2/8/24-2/9/24: Athens, AL to Chattanooga, TN

Lisa decided to attend a wedding shower in Chattanooga on 2/10/24 for a high school friend of our daughter, Hannah. Hannah and our newest granddaughter, Eden, are also going to be at the shower from Pennsylvania.

I saw this as a perfect opportunity to do a one-way, couple of day bicycle tour to Chattanooga.  I could meet Lisa after the shower, see Hannah and Eden for a bit, and then load the bike in the car and ride back home with Lisa.

Day one started out great with a beautiful sunrise as I was leaving Athens (pic below).

The plan on the first day was to camp at the Walls of Jericho trailhead on top of the Cumberland Plateau.  As I was climbing the mountain, which is almost a 3 mile climb and provided me plenty of time to think, I decided to change my plans.  Instead of camping on the mountain, I decided to continue on, go back off the mountain, and find a campsite near Stevenson, AL.  

This changed my original plans completely.  My original plan was to camp on the Cumberland Plateau the first night, at Marion County Park the second night, and then ride the last 30 or so miles to Chattanooga on the third day, and be there by noon, when the wedding shower ended.

The weather on the first day of riding was perfect, but the weather forecast for the next couple of days called for rain.  In fact, when I called the host at Marion County Park to ask about availability of campsites on the night I would be there, he said they were expecting a lot of rain, wind and thunderstorms that day and the next.  His comment made me recall when a couple of touring buddies and I pulled into a campground near Starkville, MS, on bikes and started pitching our tents during a tornado warning. It would be nice to always have perfect weather during bicycle trips, but it's just not going to happen.  You just have to roll with the punches and look at bad weather as part of the adventure.  

The first night, I camped at the Crow Creek Wildlife Management Area just outside of Stevenson.  It was not a campground, but instead was in a very low-lying, marshy area near Crow Creek.  I was able to find a spot just big enough and dry enough to pitch my tent.  I had a restless night's sleep and decided at 3:30 a.m. to get up, break camp before the forecasted rain began, and hit the road.

Scenery pic from Day 1 below.

Day 2's ride was much different from Day 1.  I was in and out of cool rain showers the entire day.  Since, on Day 1, I had made it about 25 miles closer to Chattanooga than I had originally planned, I decided to make it all the way to Chattanooga on Day 2.  I made it there and was amazed at how much it had changed since I moved from there about 3 years ago.  There were new buildings, both residential and commercial, in a lot of locations.  The traffic seemed much worse also, with a neverending flow of motorists in a hurry to get somewhere.  Not sure if the hectic traffic situation has really increased that much or if I have just been spoiled by biking in and around a small town the past 3 years.  Because of the traffic, I spent a few miles today riding on a sidewalk beside Hixson Pike, which I hardly ever did when I lived there.  

I made it to Chester Frost Park, which is a very nice Hamilton County Park that has a campground, where I camped.  It rained a portion of the night, but I had a really sound sleep.

I got up about 6 a.m. (Chattanooga time), broke camp, and rode to McDonald's in Hixson where I had breakfast and killed about 3 hours listening to music and writing this blog entry while waiting for the wedding shower to end.  

The past 2 days I was able to set up and  break camp without rain.  Those are the most frustrating things to do in the rain when bicycle touring, so I was very fortunate about that.  

Total miles Day 1: 100.4

Total miles Day 2: 68.1

Day 9: 11/14/23: Lexington to Harrisonburg, VA

Today's the finale.  I will be meeting Lisa in Harrisonburg, spending the night there, and then driving with her to PA.

Another great night's sleep inside last night with no need to mess with a wet tent this morning.  Dave and Tasha cooked a tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with veggies mixed in and sourdough bread.  We said our goodbyes and I left there with a full tank.

Today's ride was not as hilly as some of the days have been, but there were still plenty of hills.  Pic of some scenery below.  This is beautiful country to bike in, but the terrain is very challenging.

About 12 miles from my final destination today, my rear tire got spongy.  I stopped and felt the tire, slow leak.  I really didn't want to pull everything off the bike this close to the end, so I just put more air in the tire.  It got spongy again about 2 miles from the hotel, but I made it to the hotel on the tire.  

I made it to Harrisonburg at about 5:00 p.m. and the traffic was horrible.  Over the past several days, I have been on roads that I pretty much had to myself.  In Harrisonburg, I had to quickly acclimate back to constant vigilance because there were cars coming from every direction with many passing within a foot of me.  It was so bad I resorted to riding on the sidewalk beside some of the roads.  That creates an entirely different kind of stress, turning vehicles, cracks in the sidewalk, etc.  It all ended well as I made it to the hotel and checked in.

I called Lisa and she was caught in Interstate traffic as there had been an accident.  She made it to the hotel about an hour after me 

Bicycle touring this time of year can be stressful, especially longer, multi-day trips.  The number of riding hours in the day is greatly reduced.  Even with shortening the miles each day, I barely made it to my destination each evening before dark.  Also, the colder weather makes it more difficult to get up earlier for needed early departure times to arrive before dark.  Or maybe it's not either that makes it tougher, maybe I'm just getting older :) This was another good, challenging trip.

Total miles today: 65.2

Total miles this trip: 697

Day 8: 11/13/23: New Castle to Lexington, VA

It wasn't as hard to get going this morning since I didn't have to mess with rolling up a damp tent.  That is what really gets your hands cold starting a day, getting your hands wet from the tent and then hopping on a bike and getting the chill of the cold air.

I went by a little restaurant about 7 miles outside of New Castle and had breakfast.  An 80 year old man named Chuck was sitting in the booth next to mine and he was quite interested in my trip.  We also discussed his bikes and the simple joys of cycling.  When I was almost ready to leave, I ordered an egg sandwich to go for lunch.  I went to pay and the cashier said my total was $3.83 for the sandwich.  I reminded her of my breakfast plate, and she said a couple sitting near me paid for that when they left.  I asked her to please thank them for me the next time she sees them.  

As has been this entire trip, today's ride was challenging.  I was on a gravel road climbing mountains for many miles.  The gentleman at the restaurant warned me that I would probably get on some gravel roads if I went the way Google Maps directed me and he recommended I stay on the paved road.  When I got to the turn for the gravel road, it didn't look that bad so I took a chance and went down that road. It turned out being a very good biking road.  I have ridden on blacktop roads that were rougher that these gravel roads were.

Below are some pics.

 

On the first gravel road I came to a point where I had to make a decision.  Either try to ride or push through this...

...or go over this...

...no brainer, I chose door #2.

A couple more scenery pics from today.

Tonight I'm staying at the home of another Warm Showers host couple, Dave and Tasha (pic below).  Dave opened up a bike shop in Lexington, but the Covid pandemic hurt his ability to get supplies so he had to close it permanently.  His basement at his home looks like a bike mechanic's dream with all the bike tools.  Dave cooked some delicious lentil soup for supper and we also had homemade sourdough bread he purchased.  Tasha was at band practice a couple of hours after I got to their house.  She is in a band with 4 other women who are practicing to play at a wedding in Texas in the near future.  The band consists of 4 women and they are called "Betty and the Hot Flashes."

Total miles today: 65.9

Day 7: 11/12/23: Appalachian Trail to New Castle, VA

Another cold start to the day.  There were ice crystals on my tent's rainfly, and some of the support poles were frozen together at the joints.  I warmed them up with my bare hand to thaw them so I could pull them apart.

Pics below of a covered bridge near Newport VA and some scenery from today.

Passed this little fella today.  He must have been injured because he did not attempt to run away from me.

Whoever painted the rock below did an excellent job.  I thought it was painted on a cut out piece of plywood until I got closer and realized it was painted on a rock.

Tonight I'm staying inside at a Warm Showers host, Brandon, in New Castle VA.   This will be the first time I have slept indoors since Day 1 of the trip.  Brandon is a pilot for a private airline company and also flys towing gliders for the gliders club in New Castle.  

Total miles today: 65.1