This past weekend, Hubby and I went on a three-day ride from Virginia, into West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, then back into Virginia, the state we call home.
When planning the trip, I tried to include some new roads along with a few of our favorites. One of the roads we enjoyed on Saturday was Tennessee’s US-421 / The Snake.
Later in the day, when discussing our ride, we couldn’t remember if it had been two or three vehicles we’d come up behind that actually slowed down to let us pass. Really.
I know it’s hard to believe. But watching the video confirmed that THREE drivers actually slowed down to let us pass on The Snake. Hubby’s response to my confirming that it had been three separate drivers was, “Good people, all of them!”
Sadly, cars/trucks/buses letting motorcyclists pass is a rarity here in America. Even though motorcycles can usually travel about twice as fast as cars on curvy roads. I guess it’s that whole “me first” or “wait your turn” mentality.
Saturday was actually the second time this year we’d ridden The Snake. The road only got a brief mention after our first visit. This time, I took the GoPro and captured the ride on video.
The Snake’s web page (link shared above) describes the road as 33 miles long with 489 curves as it crosses three mountains and one valley. My video only includes about a 14-mile segment of the road, the really fun part, which is shown on the map below. Sorry, I didn’t count the curves in that portion.
I’m sure the rest of the road is nice enough. As snakes go, though, which would get your adrenaline pumping more, one that’s all stretched out, relaxing in the sun? Or one that’s all scrunched up, unpredictable, and ready to strike?
The video ends about 4 miles from Holston Lake. It’s a pretty four-mile ride to the lake, and the crossing is picturesque, but I wanted to focus on the FUN stuff. I deleted some of the straights in the valley to make the video a bit shorter. It’s running at 2x speed, too.
I was also going to post it at regular speed, but the video was too long for YouTube. If anyone wants to see the video at regular speed, let me know and I can edit it down.
I hope you enjoy the virtual ride.