Day 90

Big river
I knew I wanted to get up early today, but it was so cold. When I finally did get out of my tent, fog had rested over the town. I put on my rain jacket and fluorescent green shirt over that for extra warmth. After a few turns, I found a roadblock- a semi had tipped over. Luckily the load was strapped on good, so there wasn't stuff everywhere. I looked for another way around, but this was pretty much it. I snuck by in the grass. The riding was good for a bit. Uphills, downhills, great views. Then I got to a freeway. I was supposed to take a left, but I couldn't cross because of a cement barrier. I looked on Google and it seemed like the only way to ride it would be to go right, take an exit, and then get back on. Waaaay too much time wasted. There was a break in the barrier a ways down, so I just walked my bike in the grass until I got there. Once I was on the freeway, the shoulder was great. But soon I turned off. I was still using the walking route, so it seemed like I would always take a shortcut that took me up and over a hill instead of around in a valley. Oh well. I eventually got onto a big road with no shoulders. I rode to the right for a while, but it didn't feel too safe. Every once in a while, two cars would go by side by side. I decided to pedal in the middle, which was a turn lane. I had seen someone do this before, and it seemed like the right choice now. It felt weird having traffic going by on both sides. Finally I turned off. More miles. I went  through a small tourist town that was just packed with people. It smelled like a carnival. I couldn't ride on the sidewalks because there were too many people, so I biked in the road. The cars were going slow enough for a while, but eventually I got trapped in the left lane and felt like an ass as everyone passed me on the right.  Finally I got back over onto the sidewalk- there were less people on it now. Then it ended and I had to ride on the small shoulder. This is where I passed a sign that said "steep, winding mountain road, next 35 miles." This should be fun. It really wasn't bad for about 10 miles but then it started going uphill again. I got some amazing views. Once I finally got to the top, I found my turn. But I saw what the next turn was- a trail. Then continue on a different trail. That could totally just be the name of a paved road, it's happened before. But I didn't want to risk it. I took the other way around. Only a few hundred feet and I found a tourist spot that overlooked more of the mountains than any spot before it. It was right on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. I also randomly got data there, so I checked out the trails Google wanted me to go on. Yep, hiking trails. There were stone steps and roots everywhere. Biking that would have been impossible. I continued on down the mountain. I got to reap the benefit of pedalling uphill for so long. I zoomed by views that stretched on for miles. I went through a tunnel or two- luckily someone was behind me the whole time so I knew I wouldn't get ran over. Once the road did a corkscrew. That was fun. The road leveled out and I got to another tunnel. The traffic was much faster here- three lanes of traffic going one way. There was a sign that told bicyclists to take the bypass trail to avoid a tough trip through the tunnel. Sounds good to me. The trail was basically a hiking trail though. I had to push my bike up steep sections and used the brakes to slow my decent on the downhills. It was much longer than I thought it would be so I figured I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. But finally I got to a small bridge and a paved road. I could see the other end of the tunnel- wow, that was a long one. I got back on the highway. Eventually I passed through another town where I could use the sidewalks. I passed by a ton of cars lined up in the road, with cops up ahead. An accident? Nope, everyone was turning. There must have been a huge event going on. I think it was after this that I finally started getting consistent backroads. I followed them for a while, but I realized that I needed to go really fast to get to Knoxville before it got dark. The backroads route had so many turns that it was impossible to not stop and check where to go to next every once in a while. I got to a point that was nearby a highway and decided to check it out. There was a small shoulder, but it widened out when it went through a city. It pretty much went straight into Knoxville- I wouldn't have to worry about turns and it was less miles. I had to try. It was some rough riding for some of it, but I accomplished exactly what I needed to. I got about halfway and then the traffic picked up enough that I found the bike route again. I relaxed a bit. More great riding- the roads often parralleled streams. The sun was at just the right place to make the changing trees appear to be glowing. I was finally just a few roads away and I had to go up the craziest hill. This always seems to happen when I stay with people- they live on top of a freaking hill. Then I discovered that Google kinda took me to the wrong spot- I needed to continue down the other side of the hill to get to the entrance of the apartment complex. Crap. I started down the hill when I noticed that I could see the apartments off to the right, through only a bit of bushes. I pushed my bike through. That saves me a lot of time. I found Tiffani's apartment, and called. No answer. I knocked. Her roommates let me in. Apparently I was supposed to text her when I got into town- she was studying in the library. I was actually kinda glad. I hadn't showered in 3 weeks. The shower there was glorious. Tons of water pressure. When I was out, Tiffani was there. She insisted on taking me out to dinner. For just the third time in 90 days, I climbed inside a car. We went to the restaurant that she works at- "Not Watson's." It used to be part of Watson's department store but had recently been made into a restaurant. We shared cheese and chilly fries and I had chicken and waffles- it was pretty amazing. After that we walked around and she showed me parts of the town. We talked a ton- we both hadn't seen a familiar face in months. Tiffany moved away from pretty much everyone she knew back home to go to grad school here. I was a nice reunion. Around midnight, it finally started getting cold, so we headed back. Once we were home, we were both exhausted. I set up my bed- a huge blow up air mattress. It was amazingly comfortable- I fell asleep easily.