Since my mom was going to traveling away on Mother’s Day, I opted to do a family outing thing on Saturday. So the folks and I loaded up our bicycles and drove down to Tellico Plains.
We parked at the visitor’s center, and started peddling eastward on 165, aka the Cherohala Skyway. The Skyway follows the Tellico River for approximately five miles.

It was a picture perfect day with blue skies and temperatures in the 70s. Thanks to our recent rains, the river was flowing at a healthy volume. Although traffic was heavier than normal (being the weekend), the road was still relatively peaceful. A majority of the travelers were motorcyclists (the Skyway is a biking favorite). At one point, we passed a caravan of about twenty of them.
About five miles from Tellico Plains, the Skyway veers away from the river. We followed the secondary road which continues along the water. The climb is gradual, making it a comfortable ride for even the infrequent cyclist. It’s a real a scenic ride going up the narrow valley. You get a great view of the water splashing over the rocks.
About 11 miles from Tellico Plains, we reached Bald River Falls.

The road goes right in front of the waterfall; this shot is taken from the bridge. Thanks to the heavier water flow, you could feel the mist of the falls up on the bridge. I thought about climbing down below to get a close up view, but cycling shoes don’t make for good rock climbing.
After a few minutes there, we turned around and headed back downstream. I was still feeling a little frisky, so when I got back to the intersection with 165, I turned right and headed up the Skyway. I rode about 11 miles (to the first big overlook) before the car caught up. Suffice it to say, that climb will cure you of any excess energy real fast. After looking uphill for a while, you reach the point–and I was getting close–where the mental challenge begins to rival the physical one. In other words, the hill starts getting to your head,
Since it was getting late, and I’d had enough, I loaded up the bike and we drove a few more miles up the Skyway. I was surprised to see that the trees at the higher elevations haven’t started growing leaves yet. And it’s May! But although Spring hasn’t reached all the foliage, it has reached the insect population. It was an interesting experience looking at barren limbs while swatting at gnats–a clash of winter versus summer.

After soaking in the beauty of a few more evening vistas, we turned around and headed back to Knoxville.
All in all, a very enjoyable day.

This comment, from a former senior CIA agent in Afghanistan, is interesting:

MR. RUSSERT: Before you go, will we ever capture Osama bin Laden?
MR. SCHROEN: I think with the capture of Al-Libbi recently–gives some hope that the Pakistanis will cooperate if we put enough pressure on them, and maybe we end up doing it unilaterally but I think we’re going to get him within the next three to four months.
MR. RUSSERT: Three to four months.
MR. SCHROEN: Well, that’s my hope.

This is a little at odds with what Mr. Schroen said earlier in the interview, when he implied that the Pakistani government really didn’t want to capture bin Laden, for fear of the domestic turmoil it might spawn. Perhaps he has wind of something at work behind the scenes.

The auction has officially gotten crazy.
With an item like this, you have to question whether all the bids are serious, but it’s jumped from $600 to $16,000+ in the past 24 hours. Still another day of bidding left.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation website has a “VideoLog” feature which allows you to view “video” of what you would see if you were traveling down select roads across the state. Ostensibly, bicyclists and pedestrians can use this tool to determine if road conditions on a route are suitable for travel.
Unfortunately, I believe you have to use Microsoft Internet Explorer for the site, which crashed twice while I was playing around with it. But if you can get it to work properly, it’s pretty cool.

Kevin Drum, sums up the “revelations” from the leaked British memo:

By the summer of 2002 George Bush had already decided on war regardless of Saddam Hussein’s actions; democracy promotion was not even mentioned in passing as a reason for the war; postwar reconstruction was an issue of no concern; and the “marketing campaign” for the war was deliberately timed to coincide with midterm elections.

The only surprise here is that it surfaced in a government memo.
Interesting that I saw virtually nothing about this on TV news this week. Too busy covering runaway bride, Jacko, and American Idol hanky panky, I suppose.