It was only 43 miles today, and it was another beautiful spring day. Even more hills, but no biggie. Most of the day was riding through a national forest.
I've found Google Maps on Android to be very effective at plotting bike routes. You tell it where you want to go on your bike, and it gives you two or three choices, with an elevation profile and total climb for each. What's interesting down here is the slightly longer routes tend to be the better choice. The more direct routes are newer roads that have more traffic, and the older roads follow the contour of the land better, which means you are doing less climbing in and out of valleys. I spent a lot of the day on meandering roads with no traffic that follow ridge lines.
Breakfast was at the Waffle House across the street from the Days Inn.
Lunch was the Wayside Family Restaurant in Oakboro, two miles from the bluegrass festival site. It was fantastic. Jim and Suzanne ventured forth from bluegrass for dinner, and it was closed, so they went to the Italian-Chinese place up the street. I think I made a better choice...
Here is the bluegrass festival, which is at an old farm which is now a campground/auction house/festival site. It was very low key, and comfortable, with great music.
There was a rooster hanging out in the barn my bike is leaning against. I wonder if anyone knows he lives up there?
One of my favorite performers was the Bass Mountain Boys. They spent most of their time on stage telling bad jokes and talking about how old and fat they are. They would do a song once in awhile, while claiming they couldn't remember how it goes because they haven't played more than 10 shows in the last 10 years.
So that's it, it was a great week and a half. Here is the track on Strava:
https://www.strava.com/activities/283614853