View Day 2 May 2012 Trip in a larger map
I was lucky enough to start this day's ride off with an amazing trip up route 22, which twists and turns from just north of Louisville to Frankfort. This was going to be my first official Kentucky backroad route, and there was very little disappointment. I do have to say that the neighborhoods in the western portion of this route reminded me of the upscale NW suburbs of Chicago, where every foreign made SUV doesn't come with turn signals, and they apparently are also unable to maintain the speed limit. Spending upwards of 6 figures on an SUV must be embarrassing when you have a guy on a $5k motorcycle tailgating and screaming at you while you go 15 MPH under the limit. DOUCHEBAGS!
View Larger Map
22 joins up with 421, which runs right into Frankfort. 421 is a much more winding road than 22 which descends down into Frankfort, where you get a good glimpse of the dome on the Capitol.
View Larger Map
Once I got into Frankfort, there was not much going on at all. I was lucky enough to get right in front of the Capitol to snap a few pics:
My plan after Frankfort was to catch route 62 back towards Louisville. I took a quick glimpse of Google Maps, and followed the direct route to 62, which was 127. What was so great about this spur of the moment decision was the signage indicating a "Scenic Overlook" about a mile out of Frankfort. I pulled off to the side of the road, and was able to snap a few pics of the back of the Capitol, one of which can be viewed below:
I stopped for fuel just a few miles outside of Frankfort, since I was looking at a 70 mile trip up route 62. Though 62 had some good, sweeping curves, with great views of the rolling hills of central Kentucky, it was overall a pretty standard ride. I would compare this to the roads in the Driftless Area of north west Illinois. A lot of farms, and many many bikers out on this route.
View Larger Map
I jumped back on to 65 to head south to Nashville for the night. I was running right on schedule, so I was in no huge hurry. Since I was looking at a good 2 hours on the expressway, I fired up the MP3 player, hit "Shuffle All," and made a beeline to downtown Nashville.
After a good 2 hours fighting for my life (standard expressway riding), I rolled into Nashville just as Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through the Jungle" popped on, and it was a very fitting theme song while looking into the rolling foothills just south of Nashville.
I finally pulled up to the Tennessee Capitol, which took a while to find (the hardest part was finding out where I was supposed to pull in.) As I made my way towards the front of the building, I encountered a 8 foot chain link fence blocking the entrance. "Authorized Personnel Only". Are you kidding me!?!?!? Sure enough, the Capitol was listed as "Closed for 2012 for Renovations." Needless to say, I set up just off to the side, and snapped a couple of pics:
I hightailed it out of downtown Nashville, and headed to the largest hotel of my stay. Though I didn't get a chance to soak in the hot tub (there were kids EVERYWHERE in the pool area), I was able to sit at the hotel restaurant to pound a few beers and get my grub on. I was in bed by 8pm, as I planned to leave a bit earlier than normal the next morning in an attempt to beat the heat.
No comments:
Post a Comment