging truck.  A lot of drivers of those trucks drive those things like they are sports car. They must not have brakes installed on them because they apparently cannot slow down. I spent a lot of time in ditches today letting logging trucks pass me safely. Thank goodness I wear a rear view mirror. 

I made it over Pickwick Dam

With a nice view of Pickwick Lake

Then came Counce, Tennessee. I only thought Highway 69 was bad. When I got on Tennessee Highway 57, it was like I ran over a yellow jacket nest with a lawn mower. Logging trucks were all over me and would not let up. They even brought a lot of their semi truck friends with them. Just like  Highway 69, Highway 57 in a 2 lane 55 mph road with maybe a 1 foot shoulder.  It is a signed bike route, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart. It was about 7 miles from Counce before traffic let up, so I again spent some time in the ditch during that 7 miles. I was in Counce about 3 p.m. so maybe that is the reason for some of the heavy traffic. There was also some kind of big plant there that a lot of trucks pulled in and out of.   So my views changed from the above pictures to this:

Enough about logging trucks. I made it to my destination for the night, Big Hill Pond State Park.

Totals for the day:  82.5 miles, 6 hours 53 minutes saddle time