Viva La Vagabond

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

CAROLINAS FINEST -NC

Previously on "viva la vagabond," we left you with a suspenseful cliff hanger of us entering the Appalachian mountains. And so the story goes, we headed into the Cherokee National forest making way towards Boone, NC. Trying to avoid long round about route to Boone we decided to take the highway to Watuga lake. This road may have quite possibly been the steepest, curviest and scariest road yet. Full of +10% grades, blind curves with no shoulder and screaming descents, we prayed for our lives and peed our shorts. . . Okay maybe didn't do that but still pretty damn terrifying! Despite the the dangerous road conditions the ride was incredibly scenic and full of classic Appalachian scapes. Late that afternoon, exhausted but proud to have conquered the mountains, we arrived in the beautiful mountain town of Boone! Too tired to try to find a park we tried to find a last minute warmshowers host. Luckily, despite our lack of a heads up, we were taken in by John Boyd and Beth Cramer. Beth and John are librarians at Appalachian state, avid cyclists and incredible hosts. Our stay with them was very enjoyable.

The next morning, we headed to the local bike shop in order to fix Israel's maddening bike squeak. Thinking we had fixed the problem we headed back out on the road headed to Winston-Salem. Leaving Boone the highway was perfect, with wide shoulders and great views of the mountains. All the way into into Wilkesboro, we had a great ride crossing over the eastern continental divide and the Blue Ridge Pikeway. Arriving at Wilkesboro we stopped for lunch in order to escape the afternoon sun. After an extended lunch, we got back out on the road only to find that the road conditions had changed and not for the better. The highway had turned into a cyclists nightmare ! The shoulder had narrowed to about 6 inches of riding surface, mega deep rumble strips and deranged drivers. With about 50 miles to go, we attempted to fare our way through the highway from hell. It was about ten miles later that we decided there was no way of staying on that road safely. Once again we took to the handy google maps and realized that North Carolina had quite possibly the worst road system ever. Feeling depleted and half pissed off, we managed to find a route to the nearest town of Yadkinville. At that point, cutting our day short by about 20 miles seemed the most reasonable decision. On our way to Yadkinville, we stumbled onto a road side vineyard with fresh grapes. Instantly, We jumped at the opportunity to stuff our faces with some delicious grapes. Late that night we rolled up into Yadkinville and were able to stay at their local fire station. Randomly, the son of the chief of police showed up with Gatorade and burgers for us after hearing our story. With our bellies full and our thirst quenched we turned in for the night.

Waking up to a dewy morning, we made way to Asheboro. The route to Asheboro took us through Winston-Salem which was a complete nightmare. We are very lucky to have gotten out alive. Winston-Salem did however, have a very nice gas station clerk who was impressed with our story and have us a free map. We continued on through Thomasville and into Ashboro through some rather hilly country. In the quaint town of Ashboro we stopped at a local watering hope before settling in for the night. The bar tender referred us to his buddy down at the police station who would know about where we could stay. At the station we met with officer Harold who tried really hard to helps us find "legal" place to stay. After many phone calls and checking with the captain they were able to get us a free motel room through their local Christian outreach center. After thanking officer Harold, we headed up to our room excited to sleep on real beds and have showers. To our surprise, the room smelled of cigarets, Afro-sheen, and broken dreams! Stained sheets, roach traps, and broken lamps lined the room. Nonetheless, we were happy to be inside for a night and fell asleep with hopes of surviving the night. . .

Well, That's enough adventure for one post. Catch you guys next time!

The Cherokee !

Cherokee national forests

Awesome folks from NY who gave us foods and drank

Made it!

Treacherous roads

Classic mountain home

John and Beth our awesome Boone hosts!

Hosts made us breakfast !

Streets of Boone

The bike shop visit

Crossing the Blue Ridge Pikeway

Last divide on the trip!

Oh the mountains!

Vineyards!

Camping at the fire station

Crazy Winston-Salem driver

Thomasville

Not sure what's the deal here

Getting that police hook up

Officer Harold to the rescue!

Motel if broken dreams

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

FRIENDS IN THE HILLS - EAST TN

Greetings from Boone nc! Contrary to popular belief, vagabond Jordan and Israel are still alive and riding! After a much needed week off in Murfreesboro TN, the vagabonds have continued their way east. Riding out of Murfreesboro, Jordan and Israel were accompanied by their trusty friend Matt Tucker! Through lots of hills and hollows we made our way to Sparta, tn where we took shelter from a storm at a local Sonic. Tired, wet and famished we decided to take a small hobo nap in the middle of the city park. After siesta time, with some time to kill before turning in, we decided to visit Calfkiller brewery. At Calfkiller's head quarters we met one of the owners and were able to get a small private tour and some samples of their new brews. The brewery is by far the best experience that Sparta had to offer. Later that night we returned to our hobo camp, where we were visited by some creepy teenage night owls.

The following morning started with bad news... Jordan's phone had by stolen while we slept. Taken by one of Sparta's goons we were once again robbed blind, the loss was felt by all :( Out of Sparta, we climbed up Cumberland plateau towards Crossville. The climb out of Sparta was probably the biggest elevation gain we'd had since the Rockies. Reaching Crossville after climbing forever, we made our way to a heaven sent Chinese buffet where we gorged ourselves into a food coma. Four plates deep and a few strange looks later, we were back on the road after "cracking-out" in order to beat the "itis." With our Blood-caffeine-level way past the legal limit, we blasted to Kingston where Jordan convinced Israel to push towards Lenoir city with 1.5 hours of daylight left. Too caffeinated to know better, we continued to bike through some very dark, curvy, wooded roads. In complete darkness and scared half to death we reached Lenoir city. Upon reaching Lenoir city the thought of showers and beds being 20 miles away was way too tempting. Having wanted to complete a century ride the entire trip it made the most sense to go for it. It was at 10:30 pm, that we embarked on our last 20 miles into Knoxville. Shortly after reaching the 100 mile mark, we crashed with our good friend Sean Knox and his cousin Coleman Bradley. Our first off day In Knoxville we hung out with our good friends Nealy, Meagan, Emily and Sean. Our second off day we visited with Jordan's family and Jordan got to see his dad for the first time since the beginning of the trip.

Saturday morning we left Knoxville and headed towards Newport. On our way to Newport we crossed over the beautiful French Broad. Luckily after reaching newport,we were able to hook up with Jordan's old buddy Seth and were able to crash at his raft-guide pad for the night.

Still skirting the Appalachian mountains we hopped over to Johnson city. The trek to Johnson city proved to one of the longest days ever. Despite the beautiful mountain scenery and wonderful road conditions, the mileage just couldn't be done fast enough. Several hours later we arrived at JC and headed directly to The Acoustic Cafe for some local flavor. At the Cafe, we met up with the amazing Haley Traver/Casey for dinner and beers. Jordan also got to catch up with some old local friends who joined us later. Once out the cafe, we were In for a very dark cold and sketchy ride back To Haley's mountain home. To our surprise, Daniel "Shag" Casey (Haley's hubby) was there to greet us despite his night of heavy grad school work. After trying some of Haley's home made granola, stuffed we laid our weary heads to bed.

Awaken by Haley's smiling face and delicious breakfast ready, our day was started off right at the Casey's. Sad to leave their good friends, the vagabonds took to the mountains into the Cherokee national forest. The end of Tennessee marked the beginning of their last leg of their journey into North Carolina. That is all for now, we shall report back from NC in a few days!

Matt Tucker seeing of his boys!