Day 9

Yuck.

Well, not totally. Let's start at the beginning. I figured this would be a pretty relaxing day, and I didn't even have a specific destination planned when I started out (which turned out to be part of the problem). I spent a little time tuning up the bike in the morning (it's been working great so far) and even did a bit of warming up and stretching out before hitting the hills out of the state park. As it turns out, hills are a hell of a lot easier two minutes into a day than they are eight hours into the day. So even though one of those hills was a "5mph-er", I got out of there a lot more quickly than I expected. From there, it was down to the actual Norris Dam, which is of course a creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority. I went and checked out the scenic overlook, and then rode down and across the dam. It's a good-sized dam. And the whole park region surrounding it is quite impressive.

After that, I stopped in at the town of Norris, even though it was a bit out of my way. I'm glad I did, because it's a beautiful little town. I couldn't really figure it out though, because it was like a resort town, but without a resort. No motel and just one restaurant, but great public and private spaces nestled up amidst the forested hills. I'm not quite sure where the money comes from that makes this town so much nicer than all the rest of the towns (maybe the TVA pays well?) but if anyone ever has to move to a small town in Tennessee I'd highly recommend Norris.

Then it was back on US 421 which parallells the Interstate a few miles over. I was happy to find that I'd read my maps right, and the pattern was as I had expected: climb and descent, climb and descent, over fairly long stretches, and heights over 300 feet. A good bit of work, but still nice wooded country.

Then, I got to Knoxville. I had such and easy time going through Lexington, KY, and I figured Knoxville would be about the same. First of all, the roads aren't nearly as nice. Traffic was worse. And the lights are just terrible, turning red at all the wrong times and staying red far longer than neccessary. All that was fine, until I reached the bridge over the Tennessee River, and it was closed. I still wasn't entirely sure which way I wanted to head, so I went west along the river to the next bridge. It came a couple miles later, after some brutal hills, and lots of those really annoying traffic lights. And then it turned out to be some sort of pseudo-expressway closed to bicycles! So, it was time to turn back around, go through all the hills, and all the traffic lights, to the next bridge to the east. And that one was closed too! So it was on to the next bridge, and after a least an hour of getting nowhere, I had finally crossed the river. Then it was back west again to get where I wanted to be. What a pain.

I wanted to be free of Knoxville as quickly as possible, so I took SR 33 south to Maryville. Not a terribly pleasant road, but it sure was nice to be covering some ground again. I got to Maryville, still not entirely sure where I'd be spending the night, so I pulled up the computer maps for about the thousandth time. There seemed to be a National Park campground in the foothills of the Smokies about 15 miles away, which seemed like a reasonable target, but I couldn't get to a human on the phone to let me know if sites were available on this Labor Day weekend. It also looked like there were some serious storm clouds over in that area, and as the day was already getting late, and I didn't really feel like another massive climb to end the day, and I didn't really feel like trying to find another place in the middle of nowhere if that site was full, and since I'd already been disheartened by my Knoxville experience, and a whole bunch of other things I kept telling myself, I decided to give up and get a motel.

Which brought about a whole new set of problems. I think I spent at least as much time riding back and forth across Maryville as I did Knoxville, and it was at least as frustrating. Either they've knocked down some motels, or my mapping programs have some incorrect data for the area. Finally I called up the Mountain View Motel, and they said they existed where my map said they did, and had rooms available. $32 plus tax, and the room isn't bad at all. I saw there was a Pizzeria Uno in the area, so after the crappy day I figured I would treat myself to a nice dinner. I think on a bike tour it's probably OK (or even necessary) to use food to cheer yourself up! I went to the motel first and just as I was finishing my shower, there was a huge boom and it began pouring down rain. Well, at least one of my reasons for not getting a campground was valid, but after building up my hopes for good pizza and a big beer, I was pretty mad at myself for not getting food first, and for letting myself get excited. Thankfully the rain let up a bit after about 40 minutes, so I put on my jacket and sandals, and was able to ride over to the restaurant a little after 8:00. Turns out that I at least made one good decision, because the motel office had a "no vacancy" sign up as I was leaving. Of course, I still had trouble on the two mile trip there, getting stuck in a Shoney's parking lot within view of the Uno's. Anyway, I finally made it in, got my big beer, got my regular-sized (serves two to three people) pizza, and yes, it helped make me feel a whole lot better. Riding the bike with only one bag on it feels really good too! I was sitting outside at the restaurant and had a nice chat for a bit with some friends of my waitress who were hanging out there. And the manager even came out and talked with me for a minute after it was reported to her that I was from Chicago and had been to the mother ship. Back at the motel, the bridge closings in Knoxville were the number two story on the local news (one closed for tomorrow's giant fireworks display, and the other for construction), so at it sounds like I wasn't the only one affected and confused. Hopefully in time I'll forget that middle part of the day, because the beginning and end were actually really nice.