Top photos by Jake Williams
Cruising down the “ Baby Dragon .” Top right : My first employer , Brien Dill , always has a smile and loves chatting about bikes . Below right : Southernaire has an extensive menu , but you can ’ t go wrong with the meatloaf plate . enjoy stopping by to visit with past coworkers and the owner , Brien , who rides a BMW R 1250 GS Adventure and loves chatting about motorcycles .
Down the highway about 6 miles , we turned south onto State Route 232 , also known as the “ Baby Dragon .” Unlike the famous 11- mile road in East Tennessee with a similar name , the Baby Dragon doesn ’ t have tight , technical curves , but it has plenty of long sweepers with good visibility . By the time we got to the end of the Baby Dragon , we were getting hungry , so we stopped at Southernaire Motel & Restaurant for a meatloaf plate with turnip greens and black- eyed peas .
After a tasty lunch , we continued east through the towns of Stewart , Tennessee Ridge , and Erin until we got to Cumberland City , where candy- striped steam stacks from the TVA power plant stretch up into the sky . We rode down to the ferry , paid 75 cents ( tickets are $ 1 for out- of- state motorcycles ), and hopped over the river .
The last leg of this route goes through Indian Mound , the part of Stewart County where I grew up . Maybe I ’ m biased , but this is my favorite portion of this favorite ride . The roads through the Mound rise up over ridges and snake down along creeks and past fields of
The TVA power plant employs many local residents , including my dad , and the ferry just south of the plant offers a quick jump across the river .
cattle . The last road is Old Highway 79 , the curviest road of the loop .
At the end of Old Highway 79 , you ’ ll find yourself back on U . S . Route 79 and just a stone ’ s throw away from the boat ramp where we began this route . Revisiting these roads and stops that have
always been a part of my life gave me a renewed appreciation for my community and town . Sure , there are places in the world with more dramatic views and more exciting roads , but at the end of the day , these are the roads I ’ ll always come back to .
RESOURCES
• Tennessee Tourism : TNVacation . com
• Land Between the Lakes Natl . Rec . Area : LandBetweenTheLakes . us
48 / FEBRUARY 2024 / RIDERMAGAZINE . COM