Day 02 - Abingdon to Huntsville, AL

We were excited to get moving today to begin exploring outside of Virginia. Today’s ride was only 337 miles and check-in at our destination was no earlier than 4pm CT, so we did not leave the hotel until 9:30am. We had plenty of time to get up, eat breakfast, and load up the trailer.

The winds were much calmer this morning and we were pleasantly surprised with the temperature at 36F. This was a fair bit warmer than the 28F forecast the night before. Rob added his heated pants to his riding gear today. We rolled out of the hotel parking lot at 9:30am, topped the bike off with fuel and headed south on I-81.

We crossed into Tennessee about 14 miles later. 

 Traffic was very light and the winds were less gusty than yesterday. After about 100 miles, Michele was getting a few “hot spots” in her helmet so we stopped at a fuel station so she could pull her helmet off and adjust her hair. She did not have any issues for the rest of the day.

There was a couple at the gas station with three fluffy golden retrievers. One was a very cute puppy that they were just putting back into its little safety carrier.

Shortly after jumping back on the interstate we entered Knoxville and traffic picked up significantly. Traffic was heavy until we got on the southern side of Knoxville. 

We saw this ad for tours. An interesting combination.

We also saw this boat that reminded Rob of a three hour tour.

We turned south on l-75 and then stopped near Lenoir City at a Subway for lunch at noon. While waiting in line to order our sandwich, a nice gentleman asked about our trip. He was familiar with the Houston, San Antonio, and Austin areas in Texas as he had done construction work in those cities. Although less windy than yesterday, we elected to eat inside today. 

We were back on the bike 45 minutes later and made our way to Chattanooga. We turned west on I-24 and into Georgia and then back to Tennessee just a few minutes later. We hit really slow traffic for about 15 minutes through the Chattanooga area, nearly stopping a few times, but caught nice scenery along the way.

We made our last stop of the day about an hour from Huntsville in Kimball, TN. We were running about 45 minutes ahead of schedule so we decided to take a long break since we couldn't check in to our Airbnb until 4pm. We had just entered the Central time zone so we gained an hour. 

We fueled up the bike and parked on the side of the parking lot for a little break. While resting, a group of local motorcyclists also stopped for a break and we chatted with two of them. One said he was looking at buying a Goldwing. Another had just traveled to the Hill Country in Texas in January and had recommendations on where to go. Both said the Top of the Rock restaurant up the mountain just above the gas station was a cool place to eat and see the view. We might go there on Tuesday.

We hopped back on the bike at about 3pm and headed west on US72 into Huntsville. We crossed into Alabama and an hour later we arrived at our Airbnb right at 4pm. 

 

The Airbnb is a small cottage with a little kitchen, a nice living room, a full bath, and a bedroom. Michele thinks the oven is cute. This place will work perfectly for us while we stay in Huntsville and see the nearby sites.

Rob cleaned the bike, and we walked a short way into downtown past many well maintained historic houses. For dinner we got carryout at Moe's Original Barbecue recommended by our host. It was packed. We stopped at a small grocery store on the way back for breakfast items.

Tomorrow we visit the Jack Daniels Distillery.