Saturday was weird and terrific. Who'da thunk?
We rolled up 411 with the mountains on our right shoulder. A whole lane of shoulder just for us! From Delano to Etowah we rolled in the morning, forearms dripping with morning fog. Past Etowah, the god of flats attacked. Cailtyn had a rear flat, which I fixed, but which blew after I pumped it up. I fixed this flat, and then replaced a whole front tire whenI saw a bulging sidewall. Three. Four miles onward Paige's rear picked up a nail and flat it went. This tire repair took over an hour and a half because the rear tire bead was oddly too tight. Finally resorted to destroying the tire and cutting out the bead to fix the situation. Replace the tire and tube. Tube immediately blew (brand new wheel, new rimstrip, new tire, new tube!!! Argh!). Repaired this tube. Five. No mileage, the sun was up, patience was out, heat was tough. Subway for lunch!!! and a new attiude. Rolled further up 411 to Vonore and headed downhill to Tellico Lake and our campsite. "Closed for the season."! Never opened in 2007. Holy Moley. So, back up hill to solution next. Flat tire #6 -- on a Bob trailer. Easy as pie now, with loads o' practice. Gathered by a general store to plan the next plan, since it was close on 7.00 pm and we needed a place to stay. Were prayed over by some Harley looking folks, nice as can be. Awesome. Two other campsites full, two rooms left at only motel in area, four miles distant. Took it. Were absolutely enveloped by niceness at Grand Vista Hotel, Vonore TN. Check in lady gathered food from the kitchen and just gave us our dinner. Kids were psyched!! for brunch next morning. Triathlon athletes sharing motel for a Sunday meet fawned over Will, Caitlyn, Paige, and Charlotte, taking pictures and telling them how inspring they were. Kids handled all that just fine. Sunday morning will chow down on breakfast and hit the road, aiming for Townsend TN, at the base of the Smokey Mountain National Park. Road at the end of the day is curvy on the map. They know what that means.
Last night (I'm typing Sunday morning) as we gathered to reflect on the day, it was unanimous that this was our best day, and that the crushing flat tires and the more crushing "What!? Oh, no." of the "Closed for the season" sign in fact helped make it the best day. "How else would we have met that couple at the store?, or seen this place?" It's working.
-- PJC
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2 comments:
Thought of you all last night. A crystal clear full moon popped against the midnight sky...I had visions of PJC and the quads sharing it at the sweet sounding Sweetwater campgrounds up in the hills of Tennessee. LOL--NOT! But yes, once again you found the road to adventure and found it sprinkled it with life lessons. Like the tri-athletes, I'm in awe of y'all. Already...made it to a new state, it's a new week, new month, and the adventure continues. May the god of flats remain back near Etowah...if not, maybe someone else can give PJC a "flat" break if he wants/needs one.
Dear Pat et. al.,
Thanks for the updates. I returned from Atlanta yesterday and thought of you all cycling in what's been intense heat. Sounds as though you have escaped most of that if you are in the mountains! Hope so.
Catherine
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