2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 12 - Nashville to Bryson City

The best pic of us entering North Carolina, but I'm acting as tripod

This morning it's last of our whirlwind of hotels. When we're done with today's ride we will be in a rental house for a week.  It will be so nice not to have to unpack every night and then pack up every morning.

It will also be nice to have a kitchen and be able to cook real appetizing food rather than Hotel breakfast.

All that being said, I woke up took a shower and started packing my gear. I took a batch of stuff to the bike and packed it away, then went to look for hotel breakfast. I just couldn't take another pre-made egg omelette. I got a piece of sausage and a couple of boiled eggs. I made one small waffle and the yogurt.

Then I headed back to my room, loaded my hydration bag with ice and water. Packed up the rest of the stuff and put it on the bike. Then I rode around to the front of the hotel and waited for everyone else to get done.

Getting the bikes ready

We pulled away at 8:00 but only went about a hundred yards to the nearest gas station. The ice chest I have been carrying at self-destructed yesterday, so I didn't need to buy ice.

We left the gas station and within minutes we were on the freeway heading towards Chattanooga. We're not staying there we're just going to pass through and hit another freeway. It's not much to say about freeway riding. I don't like it and avoided as much as I can but there really wasn't any other way to get us where we needed to be.

I hate freeway riding.  I feel like a bug looking for a windshield to SPLAT

We had written for about an hour and a half when John pulled off the freeway. I suspected he was looking for a gas station on the bathroom and I was right. Just before we pulled off I had noticed that we'd entered Georgia. I made a comment about it and everybody looked at me like I was crazy. I said I swear that's the sign that I saw. Then I pulled up the map and sure enough the freeway dips about a mile into Georgia and then comes right back out and John just so happened to have exited right at that point.

Our brief trip into Georgia

Anyway, we got some snacks , gassed up, and got right back on the freeway.

After another 45 minutes we finally exited onto Highway 74. You listen divided four-lane highway and even though there are the occasional stop lights, everyone was traveling about 70 miles an hour despite the speed limit being 55.

Lake Ocoee along highway 74

We had gone about 40 miles when Angela started feeling ill. We stopped to the small gas station and she picked up something to help her feel a little better. I asked if we should look for lunch and everyone said yes. I searched around on Google and found somewhere about 4 miles away. It was called The Copper Cafe.

When I zoomed in on the map I noticed that the state line went really close to the cafe and thought it was possible some of the cafe was actually in the state of Georgia. This was so fresh on my other Georgia claim that nobody believed me.  But we left to go get some lunch with me and the lead.

We drove South to the little town of McKaysville.  The town was packed with people and cars everywhere. We managed to find three parking spots close to each other. Then walked the short two blocks over to the cafe. There was seating outside and it felt pretty good, but there was a blessed air conditioning inside so that's where we sat.

The Copper Grill

We studied the menu for a little while then went up to the counter to order. I got a Reuben sandwich and I should really stop that. It tasted pretty good but they're just so greasy and probably not great for me.

While we were waiting for our food to come out John noticed a sign on the back wall and it said "Georgia Tennessee Line".  John asked the waitress if the sign was for real and she said yes that really was the state line running down the middle of their restaurant.

Standing in both states at once

Karen asked where they paid their taxes, and the waitress said they paid taxes in Tennessee because that's where the front door was. I felt Vindicated.

We parked by an Ice Cream store but were too full

Pathetic tripod picture of us at the North Carolina state sign

After lunch we continued following highway 74. We had another 40 miles or so. We started to see a lot of white water rafting companies and great big old school buses with rafts and canoes strapped all over them. Through the trees beside the road we could make out a river, and occasionally a big enough Gap would let us see that, sure enough, there were people rafting down the river.

Mountains with rain in the distance

We passed this oversized chopper somewhere and I grabbed a pic

When we were about 40 mi from our destination the road became wet. A rainstorm must have just come through before us. The last time that happened we got dumped on and I kept looking up to see if the rain was going to come in on us. It never did, but the rain had cool deer even further. We are now in the high 70s and it felt wonderful.

Wet roads warned of rain, but it must have turned off our route

The road dried out again

Even though there was a lot of traffic on the road the river was very pretty beside us. At one point we had to stop. There is a police car ahead of us with stocked all traffic. Several people with life vests and swimming suits were kind of walking around the area and when John called one he came over. One of his customers had been smacked in the face with a paddle and had lost some teeth. The police were blocking traffic long enough for them to get the person into a car and drive them for medical care. Sure enough just a couple minutes later the police waved us all past.

White water rafters

Launching rafts and kayaks

We eventually reached the turnoff to our rental home. We were here two years ago and liked it so much for staying here again. Google Maps told us to go past flip a U-turn and come back but there's no need for that. We just turned left onto our road. It's behind the gate so John entered the code and we all rushed through. Then we had three miles of incredibly Winding Road to get to the house. It's not terrible but it does wear on you after a while and I remembered every turn from our last visit.

At the house we unloaded our stuff and I checked on Nannette.  I've been texting with her all day as she took the shuttle to the airport boarded the plane and recently had landed. She had her rental car and was on the road. She was going to be about an hour and we decided that we would meet her in town to have dinner. We settled on the Iron Wok Chinese restaurant.

Dinner was pretty good. Nanette and I split sesame chicken and really enjoyed it.

After dinner we went to the local grocery store and picked up eggs and fixings for omelettes.

John Angela Ron and Karen have been playing a card game all night while I worked on the blog.

We are now in the Eastern Time Zone so I shouldn't be very tired at 9:00 , but I am. I'll get this blog finished and then I am going to sleep. 

Daily Miles: 294

Total Miles: 2994

Total drive time: 64h13m