OH MY GOD WHAT A RIDE....
So it's Friday night ... after work.. I buzz on home.. I was already dressed and ready to go... So was Steve... We locked the house up.. the pups were at the vet nice and safe... and we saddled up.. and headed to the highway...The sunset and the coolness of an end of September night slowly drifted upon us.. We stopped for a stretch.. and a horrible quick meal at Jacks.. ( no coming back back back for us thank you not very much) yesh.. ( something about fries with neon orange glow- in- the- dark- powder on them that makes my skin crawl... .)... The it-might-have-been-a-burger had some unidentifiable sauce on it.. yeah I know .. I know... why did we eat that??? .. quick and easy.. those of you that ride can appreciate needing to arrive at your destination... So... hoping that that conncoction would stay in our bellies.. we heading back on the road..
There are many things in life that you question.. and perhaps many of you question us for why we feel compelled to ride along the OCEE river in the dead of night on the twisty and curvy unforgiving roads..no guard rails in many areas... here are one of the curves in the daylight ( sunday morning) going the opposite way..why the rush?? why the need... ??
It is a simple answer.. we are CRAZY.. ha.... no seriously .. we want to arrive at our destination so we can get an early start in the a.m. and get in as much riding as we can.. Time is limited and these trips are sad to say rare so we take these jaunts and shake them for all they are worth.. SO thats why we travel that byway in the darkness.. One interesting side note.. the moon Friday night was magnificent and it shown like a bright spotlight playing hide and seek in the ridges until we arrived at our destination.. ANGEL'S LANDING....
Steve is grimacing because it is freezing on this early bright Saturday morning.. bone chilling cold.. we decided to let it warm up a bit.. and it warmed up rather quickly which was great...as I was saying: ANGEL'S LANDING: (please visit the link in my sidebar to Angel's Landing) what a delightful place to lay a weary head.. We were greeted by Sandi Stone the most amazingly sweet and kind person.. We love visiting with her when we come to MURPHY N.C. and staying at her B&B .. Sandi is not only a terrific hostess but a wonderful whizz in the kitchen. Her breakfasts are well thought out with the guest in mind. She always asks her guests prior to their visit, if they have food allergies or any special diets and she goes from there to create wonderful recipes for your dining morning pleasure... Our two breakfasts there this weekend where SPECTACULAR.. Saturday we had a wonderful spinach and egg dish with fresh strawberries and juices and coffee and this wonderful Apple and Flax seed muffins. Sundays breakfast was rasberry hotcakes, with vanilla yogurt and fresh rasberries and black berries and a low sugar ( I am guessing) jam swirled in.. it actually is a Weight Watchers recipe that was wonderful..
It is very hard when you are traveling like we do on the bike to find food that is both filling and good for you along the road.. Waffles Kings, and hamburger joints are easy targets for hungry bellies...
So after our delicous Saturday breakfast we decided to head on up to Highland N.C. roughly a 60 or 70 mile jaunt.. it was a chilly ride at the start as we cut through ridges and made our way up and up through this mountain side... Above is a video of exactly how narrow this road is.. and another VERY unforgiving byway.. as you can see by the panel truck careening down the hill towards us at a bit of a high speed...
We got up to Highland and walked around for a bit.. Though the scenery is lovely.. its very touristy and high end.. a DEVINE ride.. but not necessarily a ideal destination for eating and shopping if your wallet means much too you.. On the other hand you might be lucky to chat with some interesting folks like we did .
We left Highland and journeyed back down the mountainside.. We visited our favorite flea market and walked around it's dusty halls...
We enjoyed the day as we traveled back to Murphy and visited a street fair.. oh on our way there we saw a tractor parade ( we guess they had a county fair going on as well) .. I have never seen a tractor parade.. probably never will again.. so I took pictures.. they are in either the slide presentation above or you may find them in my flickr link in the sidebar... The street fair was nice.. we walked around there for a bit.. and got back on the bike.. headed on to Blairsville GA.. and actually found a place Logan's Turnpike Mill... its right next to PAPPY's a place we have visited for years and written about on and off .. We never noticed that Logan's was right next to it.. Now you might ask... what exactly is Logan' Turnpike.. its a mill that you can get fresh Grits.. ( yes fresh grits.. yellow or white) and you can get fresh oatmeal ( they were out of it) and all types of flours and even pioneer porridge.. .. You buy it by the cloth sack 1 or all the way up to I think 4 or 5 pounds.. we bought yellow grits ( 2 pound bags) white grits, pioneer porridge ( will be interested to see how that tastes basically a finely milled oatmeal from what I gathered) Logan's Turnpike Mill will be a stop every visit I am sure.. as we love real oatmeal. and you simpley can not find better grits.. they have a website online too.. under :
http://www.loganturnpikemill.com/about_us/default.asp check it out..
We headed back to our B and B and rested for a bit.. we went to dinner.. Not even going to review it for you guys. it was bad.. It WAS a favorite place of ours... Shoebooties.. I have written glowing reviews about it in the past.. well no more....that simply has changed and gone downhill.. won't be visiting there again... We went back to the B and B.. took a walk.. and retired for the night...
Sunday morning greeted us far warmer.. we had a terrific breakfast as you know..and then we decided to head on back through the Ocee .. ( we were going to go back to Blairsville then down to T.W.O.. the motorycle resort we love... it would have meant back tracking to go home the way we wanted.. We really try and avoid the Atlanta route because of the all the heavy traffic .. the Chattanooga route is so much prettier... You know I mark our way there.. When I see the first... SEE ROCK CITY SIGN... or RUBY FALLS ......
or LOOKOUT MTN... then when I see the sign for FORT PAYNE Alabama.. then when I see the curve before the water on your left coming in and right leaving Chattanooga .. I know.. we will be there soon or heading home .. I know we are in for a great adventure... either way...
One of the things I love about riding along the Ocee in the morning is the wonderful smell of campfires in the distance... they tickle your nose in and out the curves of the mountainside..
Before we heading through the Ocee and back through Chattanooga we took a little detour through an old Copper mining community near Macaysville... You could see the damage done to the earth from all this mining back in the 30s and 40s.. this copper was used for bombs and such during WWII.. we saw the old mine.. shuttered now it appeared.. we traveled into the old town.. alive and active though quiet for a Sunday.. folks sitting on porchs or at church.. folks waving at you as you passed.. no one in rush either... we took our turn...back towards the Ocee and hugged the curvy side of the road that we had visited in the darkness on Friday night... Filled with Kayakers and white water rafters... Buses loaded with rafts and Kayaks ran up and done the byway... people eyed the cool water of the Ocee before they took their plunge ... It seemed to be a busy day today for this water way... Traffic was abundent but not clogging the tricky veins of the roadway... What a simply glorious day today was.. and wonderful ride we shared this weekend... Lots of photos to view and great memories for us to review.. I say this all the time.. Take yourself there... See this country side.. see the Cherokee Forest... pop up onto the Blueridge Parkway... See the Cheraholau Skyway... ride these roads.. by bike or car.. see it.. feel it.. appreciate it... You will be glad you did.. it is some of the most amazing countryside we have and its so close by if you live around Georgia, Tenn, Alabama.. N.C....
Until Next time..
HAPPY TRAILS...
