good whitewater

Walters Power Project on the Pigeon River

if walking in the woods

Appalachian Trail Crossing

Where Route 32 (see previous post) becomes a dirt road, the Appalachian Trail crosses it.

a joke on the tourists, I think

Mountain Refreshment

There is a little road—Route 32—that goes from the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park east to the Pigeon River, which forms part of the boundary between North Carolina and Tennessee. Route 32 is 16 miles of constant right-left-right-left curves, first going up, then going down the mountain. The last mile is dirt. It comes to an end here, across the Pigeon River from Mt. Sterling, North Carolina.

I was here on a Sunday.

great smoky mountains

1st Amendment Rights up on Clingmans Dome, highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Get a permit first.

bikes and books

Melissa Holbrook Pierson, the author of The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles, gave a reading at the BMW Motorcycle Owners Rally in Johnson City, Tennessee. She then sold and signed copies of said book. Johnson City is on my way north and I am in a 4-wheeled vehicle, so through a connection or two, I was designated as the deliverer of two boxes of books. And then I hung out at the Rally with her and a couple of mutual friends, and had a delightful time.

The headlight at the far left and closest to the viewer belongs to Melissa's bike. Whoever guesses make, model, and year of the bike wins . . . recognition as a true BMW junkie.

mississippi river

This is as close as I got to the Mississippi River at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. The road goes to a boat launch on the river, but there's been flooding—this is the last of it—and so the boat launch is closed and HIGH WATER signs are supposed to keep us from going any further. So, being the law-abiding citizen that I am, I didn't.

woods and water

Meeman-Shelby State Forest and Park, in western Tennessee just north of Memphis, sits on the Mississippi River, although you'd never know it being there; the river is unaccessible except for one boat-launching ramp which is currently flooded so really unaccessible. That said, my cabin in the woods is on the shore of a "controlled" lake, a euphemism for a damned stream. Pretty, though.