Cherohala Skyway

New Motorcycle friends We met At The Cherohala Skyway Lookout

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Hello again this is Carol:

A day like today makes me realize just how much I love fresh air, sunshine and nature. It was a beautiful sunny warm, not hot, clear day. I have been noticing many black butterflies in the fields where ever we go. They must be migrating by here and stopping at every wild flower possible. Not too many birds or other critters today.

We were on the Cherohala Skyline almost all day, it is Route 143 on the map. The Cherohala is a nice curvy newly paved road great for motorcycles. The main difference between our NJ landscape and NC is that when you view a mountain range in NJ you see a mountain. When you view the same thing in NC you see 6 or 7 mountains gradually getting hazier in the distance. This makes the near mountains appear to stand out separately. Not easy to get on film but very interesting to see.

The air is so different on the mountain. It is clear, fresh and feels like it contains more O2. It smells good and fresh; as you descend down the hill it gets dark and the air begins to smell moist and earthy more like dirt and rotting trees. It is cold on the mountain, I mean really cold and as you descend it gradually warms to HOT while in the towns and valleys. Chriss bought me a shirt that says "The Mountains are calling and I must go". It is very appropriate.

We also met some very nice people today, both at the Fontana Dam and on the road at a lookout spot on the Skyway. The people at the Fontana Dam were from NC and very happy to tell us some local folklore about the places we might visit. The lookout people were local motorcycle riders from TN, out for a Sunday ride. They told us about Sweetwater, TN and its underground lake. That is where we are tonight. The main attraction in town is a cave with a large underground lake. They take people out on the underground lake in glass bottom boats to see fish and sights under the water. We will do that tomorrow.

We must make some time up going west as we have an arrival date for Lawton, Ok. We have finally gotten out of NC and are in TN and staying at an Econolodge. So far we have done over 1000 miles but have not made much distance after leaving Luray,Va. We find too many interesting back roads to ride leading us nowhere. Because I sit behind Chriss and have limited view my world has few colors. I see clearly the blue and white sky when I look up, green trees to the side and a black road with yellow stripe when I look down. When I look straight ahead I see Chriss’s black helmet. Overall everything is so pretty. The wind takes the TN map from me, do I tell Chriss? We are really enjoying our trip.

Our main stop today was at Fontana Dam, the largest dam in the east. I have not seen a dam of that nature before and it sure was big. It is on a beautiful lake with a very meandering shore line. The water makes me really miss my kayak. The people at the dam’s tourist desk were retired volunteers and interesting to talk to. The man was an engineer who worked there before he retired, then they full time RV for 5 years now they are volunteers. We meet another motorcycle couple from Canada. We are really enjoying ourselves and having fun. We are now headed for Sweetwater, TN. Where is my Tennessee map???
Love to all, Carol and Chriss

Sweetwater,TN

Monday, August 11, 2008

Hello Everyone:

Today was a fun day for us. We packed up our bike and left the Comfort Inn in Sweetwater, Tn ( a somewhat less than spectacular hotel) but adequate. We rode a short way down the road to Click..... The Lost Sea Cave. Chriss had a difficult time parking our bike as the parking lot had a very steep grade. It took all of his strength to keep from tipping over when we came to a stop. The main attraction was a cave with stalagmites and stalactites. They were little ones but interesting. The main interest here was the underground lake that was down deep in the cave. The lake is supposed to be the largest underground lake in North America. The lake is 40 feet deep and 500 feet long with live rainbow trout in it. The trout must be feed because there is no living food in the lake except the fish. We walked through the cave and saw formations of rock and stuff. We then took a boat ride on the lake. The boat ride was very interesting. We took pictures but in a dark cave they didn’t come out very well. The one interesting thing our guide did was to turn all the lights out and give us the opportunity to experience complete darkness. They told us that in two weeks we would be completely blind as our retinas would die of overwork trying to find light, just a bit of trivia. Obviously we were glad the lights were out only a few minutes. Chriss gave me a kiss in the darkness…. at least I hope it was him.




When we came up and got out of the cave we were hungry. They had a little restaurant across the parking lot so we had fresh homemade BBQ sandwiches. This was appropriate since it seems down south they have BBQ as often as we serve pizza up north. We then took off planning to do the bulk of today’s ride, or so we thought.

One of the Harley guys that we met yesterday told us about Fall Creek Falls then today at one of our stops a man mentioned it to us again. So we thought this must be something special and set about to find it. There is a town named Fall Creek Falls so there were road signs all over directing us to it. We found the town easy enough but we wanted the water falls itself. After a few false starts and turn a rounds we found the falls after a long ride in a state park. It was sure worth the trip, they were beautiful. Our pictures really don’t do them justice. After taking a lot of pictures it was getting late and we needed to put some miles under our belts before finding another motel. We decided to head for McMinnville, TN. We weren’t prepared for the roads as we went over 3 mountains each with tight twisty curvy roads that required Chriss’s best skill. Chriss told me he is so happy with me riding behind him on the bike. He said that he doesn’t even know I am back there as I am one with the bike. What does that mean??



What a trip. As navigator I selected the road from the map and Chriss really got a work out. It was one turn and switch back after another with very tight turns. Although I told him I was sorry he didn’t complain. I think he like the road as he kept the speed up. The turns seemed to go on and on forever. We finally arrive at a Best Western in McMinnville TN and are we glad to be here. We opted for the deluxe room. We have a Jacuzzi in our room and it sure felt good to relax in it. If you want to Google Earth the roads that we took it was Rte 30 from Athens, TN to Mc Manville, TN and it sure was curvy. We covered the bike tonight because it might rain. 80% chance so we will see Supposed to be just cloudy tomorrow but we could see a front coming in as the sun set.

Will continue the saga tomorrow. Boy are we having fun. Carol and Chriss