On Wednesday, July 24, 2013, we took another Day Ride. Our destination was lunch at Uncle Gus’s on 304 just east of Watts Bar Dam.

We left our home right at 10:00 am. The skies were overcast prompting us to pack our rain suits and light jackets.

We headed north on Oak Ridge Highway first stopping to fill our tanks and get some crackers.

After our quick break, we headed to Oak Ridge, where we continued on to Oliver Springs. We stopped on the bridge over Oliver Springs to take a few shots.

In Oliver Springs we took 62 north heading toward Wartburg. Just before Wartburg, we detoured to Frozen Head State Park stopping along the way for photos.

We rode through the empty park then back to 62 and onto Wartburg.

After riding through downtown Wartburg, we took 27 south to Harriman.

We continued through Harriman and onto Rockwood. We stopped and took a few photos of downtown Rockwood.

After a very short break, we got back on our bikes and took 27 south into Spring City. We rode through downtown, then continued on 27 south for a couple of miles. We then took  68 E toward Watts Bar Dam. We stopped underneath the dam, across from the smokestacks to take a few photos.

After a short visit, we got back on the bikes and rode east on 68 for a couple of miles. Then we took 304 north to Uncle Gus’s BBQ.

We’ve eaten at Uncle Gus’s before, so we knew what to expect. The place is nice, the folks are friendly and the food is good.

Today, we both ordered the meat loaf with green beans and it did not disappoint.

After lunch, we went outside and heard thunder. We checked the radar and saw that our planned route would take us right into a strong storm. We decided to change our route and outrun the storm.

We headed east on 68 toward Sweetwater. The storm stayed to our north as we went south on 68 to Madisonville.

We stopped to fill up our tanks and laughed about how long it would be before we got wet.

We took 411 going north through Vonore stopping once along the way for a few photos.

Then we continued on 411 into Maryville only getting a few sprinkles of rain.

As we were traveling down Alcoa Highway, the skies were dark and the traffic was heavy. We settled in with the flow and before too long we were in Knoxville.

We got back home just before 4 pm. The total ride was 187 miles and we made it the entire ride without getting wet. It was a great day!

You can view our entire list of DAY RIDES by CLICKING HERE.