Day 11 - Henderson, TN

 426 Miles

Pulled up stakes (literally) about 7:00am and was on the road by 7:30 heading west.  The initial ride down Hwy 28 along the Little Tennessee River is beautiful as reflected by the following photos.

A very pretty ride to start off the day.

Where Hwy 28 meets Hwy 129 begins the famous, or infamous, Tail of the Dragon (going upward).  A twisty road consisting of 318 curves within 11 miles, it's everything a bike rider could want in terms of thrills...and some.  The "and some" refers to the crotch rocket riders who endanger everyone on the road as they spiral down the mountain toward you as fast as they can.

At the bottom end there is the famous Tree of Shame with pieces parts of all kinds of bikes which haven't "completed" the trip.  Inside the store there is a poster board replete with photos of injured riders, most sporting very painful looking "road rashes."

As usual, your intrepid reporter accepts all challenges, fears no dangers, and forges ahead safely conquering the "Tail of the Dragon."  (Going up...and at speeds allowing me to see around the corner before gassing the bike, i.e., "putt-putting"...but I made it.)

After a nice stop in Vorone, TN for Hardee's Ham Biscuits, I resolve to ride mostly what I like to call "middle Tennessee" roads.  These are usually two-laned and pass through the wonderful towns of Tennessee.  This is absolutely one of my favorite places in the Union.  The people are some of the most friendly I've encountered anywhere on any of my trips.

Just outside of Nashville and needing to head toward Memphis I get on I-40 and slab my way south and west.  About 4:00pm I couldn't stand the slab any longer and turned back "inland" toward Henderson.  My timing was perfect.  I checked into a motel just outside of Henderson just in time to turn on the TV and get the weather alerts informing us that a gigantic string of thunder storms, complete with 80mph wind shears and one confirmed tornado was bearing down on us from the southwest at 45mph.  I parked Betsy under heavy columns at the motel and took my road shower just before the rains came.  Fortunately, the storms petered out in my area moving mostly to the north of us.  Worked for me. 

Unfortunately, my computer didn't work for me.  Wanting to put this together while in the motel I re-encountered the start up problem I ran into back at the MTF get-together.  Evidently, my battery is on the fritz and the system can't even get enough power plugged in to start up.  I have later determined I can charge it for several hours and bring it up connected to a power source, but if I shut it down I'm out of business.  A new laptop battery is on order and due in tomorrow.

In the meantime, tomorrow it's homeward bound.