| 9:00am | Up and packed and on my way. I asked around and got a few suggestions on places for breakfast, but just ended up finding a little diner in Stevens City, I think it was called "High Point Diner", right on main street. Good food, and cheap! |
| 9:30am | On the road. I had talked to Bill Jennings the night before and we had formulated a plan, I would jet down to Chattanooga and hang out for the weekend. So onto I-81 it was. I got on and just set the cruise. Now, as far as interstates go, I-81 is pretty nice, fairly rolling with nice mountains to look at in the distance. I did meet up with a few other bike and we ran for several miles together. The morning started off nice and cool, but it started to warm up quickly as the sun had a chance to do its thing. I watch the temps get up to the high 80's, but then I must have hit a front or something because in the span of about 10 minuted it dropped to the high 50's, became overcast, and there were a few sprinkles. Never rained though. |
| 1:30pm | Ran out the first tank of gas, 200+ miles. Pulled over, gasses up (Gas was $1.91 a gallon!!!), fed myself, and in a case of pure luck, my brother called just as I was sitting down to eat. Chatted for a bit, but wanted to get back on the road. Back on the road, and set out to make some more time on the interstate. |
| 5:00pm | Just south of Knoxville and another 200+ miles, full tank run. Gassed up and called Bill to let him know where I was. He told be to pick up the pace since he had reserved a plane for 7pm. Who was I to argue. Twisted the throttle and headed into Chattanooga. |
| 6:00pm |
Pulled into Chez Jennings. Met Holly, Bill's 2 1/2 year old and said hi to Sheri. Unloaded my things, then we were off to the airport! Bill has just in the last year or so gotten his pilots licence and belongs to the local flying club. When he heard I was coming into town, he reserved the small Cesnna Skyhawk. WhooHoo! As we were getting ready to head out, there was an F-104 Starfighter in town for a river festivel. Pretty cool! After all the preflight checks, we taxied out. Here is another shot of the Starfighter as we taxied by. After taxiing out, we were off and in the air! It was very cool. Taking in the sites for the side of the plan (Pic1, Pic2), and we even flew right over a nuke plant!. And another picture of the cooling towers from above. We flew up to another airport just north and did a touch and go. Well, we landed all the way, then took off again. The we flew back down to Chattanooga and checked out the dam, and the city from the air. The sun was starting to go down, so it was back to the airport. Once we were ready to get going, Bill wanted me to check out his LED flashlight, but I thought the sunset was nicer. After that GREAT flight, we picked up some food then headed back to Bill's place. Chatted for a while, the retired to our rooms where I discovered that even though Bill only has dialup, on of his neighbors has high speed internet and a wide open WI-FI. :) Thanks neighbor!! |
| 12:30am | Bed |
| Ending mileage: | 69324 |
| Starting mileage: | 68790 |
| Miles for day: | 534 |
| Total: | 1110 |