Kalifornia

California is preparing to exert control over private home thermostats.

In the old Soviet Union, The Central Committee had decreed that the furnace in apartment buildings could not be started until a certain date each year. Weather was irrelevant, the government said so.


The soviets are no longer around for this populace to fear but their ideology is pervasive, so modern US Committees and Apparatchiks are free to follow in their footsteps without threat of ideological association with an obviously oppressive power.

Those who are a familiar with the Soviet system will recognize the following:

"If you can control rotating outages by letting everyone in the state share the pain," he said, "there's a lot less pain to go around."

Paraphrased Soviet verison : If there is misery to be had, spread it among the poor. For they are accustomed to misery and better able to tolerate it.

One must bear in mind everyone in the soviet union was poor but those in charge.

More From The Road

I started this little trip to explore a particular road. The idea of following a single (historically) major road to where it leads has always seemed like a good way to discover some of those wonderfully quirky things, good food, striking vista, and interesting people that are part and parcel of a worthwhile motorcycle trip.

The kind of road I'm talkin' about was once the interstate of yesteryear and though often through traffic has decreased since its heyday the relatively small communities the old road served are still there. Some of these towns have withered down to a lonely post office. Others have found life's blood in the form of a touristy recreation area (lake or natural feature). There are still some based around the same industry that caused folks to congregate there in the first place. Out west there is usually a grain silo or stockyard in the middle of many a square mile of row crops or pasture, around these parts it's mines and saw mills.

I chose Highway 127 to celebrate this little God given winter respite not because it's particularly significant around these parts, as many others (231, 431) were more traveled, but because a bypassed loop of it runs right in front of my house. The most interesting things are often right in front of you.

Enough of that.

I woke to the sound of construction crews renovating the rooms around mine, showered and DID NOT shave. Brewed some motel room-gourmet coffee (not so bad), checked on the promise the Weather Channel had made to me for three warm days in January (starting to welsh already) and loaded the bike for the day's travels.




First things first - check out and go see Fall Creek Falls. The state park is crisscrossed by winding wooded roads and has a campground filtered in amongst the pine trees. I noticed a "mountainbike" path (paved) that was motorcycle prohibited, heh heh.... I rolled upon a herd of fat deer and lost a really good shot fumbling around looking for the camera. You can still see 'em though.
Fall Creek Falls is at the end of a short walk from a parking area and I imagine someone about shit himself when he stumbled upon it. Looks like the floor of the world just drops out.

I headed out of the park on TN 30 which is a really nice piece of motorcycle nirvana encompassing elevation changes with tight smooth curves banked just so. It was a little damp in spots so I had to pick my fun spots with care. I selected "third", determined it to suffice, and lost myself to the harmony of two wheels singing on pavement to the glory of an uncelebrated civil engineer. As often happens at these times, the road will show you something you didn't expect to see....


The Sequatchie Valley hove into view over the top of a rising right hand curve out of nowhere. Immediately my attention shifted to the view as I found myself rolling down the side of Walden Ridge while eyeballing an almost artificial looking scene a couple miles across to the Cumberland Plateau escarpment which looked like a 600 foot wall from where I was. The switchbacks descending the ridge began in earnest immediately. For those who don't know - Switchbacks are proof that God loves a motorcycle rider.

At the valley floor and back on US 127 McDonald's provided the morning's breakfast where an elderly couple informed me there had been no snow this year in the mountains. I told 'em we had a 1/2" snowfall so far and they seemed to reconsider their earlier statement. It seems a "snowfall" in the mountains of east Tennessee is usually significant. Since we were speaking the same language now they allowed as they might have had a couple of "dustings" so far.

The Valley provided cell phone service so I was able to check in with those who's responsibility it would be to locate my carcass in the event of some motorcycle mishap in the mountains and call up the weather forecast to refine the direction and duration of my impromptu adventure.

I had half a mind to head on into Alabama and thence to Birmingham to see the Barber Motorsports Museum by following US127 down the Saquatchie Valley through its confluence with US27. The weather God's forbade this by rushing gale force winds, horizontal rain, and tornadoes toward my geographical location. I could feel my window of opportunity closing down.

Fair enough. The glass is half full, no? I had missed a goodly portion of 127 on the way down in the dark so I took this as an opportunity to run north see and it in the daylight.

Turns out Alvin York lived just off of my street down in Pall Mall, Tn. Small world ain't it? Me and Sgt. York connected by an old wagon trail through time. What a world.

I passed a "theme" junkyard, an authorized MoonPie dealer, and some pretty spectacular scenery. I'm sure I missed alot whizzing by. For instance, There were three Ron Paul signs along the route and a plethora of "yard tractors" and I think I will use them as background to help document a future trip. Take a look:

On the Road Less Traveled Again

What more can a fella ask for in terms of blessings when a January day arrives with the mercury above the 60's? And what kinda fella would neglect such a gift from God by hiding in the house? Not this kind. Not by a long shot.

I called Little Bro to see if he could get free. Nope, Nate couldn't go; something about a broken nail..... Maybe next time. Y'all pray for the boy. It's like he's in jail or somethin'. I'll ride for us both and I'll try to take some pictures this time.

There was some business to tend to this mornin' so I didn't get on the road 'til after noon, but the sun was out, the road was clear and damned near deserted and I wanted to see where that road goes. It goes South, of course, and it goes twisty, and smooth.

Stopped at a Sonic in Hustonville on the way down and was accosted by BMW lusting 9to5'ers (been there, been that) and giggly tip-mining-rollerskating curb girls. You can tell how cool the kiddies think your bike is by the number of cherries you get in your Cherry-Limeade. I only drew three this time, but the brothers "C" have drawn a high of six at one particular Sonic in Woodbury Tennessee. Of course, we rode sportbikes exclusively then and the kiddies always rate those higher.

Further on down the road, I crossed Wolf Creek Damn where major repair is underway. They seem to be working around the clock. Cumberland Lake is a pitiful sight.


I have ended up in a place called Fall Creek Falls State Park in the hills of central Tennessee. The claim to fame is its 256 foot waterfall! Can't wait to see it in the daylight! The roads in and around the park are magnificent. The roads on the way down here have been scenic and just crooked enough to make it fun without too much effort. Mostly rolling hills with ever steeper slopes as I came south. The grass is still green, though the trees are bare. There are leaves on the ground like it's only now settling into Fall. Gotta love global warming. Give me some more increased solar activity, Baby! I have had one hell of a day. I love my GS.

The lodge is nice. and empty. cheap in the off-season. wifi access, obviously.

Tomorrow I go to check out the Motorcycle Ranch in Pikeville, Tn. I might even sleep in a TeePee.....

From the road less traveled,
Later 'Tater.

I Must Be Missing Something...

GM is looking to build self driving cars. Setting aside the fact that no one will by their junk by the time this technology matures, it is interesting to note that the folks "behind the wheel" driving this technology forward are beyond a doubt some of the technically brightest minds around. Even though they can be complete dumbasses.

Thrun said a key benefit of the technology eventually will be safer roads and reducing the roughly 42,000 U.S. traffic deaths that occur annually—95 percent of which he said are caused by human mistakes.

"We might be able to cut those numbers down by a factor of 50 percent," Thrun said. "Just imagine all the funerals that won't take place."

I guess those folks saved by the computer cars will just live forever!