06 Far East Ride - Day 5 - KY TO TN

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This is the fifth part of a series about the ride I took on my 2005 883 Low Harley Sportster ‘Effie’ from Kansas City to Novia Scotia and back. This was part of my vacation from 4 to 20 AUG 2006

Tuesday - 8 Aug 06

It rained over the night and I found I had left my gel seat out on the bike. By the time I get loaded and ready to go, its stopped raining and the roads are drying off. I put on my rain pants, but left the rain coat in the saddlebag. The ride to the Indiana and Ohio state lines was great. It was breezy and cool. On the return trip I wanted to find Santa Fe, KY (IBE #34). So it was back to little highways after spending the last couple hundred on I-75. The traveling was great, the highways were well maintained and the curves flowed, making a great ride. Santa Fe wasn’t where it was supposed to be according to my Quest. The town was Milford (I think) anyway on a whim I stopped at the post office to find that there was a Santa Fe about 1 mile from there. Milford was a very small town, just the one paved road, which was the highway cutting through town and maybe 3 or 4 side streets. Coming into town there was a CONGESTED AREA sign, I had to take a picture of that. KY's version of congested and KCs version of congested are very different. The post office was new and the parking lot was gravel, loose gravel, so I parked on the sidewalk, my kickstand would have sunk in gravel. The post master was very helpful and pulled out a postal map of the area and showed me where the road was I needed to take and away I went.

Santa Fe, Ky (IBE #34) wasn’t a town, more of a old community. There was no town sign, no businesses, no main street, just an area in the country with a higher concentration of old farm houses. So I took a picture of one of the mailboxes that had a Santa Fe address on it. I am not happy with this as my Santa Fe so I will pursue others. The problem is its so hard to find out if these towns Map Source and Map Quest come up with are real or not. I didn’t get off the bike to take my picture as most of these farms had BEWARE OF DOG signs I kept expecting to hear a dog coming to chase me away. I thought I would stop at the post office on the back out and take a picture of the map a sort of verification but the post office was closed. Guess I was lucky to find her there the first time.

The Quest took me through some great country on the way back to I-75S. By the time we reach the interstate it is now raining and I have put on my raingear again. As I approach the area that had the long backup yesterday I see a bunch of tail lights coming on and traffic is stopped. I take the first exit and pull over to mess with the GPS. I added a 'road avoidance' in the Quest for the next 15 miles of I-75S and let the Quest plot another route that did not involve I-75S. This route was fun, it involved several different roads that kept me on my toes to not miss any of the turns. On one of the little roads it routed me on, Cemetary Road, I came really close to being bit by a dog. Once back on I-75S it was smooth riding. The rain lasted for another hour. When I reached Knoxville the rain was stopping and it was a cool ride again. From I-75 I went to I-40E and headed toward Johnson City, the TN HOG was going to be held there. I wanted to pick up Baltimore TN (IBE #18) so I was routed off onto more charming little highways. I traveled through Parrotsville "the first town in TN" and the home to some really historic stuff. They had a fort or fortified house that was built in 1787 to protect the settlers from the Indians. It was really unique. Orginally located over the stream so the occupants could get water without going outside. Baltimore couldn’t be found nor any sign of it. On the way on into Johnson City, I stopped at the marker for Davy Crockets birthplace and had another Kodak moment with a sunset.

Tonight finds me in the Days Inn, a business suite which was only ground floor room available, $75 dollars for the night. But I am right beside a bunch of bikers that came down from Michigan for the rally. They approached me as I was parking, before I had my helmet off they were asking questions. Effie is pretty unique for a sportster, not too many set up for touring. The group was great talking with, they have chairs lined up on the sidewalk and were just enjoying the evening and entertaining themselves. I sat with them for awhile before I decided I couldn't wait on a shower any longer. The Days Inn has internet so once again jump on the internet. I am carrying a laptop from my company in one of my saddlebags. At the end of this trip I will be staying in PA to work on some of our equipment. Its a late night. I had pictures to download and new mapsets to load in Quest.

The First Journal in this Series is: 06 Far East Ride - Day 1 - MO
The Route Map for the trip is located in the last Journal: 06 Far East Ride - Day 17 - HOME

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Photos

Swaggerty Fort
This fort was just outside Parrotsville TN. It was one of the historic sites on the counties auto tour. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest of the sights on that tour.

Swaggerty Fort
The Fort was located at a bend on a very narrow road, the grass was soaked from all the rain, with no place to park the bike I couldn't get off and look around.

Congested Area Sign
Congested? Are you kidding me?

PALs Fast Food
I saw this in my travels through TN and had to stop and laugh. How cute, what a fun idea. I saw more later there must be a chain of them.

TN Sunset
Another great sunset. A great sunset looks even better when you look at them from the saddle of a bike.

Comments

[TAG]

TN sunset
You hit the nail on the head with the comment about from the saddle of a bike. TAG

[Emery Swagerty]

two markers
I visited the Swaggerty Fort in about 2003 and I seem to remember both a Tennessee Historical Marker and a Heritage Marker at the site. I'd be interested in links to any historic events that might have involved the location, i.e.: Indian wars, Civil War battles, etc. I'd read somewhere that Indians once diverted the stream away from the fort suring a siege, but don't know if that's factual. I believe the Clear Creek area figured in some of the Chickamauga Cherokee history. I think I'm related to the Swaggerty family that built the fort as well as to Draggin' Canoe who led the Chickamauga Cherokee.