The World According To Guitarguy

Hi Everyone ,

After a very nice stay at my friend’s place in North Carolina , That would be Margaret & John if you just popped in , I hit the road around 10:30 a.m. and finished up riding around 6:30 p.m. 

I covered 4 states today, N.C. , Tennesee , Georgia and finally Alabama where I sit this minute , in the town of Attalla , just west of Gadsden .

It didn’t look like the weather was going to give this week , so I’m taking a chance and covering as much ground as I can before the next front moves in .

What a week we had !

I haven’t seen this much wind since George W. gave his last state of the union address .

I’m just kidding of course…..I never waste my time watching Georgie .

I almost turned back when the winds started pushing me all over the lanes on route 74 west , which would lead me out of the Great Smoky Mountain range through the Nantahala National Forrest .

But my bike was running good and the thought of putting it back under the covers for who knows how long kept me going .

Once over the Tennessee line I entered the Ocoee Wildlife Management Area which was an awesome road !

There were some pretty hairy curves going on , sheer rock face cliffs without any breakdown lane , this combined with ”Falling Rock” signs and the ever present wonder of what might be around the bend .

Oh yes , then there’s the guy in back of you in the oil tanker truck that thinks maybe you should go faster than 45 mph around curves that are marked for 30 .

It was still worth it .

 I followed 74 West to 11 South , which runs parallel to the major route 59  .

I really do prefer to stay on the two laner’s whenever possible and save the highways for when I need to cover distances quickly .

Route 11 was a very nice break , excellent road conditions and a 55 mph speed limit , not to mention it was very beautiful .

Very green and grassy with gentle rolling hills .

The only problem happened when I entered the city of Chatanooga (go ahead say it………..Choo Choo !) the route just flat out vanished !

As usual , it was a combination of searching about the city asking folk directions and plain dumb luck that allowed for me to find the missing route  .

This has happened to me countless times over the years during my travels .

Old routes get swallowed up by growing cities and become just another part of the “downtown” area , in most cases the part of town that nobody cares to pass through anymore .

Just as giant malls kill local downtown businesses , so do major highway bypasses conquer  what once was the vital main road through town .

Gas stations relocate to the heavier trafficked off ramps and the obligatory fast food franchises take root on either side of the road .

It’s getting harder to find those “mom & pop” motels these days and I usually have to settle for dirty off ramp truck stops and motel chains .

I really like 11 South though and plan to stay with it until I must head westward on route 20 .

I just finished watching a commercial while I was typing this up about crystal meth use , which reminded me that I’d seen a batch of “METH” billboards on the side of the road today .

Has this become the new scourge of the south ?

These ads show a pretty faced woman and then next to her image , a computer generated shot of what she should look like after years of crystal meth abuse .

Is that the new tool in “The War On Drugs” …………….vanity ?

I’m sure drug addicts everywhere are saying to themselves , “oh I can’t go out to score like this…..I’ve got METH FACE” !

Oh well , on that note………..Good Night .