The in laws opted to join us a few weeks ago, and the hubs once again planned out a stellar ride. We planned to journey southwest, down towards Chattanooga so that when our track was "over", we were both half way home. We headed to the state park we'd missed on our long, epic ride a few months ago; Fall Creek Falls. I'll remind y'all that the ride where I dropped Khaleesi was the one where we were headed to Burgess Falls and Cummins Falls, as this little tidbit will become minorly significant later.
We all left as a group from our house to head west. We decided to pay Kody to watch Colton for us as his babysitter was unavailable that day. When little man woke up, we could definitely tell he was "off", but hoped for the best.
We had a late breakfast at Chik Fil A and hit the road. David and I swept through the curves at a good clip, but certainly not fast. His parents fell back a little bit, as they do call him a lead foot most of the time. By now, I'm used to it and keep up because I don't want a ride to lead to an argument, but we hung back a few times to let the others catch up. We live in the mountains and are accustomed to the undulations and the curves at speed, but the inlaws live and ride in GA where it's a little more flat.
We stopped a few times to stretch, get gas, and walk around a little. We called to check in on the boys, and Kody said he had NOT stopped crying all day. We offered up a few suggestions as to what he could do and asked if he needed us to head back, and he said no, they would manage. After several hours, we finally found the park. It's HUGE! We found a parking spot and walked around a bit. Realized the overlook for the falls was on the opposite end of the park, and we could in fact drive around to it, so we did. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, my MIL got into a bit of a game of "chicken" with another car. WE had a stop sign, but it was on a curved hill. When David pulled out and turned right, I didn't hesitate and followed right behind him. MIL thought about pulling out, stopped, was motioned out, then SHE motioned him on, then HE motioned again, so she went to go, then HE decided to just go on. When she grabbed the brakes, down she went HARD. I saw it happen in my mirrors, and I pulled over and parked really quickly, then took off to make sure she was ok. The car went on; David was out of sight already.
By the time I got to them, she was up, and the bike was up, and she was spitting mad. All that was said was HOW could that car just go on like that? She was a mix of anger and adrenaline, so her hands were shaking a bit, but fortunately she just had a little road rash on the arm and shoulder. The brand new floorboards she'd just put on broke off on the right side, but other than that, just had a scratch or 2. Fortunately, she DOES have highway bars, so she had something to prop her foot on, but I don't see how she'd be able to use her rear brake. Thank goodness it was the right one and not the shifter board! We got her situated and back on the bike, and we safely drove over to the overlook where she could park in the lot and go over everything with a little more of a fine tooth comb. After taking in the waterfall, we motored down into the next town and got gas and food.
By this time, it was around 6 pm and we were about 2 hours from home. Checked in again, and baby was still miserable :( We pulled off one more time at an overlook that reminded me of this AWESOME state park in Cali called Mt. Diablo. It was really breathtaking; we just breathed it in, took some pics, and called it a day. The inlaws headed south, we headed north, and I finally got to ride a FUN road that winded it's way through the central Tennessee farmland. We could have done a professional photo shoot of old buildings and farms; it was so peaceful. The road was near perfect; smoothly paved with gentle hills and a few tight curves. We made it to the end with just a smidge of daylight left. Shrugged our leather jackets back on and hunkered down for the final stretch up 411 back to the house.
Turns out Kody wasn't exaggerating. Colton was as miserable on Sunday as he was on Saturday so David took a sick day on Monday to take him to the Dr. Hand, foot, mouth disease :( Fortunately, it ran it's course by Tuesday and he as been perfect ever since, but I DO feel bad that we left him all day. If we'd had any inkling he was sick instead of just bored and fussy we never would have left, but can't change the past.
Last week it was so hot, we left out at 8:30 pm and just did a REALLY quick little 45 minute loop. It was one of my routes I take to work, but turned back towards town instead of towards Seymour. Rode one day to work due to RAIN all week, and last night we ventured into Townsend at 7:30 pm for a hot air balloon fesitval. Hit mega traffic, so we pulled off into a field and parked my bike. I knew they were charging for parking, so we left Khaleesi and I got on Mufasa (David changed her name, and she's now a "him") with David and we sat in Traffic for a good 20 minutes or so. We ended up parking his bike across the street from the festival and didn't have to pay anyway! Upon leaving, traffic was crazy horrendous, so my human GPS turned down an obscure little backroad and left traffic behind. Win/win for me b/c I got my ride in! Yes, it was dark, but it was curvy and fun :)
Planning something special next week. Don't want to jinx it, so I'll keep quiet until it actually happens. I hope all y'all have a great week and enjoy the eclipse tomorrow! Stay safe, lots of love <3 p="">
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