Kingsport TN
Miles = 759

 
I thought we had one ride in us before the cold weather set in and we were having a very nice October weather-wise. We had to pause our golf game and plan a two day ride. We were very much focused on the roads and not so much the destination. We decided on Kingsport despite staying there on more than one occasion. There isn't much here at the end of the day. We had been to the lone brewery in Kingsport and it wasn't very much. We knew we would be riding a good amount of both days and there wasn't all that much daylight in late October so all of those factors led us to Kingsport.

Day One - 380 miles
We started out at first light and took the normal route to the Southeast by going around I-275 and down I-75. We jumped off at Williamstown and started down the KY backroads. It was nice and sunny out and the weather was cooperating perfectly. In fact it was really too perfect in that by riding east we were riding into the sun and it was quite the challenge. No complaints for us as this beats the alternative but we had to ride at a little slower pace than normal. We rode on KY32 and KY36 through Cynthiana and Carlisle before hitting our first stop at the Bath County Park just south of Owingsville. There isn't much to this park but we needed a break after 150 miles or so, and this fit the bill. There is an old brick iron furnace there, the remnants of John Cockey Owings Company's 1791 business that provided utensils and munitions amongst other materials up until 1838. We continued riding south merging onto US460 in Frenchburg. We stopped at Broke Leg Falls where they have a nice park with trails and picnic areas. This park was built in the 1960s and looked like it would have been a very popular spot back in the day. Due to the low rainfall there wasn't much to the falls and a tornado had been through this exact location back in 2012 and there were still many fallen trees around. Still it was a good stop. We stayed off the Bert Coombs highway choosing to ride old US460 which parallels the new 4-lan road all the way into Salyersville KY where we stopped to pick up a Subway sandwich to go. We ate at Middle Creek Battlefield; a civil war historic battlefield where there was a skirmish. We had been here before but now it was a much more formal park with plaques showing what happened and the strategies involved. We rode through the Breaks Interstate Park area again but only stopped along the road at Mill Rock Point. We walked down to the overlook and took some pics. While we were there Steve got stung by a bee that would have ramifications later on. Since we had been through this area many times we didn't stay long continuing down to Haysi VA before breaking away from VA80 and heading south on VA63. Another good road that took us down into Gate City arriving from the East which was new to us. On the other side of the gap we rode down a gravel road to the Gate City Suspension Bridge across the North Fork of the Holston River. The bridge was very secure but we walked with some trepidation as the bridge was moving in many directions. We walked to the middle point of the river which was roughly half the bridge distance which I estimated to be about 300 feet. Steve's bee sting was starting to swell but wasn't all that bad yet. We backtracked out to the main road and rode straight to the hotel after stopping to pick up some wine for the pizza dinner in the lobby we knew was in our future.

Day Two - 379 miles
One of the reasons we chose Kingsport for the overnight was the knowledge we could have breakfast at Betty's Stockyard Cafe. Our second time there and it didn't disappoint. We arrived before sunrise so by time we finished it was first light and we were ready to ride. We were on mostly familiar roads until we got to Coeburn VA where we headed west on VA646. We stopped at an overlook along this road that was about 500' above the town. It wasn't yet 9:00 so there was still a bit of chill in the air but the sun was out again in full force. Fortunately today we would be riding mostly westbound so the sun was not in our eyes and the speed was back up where it should be. After riding through Wise we rode on Indian Gap Rd staying off the 4-lane US23 as long as possible. Crossing over into KY through Pound Gap we stopped at the Combs Overlook that overlooked Jenkins KY. This formal overlook is nice but the wind had picked up and it was actually quite chilly. As we rode down into Jenkins and exited US23 we began to notice the severe damage that was caused by the floods earlier in the year. We didn't realize when routing that we would be riding through much of the most impacted areas in Eastern KY. Neon KY had been hit particularly hard and we rode right through it. The townspeople were still cleaning out mud from the downtown shops and 3-4 months had already gone by. Riding through the hollows and valleys devastation was ever-present. We were really into the back country and our next stop was the Elk View Park in Breathitt County. This is a very unique area and home to the largest herd of Elk in KY. The area was once a strip mine but it had recently been reclaimed after the mining was over and it is now a very nice area. There are many ATV and Dual-Sport tracks in the area. We stopped to have a look around and talked to a local who was alone in the park. He was nice and gave us some history of the area. Steve's arm was now pretty swollen and he could only bend it a few degrees. We continued west on KY52 stopping once at a little lake that wasn't much and headed north once we reached Richmond. We stopped at Fort Boonesborough State Park and walked along the KY River before making our final leg. We rode along the river for a short time riding past Hall's on the River, an eating establishment that dates back to 1781. We continued on some backroads zigging and zagging our way towards I-75 where we rode up US25 to Willamstown and rejoined I-75 to complete our trip.