Day 2: Erwin, TN to Morristown, TN

Thur. 8/30/07
54.36 mi
1,923 ft cumulative climb
5:18 hrs ride time (rode 9 - 5 with 1 hr lunch)
10.2 mph avg
85 F

I rode Hwy 81 to Hwy 107 and took that into Greeneville. I took 11E out of Greenville to Morristown.

Bats as seen from my pillow in the twilight of morning

I had difficulty getting to and staying asleep last night. At 11:30 PM it was still 78 F with high humidity and my tent still wreaked with the the odor of waterproofing treatment I put on it a week ago. I also had poor air circulation because one of my poles splintered. I wasn't very tired either, I only rode about 20 miles on my first day with roughly the first half down hill. Mentally, I had trouble winding down too. I was excited to finally be on the road while also full of anxiety about the unknown. I woke up at twilight to the site of bats swarming around overhead. I was showered and on the road by 9 AM.

I was concerned that my neck would bother me today because I stopped riding about 3 weeks before this trip. Sure enough, about 10 miles into today's ride my neck started aching.

Looking East about 10 miles into todays ride on Hwy 107 heading towards Greeneville

I broke for lunch in Greeneville at the Tusculum restaurant. I had a very pleasant lunch with several refills of iced tea and some advil. A light misty rain started as I prepared to get back on the road so I sat down on a bench out in front of the restaurant and tuned the radio to a weather station. The forecast seemed like I had a fair chance of avoiding any heavy down pours so I rode on. The aching in my neck continued to bother me the rest of the day but I'm sure the Advil helped. This was the first time I've ridden over 32 miles in a day and I've never ridden with a fully loaded bike before yesterday, nor have I had to ride in any heavy rain. Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with any down pours. I did however, remove the lenses from my glasses and just used the frame for my review mirror. I sure was glad to roll into Morristown where I stayed at a Super8 and ate dinner at Ryan's. It has been years since I ate at a Ryan's. Ryan's is a family buffet style restaurant. When I lived in Atlanta, I sometimes ate lunch there. Western North Carolina, the place where I now live, doesn't have them. Update: I've since seen a Ryan's in Asheville and a quick internet search revealed there are actually two of them there. Asheville is the closest city to me and about an hour's drive.

I got more sun than I expected today. In the morning, I'll be looking for a hat to wear under my helmet.