Camped out of internet access last 2 days. Came into Brevard, NC to do a wash and found a $3.00 shower also. Clean clothes, clean body. And washed the KY & TN mud off the Turner.

Rode Haw Ridge near Oak Ridge, TN on Wed for a counter. I will swing back into TN for another ride. Rode w/ 2 college students taking a break b4 finals: Allan and drew who was a summer interin w/ Bike Magazine, the one with the article about the typical rides in each state. They are guilty of Jim Thorpe.

Allan invited me to shower @ his mom’s house. Don’t pass up those offers. Clean again.

Grocery shop and headed towards Asheville, NC. Parked in empty shopping center parking lot. Fixed dinner. Turned stove on to heat h2o for clean up. No propane. Just ran out. Used gps to find gas station w/ plan to ask location for propane @ 8:0PM. Found Flying J seveal miles away. GPS routes over some interesting roads, some of which, my druthers would be to not drive: narrow, gravel, 1 lane bridges & underpass. But I always arrived in 1 piece.

Filled 5.5 gal of propane in 7 gal tank. Didn’t think I was such a fuel pig. Attendant said pump shuts off @ 80% to allow for expansion.

Picked up I40 for Asheville in the dark. Plan was to drive to E outskirts of town & hunt for a motel parking lot because it would be the most dependable sleeping spot to find in the dark.  Checked out 2 locations before settling on suitable spot.

Up early & drove to a more public spot in Burger King parking lot to fix bfast in the rain.

Drove I-40 into Asheville, NC. Over time I have read articles that laist Asheville as a top spot to live. Good bagel bakery right off I-40. Found credit union to deposit checks. Found Liberty Bike to inquire of Pisgah NF rides. Out of maps, drove down to Diamond Brand, bought maps, & drove back to Liberty to mark up newly purchased maps. Got some skinny.

Drove dfown to Brevard, NC right in the Pisgah. Walked into a backpacking shop & flirted w/ a cute clerk w/ a N Georgia accent. I asked about camping and she steered me right. I found a spot that was right on today’s ride. So happy to sleep in the dead quiet and legal also. Back there again tonight.

Today I slept in waiting out the rising sun & burning off the frost. Camped in a creek bottom so it took a while for the sun to crest the ridge.

Headed out on severely muddy bike. Gravel road frozen & ice in puddles. Rode passed the horse stables & climbed on gated sledom used logging road. Back to the Western rides of big road climbs. Climbed for 54 mins to Black Mtn trail intersection. ST but all trails here are hiking trails. Some sections were almost treacherous to walk down. trail dropped down onto road. I mis interpretted map to say the next trail was a short distance down road. Made several false startes before I realized that map scale was small & trail junction was almost right  where I entered road. Corrected my blunder. This is where the trail turned walking challenging sliding a bike on dry oak leaves that are slippery in their own medium. I will post the ride on the rides page using GOGGLE earth from the Garmin EDGE 305.

Again, wash completed & wool & synthetic material clothes are drying in the back of van. It will take several days for all to dry because it is too cold inside van.

Draw back to heater: it produces h2o vapor. Wet clothes produce more when drying. Need to open vents more to let vapor escape but so does heat.

Off to camp & no internet. No proof reading. Just bang on keys & click publish

Sleep interrupted about 4:30AM by tractor trailer doing trailer switches like right outside my fender. Slept late to make up for the interruption.

Plan was to drive to Cave Run Bicycle & pick shop brains for local ride. Arrived b4 10:00 AM opening & sat in parking lot waiting. casual winter time opening. Chatted with owner John about rides and conditions of trails & USFS involvement or lack thereof. Short of it was: wet spring, 3 month drought & 100 of horses mixed in damages the trails. Biker community participated in trail use meetings with their recommendation of separate trails for user groups to protect trail quality. FS lacks funds & perhaps where with all to make separate trails. John offered more of same trail systems and I bailed making a generalization of horse affected trails & snotty clay.

Took advantage of cold & windy weather to drive South towards Tennessee.

Last night I bought an eastern US map and am marking on the map the potential rides I have found. This presents a graphic picture of networking locations to maximize ride time and reduce drive miles. Plan is to drive tomorrow into Knoxville and do a local ride then over to NC down into SC, back to TN, and then down to N Georgia. Still quite a bit of wandering seeking out desirable rides.

Stopped in Williamsburg, KY for night. Diesel $2.54 / gal. Found bank parking lot @ edge of town. Cleaning up after dinner and looked out front window across a field from me and saw about 10 police cruisers w/ lights & sirens flashing plus 3 meat wagons bracket in a house right on the corner. In dark i was unable to view activity. Shortly a helicopter with a search light joined the action. I am parked in the next accessible road. At first I thought they were coming across the field for me and that something happened at the bank but there were no flashers in the bank parking lot. And the police rigs turned to face the house on the corner. Shortly a meat wagon left with flashers on. A while later the helicopter left; it might have been an evac flight and i couldn’t see if it flew a victim away or left empty. And then the cops turned off their flashers and drove away. I am still here in the parking lot and there are some people somewhere that they did not plan on being. Story might be in newspaper tomorrow.

So, scoot to Knoxville for ride and then over to Asheville, NC area for a longer visit.

Cheered Zags on to victory over Tennessee in a sports bar. Liquor laws on Sunday mean an early last call way early in the evening. Nursed 2 swigs of beer for 2nd half.

Found gravel parking lot among some motels. Slept well and a bit late.

Plan today is to ride what the weather and USFS info allow. Forecast is for 70% snow so i am thinking of a lay over day waiting out weather. Actual weather was just above freezing, windy, partially sunny and snow showers. Stopped @ FS visitor center at Cave Run Lake, a Corps of Engineering flood control dam. Somebody sent the $ for what appears to  be a mute issue: Big dammed up river.

Rode part of Sheltowee Trail S from dam, out & back w/ a loop added @ end. Trail tread is mostly clay covered by fallen leaves chewed up by horses. Non technical w/ little ups & downs for good hard riding. Going uphill on steeps I spun out in the clay. Snotty mud. 16.36 miles & 2121′ vert.

Note: I am uploading the ride data from Google Earth and placing them in the Rides page. Apparently you need a Google Earth to properly open the file to see the ride. Right click on file name, open in new window. If you have Google Earth it will open.

$2.00 bought a shower @ Outpost XG.

Back into town. decided to see a movie to spend some time in another manner. Choose Bond’s new movie, I enjoyed the nice seat and climate controlled environment way more than movie. Fixed dinner in parking lot as snow fell outside my windows.

Drove back to same parking lot.

Forecast is nice for next 2 days. Tomorrow I will hit local bike shop for more ride ideas in area.

Kentucky is my 30th state to experience my bike tires.