One reason I call the bike the Adventure Goat is that I like to ride roads that I have never been on before. Did a little of that this weekend. I started out with a quick blast toward Monteagle on I24. Just short of Monteagle I took hwy 50 east so I could ride a nice stretch of hwy 41 that climbs up to the top of the ridge. A nice start...a road I know.

Then west on 41A and south onto a new road, hwy 156. A pretty nice road. Smooth mostly easy two lane. Of itself not a destination, but the scenery is nice and the ride pleasant.

I follow it down to South Pittsburg, TN, a city I have never visited before. A small Tennessee river town. Uncrowded and unhurried.

I then hopped on hwy 72 south into Alabama. This is a devided four lane. Just as well as this is flatland. I took a spur trip north on hwy 98 to the Russell Cave National Monument. A pretty area which heads back into the hills. I "toured" the parking lot, but I wasn't that kind of tourist. I'd rather be riding than looking through museums or caves, so I took a couple of pics and looked toward Orme, TN.

I am pretty sure that Orme is a city that ran completely out of water during the drought last summer. They arranged to get from Alabama I think. The road turned into a rather poorly maintained gravel and tar thing that got progressively worse. At a crossroads where no road looked all that good I retreated back toward hwy 72.

A few miles further south I caught why 117 north. This road turns into hwy 56 in TN. Overall a pretty nice road. I took some pics of an old, abandoned business made of concrete structures, some of which were formed castle like. I don't know what it used to be.

Just north of there the road climbs steeply into the hills. This was the best riding of the day. A local Taurus came up on me pretty quick while the road was flat, but when we started climbing, the Taurus disappeared. Nothing climbs like the goat. Just twist the throttle. The only gear changes need are in the slowest, tightest spots.

I came up on some traffic and had to toodle along through the rest of the good twisties...just a few miles. Then I was back at hwy 41A.

My available time was pretty much used up. I stopped at the McDonald's in Monteagle and had a large fry and a diet coke. I talked to a guy there about motorcycles for a few minutes. People enjoy that.

Then it was back down the mountain on 41. I stayed on 41 'til Manchester. This is a pleasant stretch of almost deserted two lane through farmland. Nice.

Then back on I24 to blast on home.

A good afternoon and a good ride. Something just short of 300mi.

An intriguing road that I did not ride was the "Old CCC" road that runs between hwy 156 and hwy 56 in TN. It is a gravel road that may turn into a single track way back in those hills. For these kinds of roads I'd love to have a dual purpose bike like the KLR650.

Oh, well. For now my employment is certainly uncertain, so new stuff has to wait. There are still a lot of paved roads that I haven't been down yet.