Frozen Head, NOT!
March, 20th, 2004
I have to start this article off
with an apology to those of you that showed up at Cracker Barrel for the 9:30
breakfast meeting. At 9:15 it was pouring the rain at my house. I watched the
radar on the weather channel and could see the rain was moving through quickly.
With that in mind, I decided to wait until the 10:30 departure time before
heading over there. My theory worked because the rain had moved off by then, but
at least two guys were there at 9:30 and thought the ride had been cancelled. I
apologize to anyone that showed up early and found I was not there. Let me
assure you I always show up for our rides. I may not be there right on time, but
I am always there.
The Honda riders were out in force today. Gary and Robin
Malone, Phil and Kim Smith, Brad White and myself left Cracker Barrel at about
10:45. We rode out into Jefferson County and along Douglas lake. In Dandridge,
we turned back North through Jefferson City and along the dam of Cherokee lake.
In Rutledge, we stopped at Hardees for lunch. While there, Gary called his son
who was starting a two man job all by himself. Guilt got the best of Gary so he
opted to head off towards Clinton to help his son. (Those gasoline powered post
hole diggers work much better when two people are on the handles) Brad continued
on with us as we headed towards Big Ridge State Park but decide to peel off when
we got fairly close to his home. Smart move as it turns out Brad. The afternoon
only got worse.
As we headed towards Frozen Head, we stopped in Clinton for a
break. I noticed a ridge of clouds were moving in and my gut told me to high
tail it home...but it was still warm and the Weather Channel had predicted
"isolated thunderstorms" in the evening. Somewhere during the day,
while we were riding, the word "isolated" must have been dropped out
of their forecast.
We left Clinton and rode over to Rt. 62, then took Rt. 116
North which skirts along the edge of Frozen Head. Terry Elmy has ridden this
road and told me it was a good bike road. He told me he saw a few refrigerators
along the way but I was not prepared to see all the trash that people were
throwing over the hills. Gosh it was bad...and made that part of the ride a lot
less enjoyable. I say take some trustees from nearby Brushy Mountain Prison over
and clean-up the place up a little, Then shoot anyone else that tries to dump
junk along that road. Terry was right though, it is a good rode to ride a
motorcycle on.
We turned at the intersection of Rt. 330 back towards Oliver
Springs. The sky was threatening and we took shelter just as we entered Oliver
Springs by getting under the bridge for the highway going back towards Oak
Ridge. The sky turned loose as we waited there for at least 30 minutes. I was on
my cell phone getting weather reports from Kelly Militti who had the Weather
Channel tuned in. Looks like a lot of rain to our West. What to do, what to do.
Well, get wet, that's what to do.
Off we went into an average shower which actually slacked off
considerably as we rode through Oak Ridge. Yes, the highway was wet but we were
still pretty dry. It was dusk and my least favorite combination was upon us. On
motorcycle, in rain, at night.....and the Interstate is my least favorite road
to be on in those circumstances. I-40 was 3 miles away.
As we headed East, the rain got harder. Phil and Kim elected
to get a room in West Knoxville. They are CRGR members from Wallins Kentucky and
came down for a weekend of riding. Their decision was a sound one. Phil is our
club secretary. I rode on another 20-25 minutes and arrived at home fairly wet.
Not a "soaked billfold" wet, but pretty damp. The Harley was a muddy
mess because of the poor condition of my drive way. I wore the mud on Sunday as
a testimony of the abuse it gets.
So, Frozen head, you will have to wait for our visit until
another day.....but we will get there soon.