The ride on Highway 70 and Highway 111 from Nashville to Chattanooga is one for the most scenic roads in the Southeast. The ride thru Appalachia is always awe inspiring. Appalachia the area from the eastern slop of the Smokey Mountains to the western slope of the Cumberland Plateau is uniquely American. A complete culture all it's own. Once you've done it you know you have to do it again. This place can keep a person alive both mentally and spiritually.
Riding out of Nashville headed east it is a long climb up to the top of the plateau. The hardwood forest and view of the Buffalo Valley dominate the landscape. The Cumberland Plateau is about 50 miles wide, it is a different world of hunting, fishing, moonshine, meth, and old time religion. As you arrive to the top of the plateau you cross the Caney Fork River as it meanders west down the plateau to join the Cumberland River near Nashville. 
We stop for lunch in Sparta Tennessee next to the Calf Killer River. Yep that's right the Calf Killer River, I wonder how it got that name? From Sparta Tennessee on Highway 111 you drop off the Plateau into the Sequatchie River Valley to the little burg of Dunlap. Its time to stop for coffee and warm up for the final push over Signal Mountain. It is 10 degrees warmer in the Valley and the warmer 61 degree air feels good.
It is hard to imagine this trip on horseback, back in the day would be a week or more. While making the decent into Chattanooga the sun arrives and it feels good. We arrive in North Chattanooga at the base of Signal Mountain on the Tennessee River our adopted second home. 
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