Day Seven - Ocoee River Run (408 miles)
The worst part of any trip was upon us that last morning of getting up for the ride home. The nicest thing about the Southeast for us is we are always only a day's ride home. We left early Saturday morning and we were home by 4:00. But wait there was still some more good riding ahead of us. We had contemplated riding through the Chattohoochee Forest in the Northwest corner of the state and hitting Alabama while we were at it, but we decided to head toward home in a more direct route. It was not all bad by any means. First we got to run GA 60 one last time up to Morganton and McCaysville. Once through McCaysville we crossed over to Copperhill we passed the large pile of sludge which is really slag, a byproduct of the cooper mining once done in the area. The mines have been abandon for some time and now the produce sulfuric acid. Needless to say the smell was less than impressive, fortunately our full face helmets provided some protection. Shortly North of Copperhill we turned left on US 64 and ran along side the Ocoee River. In 1996, the Summer Olympics in Atlanta brought the world to this quiet section of eastern Tennessee. The Ocoee River played host to whitewater portion of the Olympics. The Ocoee Whitewater Center is still a hub of activity for these enthusiasts. The river gradually becomes the Lake Ocoee as the road progresses through sweeping turns and tight twisties. On the west end of the lake we passed the Ocoee Dam and before we knew it we were in Cleveland and on I-75. After a couple of quick gas stops we pulled into home.
