Brain's Daily Journal: Day 9
Feelin’ fine. At least at the beginning of the ride. Rural farms skirted main roads turning into an idyllic pathway bordering the Little River. Fisherman lined the banks of the cool clear water. Then Martin had round three with the hills, a merciless encounter that reminded him of his days riding in Pennsylvania. Steep inclines materialized out of nowhere with short descents not making up for the effort to climb incline of nine to ten percent. After nearly four hours on the road much of it in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Martin reached the Foothills Parkway before 10:00 AM. This Tennessee Parkway is just s beautiful as the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina with one important difference; The Foothills Parkway has the misfortune of being state-run not federally run like the Blue Ridge. Work on the Foothills Parkway began in the mid-seventies. After dozens of fund re-appropriations money has never been scrounged up to finish it. A shame. The world would be a better place with fewer overly commercial Gatlinburgs and more Blue Ridge and Foothills Parkways.
After his ride was through, Martin took a swim in a lake below the Fontana dam. The Fontana Dam was where Tommy Lee Jones chased Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. Ford plunge into a seeming endless abyss was filmed at the Fontana Dam. No Hollywood stars today, but we did see a heli-pad used mostly for rescues Jeremy guessed. It was too hot for stars to be out of their trailers! I sat on the lake’s edge snapping photos. A butterfly landed on my hand. The multi-colored butterfly stayed on my finger for an entire minute even as I raised my hand to eye-level. The butterfly stayed perfectly still finally floating away when I was done shooting photos.
As we proceeded down yet another country road, I noticed engineers had enough foresight to put rumble strips along the yellow stripes looping and twisting down the middle of this narrow country road. Then we came upon Highway 72 West. At 12:30 PM it was completely deserted. We were not passed by another car for twenty miles. Hundreds of long driveways connected to the highway like legs of a massive white tarmac caterpillar. We passed a Pfizer building named Tellico West which was as long and wide as a couple football fields. After the ride was over for the day, I enjoyed playing soccer on a large trampoline and then swimming in the RV park pool. One Canadian dad let me pick his kids up and throw them in the deep end. My father did the same when I was younger. When the mosquitoes came out, it was time to pack it in for the night.
Tomorrow we would ride to Chattanooga and the Possum Creek RV Park.
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