May 4, 2016 .Dandridge TN to Erwin TN

74.82 miles in 6:19...(2199.9 miles for the trip in 28 days, averaging 78.5 per day) ascent....3399 ft (52,305 for the trip)
It had to happen sometime. Google map's GPS girl and I have had a very contentious relationship. We have fought for years. She takes me on an extremely unbeaten path without regard to road surface     (sometimes dirt, sometimes worse, over the years), without regard as to whether I can find food, water, or motels, without regard to ascent and descent, without regard to distance or time of travel. She doesn't even give me an option of the most obvious route, if the route is a busier road. It's all about being isolated, and 'safe.' She gives no regard to the amount of dogs on those backroads. Tennessee was the final straw. She had me everywhere except where I wanted to go sometimes. I was just turning her off more and more. Then, I met the competition. The motel in Dandridge had an atlas book, that was put out by MapQuest. The MapQuest app does a much better job of giving me more direct routes, often on busier roads. Sometimes with Google girl I discovered hidden gems. Sometimes I didn't. MapQuest girl gives me alot more options. Sometimes I'll use a combination of both girls. MapQuest girl sounds like Lilith, in the old Frasier show. Very monotone. But results are more important.
As for other observations about Tennessee, since I've been across the ENTIRE state. Tennessee leads the nation in flying Confederate flags. Just my observation after being in every southern state over the years. Tennessee leads the country in using old cars as yard art. Even old cars are very common, like in other states, but in other states more of them work,  as more than lawn art. On the positive side, Tennesseeans do a really good job of keeping their lawns and property mowed and weeds wacked. Just saying....its May 4, and the grass is going off.
As for the trip, US 25 and 70 ran concurrently along the Pigeon River and Lake Douglas, keeping it pretty flat, and the surface on shoulders were great. It pretty much paralleled I 40 to the town of Newport, where I picked up US 321, and headed off to the north, toward Greenville. This is the option Google girl didn't give me. 321 started out rough, with no shoulder, but turned into a divided four lane with an eight foot shoulder. I climbed quite a bit, but the miracle of modern road construction kept the roads I was on, with a very steady climbing pace, and with descents just as gradually. Being so close to the towering presence of the Smokey Mountains on my right for the entire trip, it was amazing how the road found such a level, gradual path of travel. It was just a great bike ride. Mountains everywhere, and such gradual ascents!
I made Greenville TN about 45 miles into the ride. It is the birthplace of our 17th president, Andrew Johnson, and there was a very historical down town area. As I got out of town, I turned onto Andrew Johnson Parkway, and had a very busy business stretch, until I turned onto TN 107, for the final 26 miles into Erwin. 107 started out with lots of Greenville traffic, and the road headed right into the teeth of the mountains, but somehow remained very gradual. It think I followed the Nolichucky River. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. The land was mostly ranches, grazing land and forest for the entire ride. There were some chicken farms, with the accompanying chicken trucks. That's also where I learned what a cackleberry was. I saw it on a sign in a yard. For sale: Cackleberries from happy hens! I saw trucks of Hillbilly Pride eggs going by.
TN 107 eventually became a nice road with a great shoulder in Washington County, but when it bordered Greene County,(coincidence eh?) it went back to a bit of a deathtrap. I was following the Nolichucky River, but the curves were frequent, and the truck traffic was way heavier than it should have been, but I 26 was nearby in Erwin. I has to pull totally off the road once and let a line of eighteen wheelers roll by. It got a little crazy right before emptying out into Erwin. A beautiful town, surrounded by mountains. I'm gonna have to do some serious climbing tomorrow to get to Boone, NC.

Douglas Lake, near Dandridge, where the bass tournament was

I-40 going across the lake, parallel to my bridge

US 25/70, with nice shoulders, and ominous clouds that kept me cool for most of the day

The Smokey's loom ahead on US 321

Beautiful scenery

The Nolichucky River near Erwin, TN

The Nolichucky has many of the same recreation opportunity's as the Youghogheny and New Rivers

Even though the TN 107 was a death trap, bicycling was heavily promoted on it

May 3 - Harriman TN to Dandrige TN

May 3, 2016....82.00 miles in 7:18 (2125.08 miles for the trip over 27 days for an average of 78.7 miles per day. Ascent...4160 ft....48,906 ft for the trip. That's the second most climbing I've done in a day on the trip, yet I feel like it was only a warm-up for the next couple of days!
I rolled out of the motel to fog hugging the top of the hills, and cool temperatures. Every time the sun tried to pop out, a big, black cloud covered it up. I went through the town of Harriman, and then out into the country. Nothing new, rolling roads, dense tree cover, lakes, streams, hollows and hills. With the size of the hills, I was fortunate to follow streams, travel through gaps, ride along lakes, and every once in a while, climb over a hill from one watershed to another.This went on until I was turned out into the Oak Ridge Parkway. Suddenly, I had a newly paved, divided four lane highway, that went on for about 11 miles, into the town of Oak Ridge. I stopped at a bike shop there and bought a tire, because my front tire was showing some serious wear and tear. I don't want to get stuck in those mountains that are ahead, so I am erring on the side if caution. The shop owner was swamped, had no help, and didn't seem to be working too hard. When I asked him if he'd be interested in changing the tire, GE said he was too busy, then proceeded to bs with me for longer than it would have taken to change the tire. I strapped it onto the back of the bike, and off I went, through the town of Oak Ridge, until GPS girl had me out in the country roads again. I didn't argue with her today, and I have to say, with a few exceptions, she did a good job getting me where I wanted to go. Tennessee also does a good job keeping their back roads in good repair. I was only on one or two roads that weren't in good riding condition. Even though I really wasn't on any main roads except the Oak Ridge Parkway, there was always population around, and I never felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.
Eventually I picked up US 25, and it brought me on a roller coaster into Northwest Knoxville. The whole time I was in that town, I saw nothing that really impressed me. I was on residential roads, that fit between the freeways. North Knoxville was old where I was, and a little run down. I went pretty close to the Knoxville zoo, but never saw it. I picked up US11, and that road was a treat, with wide shoulders and gentle rollers, unlike US25, that I came into town on. All good things have to come to an end, and eventually US11 headed off to the north, where I've seen it near Hagerstown Maryland, and near Harrisburg, PA. I was once again on US 70, which continued it's shoulderless, rolling ways. GPS girl kept taking me away from it, and I let her do it, unlike other days in Tennessee. So, it was back into the country for the final leg of the journey, into Dandridge. When I got to my motel, right next to I 40 again, I was lucky to get a room because of a big bass fishing tournament, and a car autocross in the area. There were fishermen and gear heads everywhere. I walked down the hill to Wendy's, had supper, and checked out all the boats and cars before crashing.

The day started off with fog hanging over the tops of the hills

I had plenty of water, surrounded by hills to look at

A Tennessee Valley Authority power plant near Oak Ridge

There is Baptist Church next to Baptist Church around here.  It's been that way all through Arkansas and Tennessee

A mural under an overpass in North Knoxville

This was my only view of downtown Knoxville

My first view of the Great Smokey Mountains

One of the narrow back roads I was on.  Still nicely paved though.

All the fishing boats in the motel parking lot.

Nice muscle cars too!

The mountains were still looming in the distance

Fisherman everywhere

May 2....Sparta TN to Harriman, TN

60.19 miles in about 5:35... (2043.08 miles for the trip over 26 days averages out to 78.58 miles a day) ascent..  2966 ft (44,746 ft for trip)
Looking at the above numbers, they are amazingly similar to the trip to Pittsburgh last year. Ascent is about the same and mileage is just a little but less. I averaged 87 miles a day on that trip because Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio was a track meet. Flat and a tailwind so I rode 9 days in a row over 90 miles at the end. That's not gonna happen this year. My most challenging climbs are ahead of me, and I have 600 more miles to go, so this ride will play out to be a greater challenge than the trip to Pittsburgh, which took 26 days.
In the final analysis, today was a success, even though I only rode 60 miles. For starters, the forecasters were calling for rain and severe storms ALL DAY. In actuality, the rain didn't catch up to me until I had been riding for four hours, then it broke until I was 10 minutes from one of the three motels I had picked out over various distances, planning for every eventuality. When I left John's house in Nashville, I knew I had to average 65 miles a day to get to the outer banks within my time frame. Yesterday was a big day, and I nearly covered that today, so I'm okay. Cold weather and the Smokey Mountains are ahead, so I'm going to be working through some challenges.
Speaking of challenges, today I left Sparta, and got smacked with a 1000 ft climb over 6 miles right on the east end of town, on US 70. A great way to get my legs warmed up! I had not thought about how I love the mountain scenery for a while, but I love the waterfalls, the streams, the rocks, the views, and the trees. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of today was... Gravity. My legs are fine, but I'm really taking the climbs in my granny gear. Last fall I took my bike to Wamsley Cycles in Morgan town, and spent a lot of money to have them change out the sprockets to get my old legs some easier gears. I haven't been happy with the new gears' rough changing, but this is what I bought them for.
The big climb was by far the rough part of the day, and once I got up on the plateau, I was up to elevations over 1800 ft. It was rolling with plenty of big descents, and the corresponding climbs.
I only passed through one decent size town, but when the first thunderstorms hit, around 12:30, I was in a little dot on the map called Crab Orchard, and I found a scale building at a landscape rock sales place, to stow away in, for about 15 minutes. When I resumed, there was a 20 mile stretch of beautiful isolation, with cliffs and waterfalls, and out there somewhere, the eastern time zone cost me an hour. Towards the end of the ride, I descended a lot, down into Rockwood, and saw the rain coming in my rear view mirror. I finished the ride with a five mile sprint on level terrain with a tailwind, and steadily increasing rain, to a Rodeway Inn, very near I 40. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to clear off, so the plan changed from stopping near Knoxville, to getting quite a way past it.

Wildcat Falls....On the "big" climb

A close up of the falls

Sunset rock, at the scenic overlook at the top of the climb

I didn't think I was that close to home!!!

The little building where I took cover from the first thunderstorm that got me

I knew exactly where I lost my hour!

The creek which separated the time zones.  It looked like so many others that I saw in every hollow.

May 1, 2016 Brentwood, TN to Sparta, TN

87.41 miles in 7:23....1982.89 miles for the trip, averaging 79.315 miles for 25 days....ascent3261 ft (41780 ft for the trip.
I left John and Kate at about 8:30, anticipating a long day with lots of ascent. I couldn't have been more wrong. The day turned into one of the most pleasant surprises that I've had on this trip. It was a delightful ride (and I've never used the term delightful to describe a ride in my life.) Getting out of Brentwood was the hardest part of the trip. Even though it was Sunday morning, traffic was a nuisance because the roads I was on had no shoulder. And there was quite a bit of climbing. Once I got out into the country, things leveled out. Riding through the town's of Smyrna and Murfreesboro, were downright flat. I was hoping to get about 25 or 30 miles of easy riding before the relentless hills started, but the hills never really came. Even though I climbed over 3200 ft, it was one of the easiest climbing days ever. Almost 1000 ft happened in the first hour, getting out of the Nashville metro. When I finally got through Murfreesboro, I was 40 miles into it, had picked up US 70 again and had no more elevation gain . When I finally  left US 70, I climbed 4-500 ft without really noticing it over 6-8 miles. The road I was on followed Stoney Creek, and reminded me of riding through Valley Grove, WV, following Middle Wheeling Creek. Before it was over, I had painlessly climbed to 1200 ft., doubling my elevation above sea level from Murfreesboro, a few miles back. At the headwaters of Stoney Creek, I turned onto TN 146, and spent the next dozen miles riding a ridge, with very little rolling, through the community called Short Mountain. The ridge road led to Smithville, where I hooked up with US70 again.
After riding 70 out of town, with decent shoulder, by the way, there was a major 3-400 ft descent to the Caney River, where it had been dammed, to form Center Hill Lake. The bridge was brand new, and it was a beautiful area, but after crossing the water, I had to climb back up the other side. It was the toughest climb of the day, but it wasn't terrible at all. From there I argued several times with GPS girl about leaving US70, and I did not leave when she wanted me to, many, many times, therefore cutting about seven miles off of the 94 mile trip I had anticipated this morning. The motel in Sparta is on the outskirts of town, within walking distance of a Pizza Hut, so that's what I did.

Somebody was having a bad day near Short Mountain.  No one was hurt.

April 30.....a day off

John and Katie Hamm played host and hostess today on my layover and visit in Nashville. My day off started with an early rise to go downtown, and while John ran the half marathon, I wandered through the famous streets of Nashville, across the pedestrian bridge, and to the finish line at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL s Tennessee Titans. The whole atmosphere at such a huge event is what I enjoy, and seeing downtown gave me a great vibe for the place. I definitely want to being Pam here some day, as well as several other places in Tennessee. After the race, we went to see John's son, Erik play a few holes in a junior golf tournament,( he played one under par for the three or four holes we watched), then we went to Alex's lacrosse game, and watched him get penalized for picking on a kid that was bigger than him. We came home and had steaks for dinner, and watched the Penguins beat the Caps in a NHL playoff game.  The day was a welcomed respite from the daily grind, and the friendship shared and rekindled was one of my priorities for this trip. Now it's off to the very challenging grind through the Great Smoky Mountains and into North Carolina. This will be the most grueling unsupported ride that I've done, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

30,000 people are off to the races!

John Hamm races by the camera

The mass of humanity

Home of the Nashville Predators

Images along Broadway Avenue

The security presence was huge

The pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River to the stadium

The stadium in the distance

Modern architecture with Broadway Street in the distance

Lots of really good bands.  Hey....it's Nashville

The finish line

Alex Hamm in action!

Alex and John