June 3rd & June 4, 2015

The good streak continued with weather in the high 70's and clear but threatening as I approached Nashville, TN.  Staying the night with cousins that I don't see enough of.  It was a wonderful visit, with their  tour of Nashville and the selection of a wonderful restaurant for dinner - Firefly Grille had a wonderful menu and I had the Red Grouper that was great.  It is so nice to see family!  The ride here was beautiful crossing the Ohio River leaving Illinois then going through the lake region at the tip of Kentucky before crossing into Tennessee.  The roads were transitioning to more hilly and windy and a lot more trees.  Only had 125 miles to do today and feeling kind of lazy.  But a great ride.

Wednesday the 4th was again clear for the ride to Asheville of around 300 miles.  It was your typical 4 lane slab ride until the gorge into Asheville.  The only thing new to me was Knoxville, TN.....WOW like all of a sudden the road was 12 lanes wide and packed with tractor trailers then just as suddenly when I-81 branched off and the road to Chattanooga went south all the trucks were gone. Guess I was the only one going to Asheville.  I love I-40 into Asheville either over Old Fort mountain on the east or the gorge from Knoxville.  Little traffic and a nice ride winding through the mountains. Be aware there were 8 pairs of NC Highway Patrol cars stationed along the way but I was on a casual trip and of no concern to them.  I arrived in Asheville around 4:30 to see Judy a childhood friend and her boyfriend Jim and staying with them for the night.  Great times and wonderful stories that had me on the edge of tears, talking about her parents adventures.  For some reason I sleep better in the mountains and I got up a little later than usual.  But today I am off for 240 miles to Asheville.