Fayetteville Thu 5/17 6873-7100 (227 mi.)
Got up, checked the tires and route, and headed out of town about 10:30.
Took longer than expected getting out of the city traffic, but decided to
blow off Nashville and head straight towards Chattanooga. Stopped for lunch
at a small diner in Buford Pusser’s (Walking Tall) town (Middleton),
where the owner was very excited to talk to me and sat with me telling
stories while I ate lunch. I tried to make it to Lynchburg before
Jack Daniels closed at 4:30, but only made it to Fayetteville – 15 miles short.
Had a Pizza, watched a movie, and turned in early after listening to some music.
Murphy Fri 5/18 7100-7295 (195 mi.)
Got up early for a big change - got a wake-up call and an alarm!
Made it over to Jack Daniel’s Distillery by 9:00 am for the first
tour of the day. Great tour - well worth it! Neither their process
nor their equipment seems to have changed since 1866! To see more pictures of
Jack Daniel's Distillery, Click Here
Walked around
Lynchburg a bit to collect my "free" shot glass, then headed east for
a beautiful, 2-hour ride to the Big River Grill & Brew Pub in Chattanooga.
Good ("extra spicy") lunch outside in beautiful weather before continuing east.
Very scenic ride through the Smokey Mountains, but I started getting tired
around Murphy, so I got a room, walked to Wendy’s, watched some TV, and turned in.
Asheville Sat 5/19 7295-7418 (123 mi.)
Got on the road about mid-morning and headed over to Sylva and the
Heinzelmannchen Brewery. Very nice small brewery owned by a German guy
(Dieter, who unfortunately wasn’t there). He brews small extract batches
of primarily German Ales for sale by the growler. Dave was very
interested in my story and gave me tasters of everything (from a
familiar-looking keg/tap setup), but couldn’t fill my growler with
their excellent Scottish Ale due to NC law. Moved on to Asheville
and the French Broad Brewery, which was also just a tasting room for
a larger operation. Decent beers, but not as good as my next stop – Green Man Brewery.
This place was basically a converted garage where they brewed for one of the
Asheville restaurants, Jack of the Woods. They also had a tasting room, a
nice patio, and some of the best beers of the tour (and the barkeep gave me
tasters of them all)! They also sold a great Mustard. Around the corner
was Asheville Brewing Company, which was affiliated with the Asheville
Pizza & Brew Pub (and movie house). Met a group of Rugby players, and
Steve tried to recruit me. I looked for a place to stay nearby, but
had to go about a mile away to find something. Dumped my gear and
returned for a pizza and some more beer. Just missed the outdoor band
downtown on the way home.
Charlottesville Sun 5/20 7418-7782 (364 mi.)
Got a bit of a late start (surprise!) but headed up to Johnson City
and Highway 81 for the ride home. Beautiful ride, but a lot of trucks
and traffic, so the going was a bit slower and more tiring than I expected.
I stopped off at Starr Hill Brewery in Charlottesville for a rest and some
dinner, but it was getting dark and I was exhausted (and my leg was hurting),
so I went looking for a room. Turns out it was UVA graduation day, so I had
to go fairly far out of town to find a reasonable room. Semi-busted at the
last BP of the tour – Keglers Brew Pub in the bowling alley. They had the
equipment but were out of beer. Finally found a place and crashed hard.
Leesburg Mon 5/21 7782-7882 (100 mi.)
Got up, cleaned up, had one last breakfast on the road, and headed home, arriving around 12:30.
Days: 18
Total Miles: 3244
Brewpubs: 20
Pint Glasses: 15
Contact me at: rf6gunz@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2007, Rick Fletcher
