Day 9 (August 18th): North Carolina-Tennessee Mountains

We ate oatmeal and granola for breakfast, and had some coffee that we later discovered had no zip (and it tasted bad - a double disappointment!). This was a completely insufficient breakfast for the climbing we would encounter on the Cherohala Skyway, a breathtaking road that winds along a ridgeline through the mountains from Robbinsville to Tellico Plains, TN. David can correct me if I am wrong in saying that we climbed about 4,000 feet in 14 miles or so (It's not called a skyway for nothin). The top was 5,400 feet, and it took about 3 hours or so. I say "or so" because I didn't keep good track of mileage and time on this day after it started getting very hard. I was, however, stung by a bee at one of the overlooks where we paused. In a shocking repeat of an old childhood story - my first bee sting at 3 - the bee stung, and I wiped it away, only to be stung again on my thumb! There was no dad with a cup of Coke to stick my thumb in, just 2 first aid kits with no sting relief ointment. But, the sting quickly subsided as the next section of mountain loomed. Fortunately, the traffic was very light and we were mainly passed by friendly motorcyclists (I am leaning towards motorcyclists: friends, but we'll see). Some of them were great motivators and slowed down to cheer us along. At the first overlook we met a man from the Allstar Bike Shop in Raleigh, where David had visited many times in college. He was the first cyclist we'd seen in a while (days, maybe). Although we told him that we were both NC State graduates, he still seemed to enjoy telling us about what a hard time we would have climbing up the mountains that day, especially with big packs on our bikes. Near the top, he passed us again on his way down, and rode beside me for a minute. He said, "Ma'am, I am really impressed that you made it up here, especially with those heavy packs and all." Poor David got no recognition for having climbed up, with equal if not more weight. Sometimes, it is really fun to be a girl. We ran out of water at the top, and ended up getting some from a very nice woman at an overlook who was out to enjoy the scenery. There was nothing along the road except overlooks and informational signs, which made for fantastic scenery, but a bit unsafe cycling conditions for those who didn't pack enough water (oops again on the trip leadership!). The mountains fell quickly away on the Tennessee side. They must cut their roads differently over there. I had to be careful about a blow out because of my damaged tire, coupled with hot rims from intense breaking, so we stopped every few miles to cool our brakes. We finally rode in to Tellico Plains along the Tellico River. We felt lucky to have been in two beautiful river gorges along our road, two days in a row. And we had climbed the mountains in between! After the nearly 50-mile day of tough climbing, we found a log cabin to stay in along the river, opting out of sleeping on the ground again. We ate a big dinner, drank a beer and crashed after such a hard day. It was probably the most physically difficult thing I have ever done. I don't think I would have made it over the Cherohala had David not been pedaling in front of me the whole way. He is a tough, steady cyclist and happy presence even when exhausted, and I was grateful to have him along.