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FALL 2016 ISSUE 02 / VOL. 01
A farmer has decorated his own barn to show the prosperity of this part of Tennessee.
We were riding along many, many miles of twolane road running through endless forests. The area is noted for its trees— mainly pine, hickory and oak— and a minor lumber industry. The establishment of a national recreation area, Big South Fork, just north of Rugby, protects thousands of acres. The park is more receptive to hiking and boating than riding. But one ribbon of asphalt does cut across the middle, Leatherwood Ford Road( State Route 297), very much worth the trip as it drops down to cross the Big South Fork Cumberland River.
On the second day we rode up along State Route 63, part of the White Lightning Trail, to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, right where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia come together at Cumberland Mountain. We were at the west end of the trail, known as the Wilderness Road, the first passage across the southern Appalachian Mountains. Around 1775, a property developer hired a competent woodsman, Daniel Boone, to figure out a way to get people and livestock, and eventually wagons, over the mountains and to the fertile lands beyond. In the 30 years after he blazed a way, some 300,000 Americans followed that road, and undoubtedly made that developer rich. An Interstate tunnel now funnels all the traffic under the mountain, and the old Wilderness Road is now for hiking. However, after we had a looksee at the museum, we took the road up to Pinnacle Overlook— this was not many miles, but twistier than a corkscrew, I promise you. Great views.
Then it was time to catch a plane and go home. A couple more days and I could have done the nearby Tail of the Dragon and then gone up to Shady Valley and ridden The Snake, both of which I’ ve been on before. Now I have done the Devil’ s Triangle and completed the Tennessee Trifecta. And I’ m glad that Satan didn’ t get me.
PS: To download a copy of The Long & Winding Road, the Tennessee touring brochure for motorcyclists complete with maps, visit easttnvacations. com.