We set out through typical East TN countryside and made it down to Jonesborough in good time; this was encouraging. After this the day began to take some twists and turns that turned the rest of the day into quite an adventure. We found a small school out in the countryside to stop at for lunch. As I began to cook up some pasta I realized that a bit of milk would be good. I saw that there was a home for boys just up a side road so I rode there and asked for a bit of milk. After some good natured ribbing re: borrowing some milk I was given a tour of the home and some milk to take back to our lunch spot.
Lunch turned out ok; the pasta burned on the bottom. I was glad to get some carbs in before the ride over the mountain. I also enjoyed a granola bar for dessert.
We were nourished up so we set out for the climb over the mountain. As we headed up the road that was to take us over the top; the road turned from asphalt to a rocky road that consisted of very large pieces of rock. This did not look good. I turned back down the road and chatted with a family for a minute re: how long the rocky road went before there was another paved road; they said 5 miles. I immediately knew that I did not want to push my bike and trailer uphill on a rocky road for 5 miles so I went to Google Maps to reroute. Fortunately we would not have to totally backtrack; only for a bit. This reroute would wind us through the countryside before putting us on the Ashville Highway much sooner than anticipated.
Right after turning onto the busy Ashville Highway we stopped at a store to refresh for what was ahead. After a nice break we started up the Highway. There were some good climbs but nothing too too bad. What was bad was the traffic that had quite a few big ol country boy trucks mixed in.
It was after the second or third climb that Brad, Josh and Wesley met up with us. Brad had some church and after church obligations so he was jumping in late that day. His friend had been struggling up the hills so he traded out with Brad.
Ever since the reroute I was out of sorts with where and when I was to be meeting up with a high school friend Robin Kortus. I totally immersed myself in the end of the ride and trying to make up time; that caused me to make a significant navigational error that caused us to miss Robin and have him chase us down. Once he figured out where we were he headed our way. By this time we had surpassed the expected mileage for the day so we stopped and waited for Robin. He showed up with some liquid refreshment and a truck equipped with a bike rack. We loaded up and set out to Robin's house.
It felt so good to get to Robin's house and get a shower. After we all showered we enjoyed a delicious dinner that Robin prepared for us. We finished dinner, got laundry going and then set out for the Chocolate Lounge in downtown Ashville.
The Chocolate Lounge was really cool and very delicious as well. We had a great time of relaxing and visiting. After a little while the sleeps hit me so we headed home to get some rest; the next day we would be going into SC and staying with college friend Randy Richeson and his wife.
