LODGING

The Following List Shows PRELIMINARY Options - decision was McMinnville

ROCK ISLAND SP (47 miles)

CABIN:  https://reserve.tnstateparks.com/rock-island/cabins

10 cabins: 3 bedrooms sleeps 5 (not 10)
 - Available Oct 31 & Nov 7: $160.00

FALL CREEK FALLS SP (31 miles)

LODGE: https://guestrez.megasyshms.com/NWD42/fall-creek-falls-state-park

Oct 31 to Nov 4: Two queen beds - $163.80
Nov 7 to Nov 11: Not available

CABIN:  https://tnstateparks.com/parks/cabins/fall-creek-falls

Landside Cabins offers 10 cabins on a wooded hill over looks the lake
 - 2 bedrooms available Oct 31 & Nov 7: $205.00
Fisherman Cabins has 20 cabins on Fall Creek Lake.Don't reserve on-line

CABIN CANCELLATION POLICY

Cancellations or changes to existing reservations must be made by contacting the park directly or online. Cancellations or changes cannot be made via voicemail or social media.

• Cancellations made 14 days or less prior to scheduled arrival date will receive no refund (forfeit full deposit and non-refundable $5.00 reservation fee).
• Cancellations made 15 - 29 days prior to scheduled arrival date will forfeit the deposit from the first night stay and non-refundable $5.00 reservation fee.
• Cancellations made 30 days or more prior to the scheduled arrival date will be refunded, less a $10 cancellation fee. Note that the $5.00 reservation fee is non-refundable.

DUNLAP: Assume all booked.

DAYTON: Lots of Inventory (35 miles)

Best Western, Holiday Inn, Econolodge, Sleep Inn, Americas Best Value

McMINNVILLE (31 miles)

Best Western Tree City, Hampton, Americas Best Value, Scottish Inn , Falcon B&B 

CHATTANOOGA (41 miles) 

COMMENTS

From: bruce Sent: July 7, 2022 Subject: Possible Fall rides

We've discussed riding loops from the Dunlap area this fall. The issue is getting rooms. I suggest we look at using Rock Island State park as our base and doing day rides from there. 

As of now 3 bedroom cabins that sleep 10 are available from Nov 6-11 for about 1,000.00 . 

All cabins are full the prior weekend but open M-F.  Here's a quick sample of what we might do.  David Buckman, DTI, and I have ridden in this area quite a bit in our younger days. Back then it was hard to find a really bad road in this area. I suspect it's not changed much. For some reason Rock Island does not get the love it deserves. 

From: Tom Sent: July 8, 2022

Fall Creek Falls (Spencer) has a greater collection of rooms with 20 cabins, 85-room lodge, and restaurant. It is also on the Scenic Bikeway collection.

Weekday cabins are available in FCF. All the weekends in early November are already booked. That is unfortunate because many people would like to join us on a weekend and not on a weekday. They/We might be able to get motels in Jasper and Dayton at that time.

With the chance of inclement weather and only two-hours away, we would like to maintain flexibility. The State Parks have a very inflexible cancellation policy.

With many expressing an interest, we need to lock in a preliminary time.
The best “colors” would be the first week of November (October 30 to November 5).

From: bruce Sent: July 8, 2022

Tom, A few thoughts.
I discount claims of vetting the routes for cycling suitability until I've ridden them myself. The noted routes are probably good because the few samples I've ridden in nearby regions have been fine. What I doubt is they are any better than something we might draw up on our own. My experience is mostly to the north and west of this area where even the major US highways are acceptable. I haven't noticed this group being interested in along the way points of interest, other than lunch.

I'd forgotten about the draconian TN State Park cancellation policies. Also the cabins' advertised 10 person capacity is generous. Six adults is more reasonable. The weekend unavailability is moot. I doubt it will affect any of us, especially if we want to do more than a couple of days. Still, my preference would be to not deal with the state parks. The exception would be if we want to wait till the last minute to see what the weather is doing and then calling to see if a cabin might be available for a few days.

Google only shows one motel in Dunlap and it's already booked for the entire months of October and November. You've mentioned Chattanooga as a possible alternative to Dunlap. If we are considering sagging to the start I'd prefer to go the other direction and look at McMinville. It's almost as close, much less traffic, and near some great roads on which I have ridden. There are motels in McMinville in the $100/night range so with room sharing, the cost would be comparable to the Rock Island Cabins, though probably not as nice.

For now let's get a count of how many are interested and willing to lose money on a Rock Island Cabin deposit, not discoverable by me on the web, versus a less than four star motel elsewhere, and preferred number of days and dates. I'll also work on routes out of McMinville so if we do stay there not all our rides will require sag to a start. I recall McMinville being easy to exit via bicycle.

I'll go first,
Dates: Sunday Oct 30th-Friday November 4th, Five riding days, M,T,W Th,F
Place: McMinnville Best Western Tree City Inn.
I'm flexible. If any have a strong preference, Andrew, to do mostly weekend, say arrive Thursday night, ride Fr, Sat, and Sun, I'm ok with that.

On 7/10/22 15:35, Tim Murphy wrote:
I can’t do that week. Would rather stay and ride daily from park but will try to go with the group consensus.

From: bruce Sent: July 11, 2022 To: Tim Murphy
What dates in the late October - Early November time frame would work for you?
Rock Island cabins have much to recommend them for amenities and a start point but the rangers are a stiff necked bunch. I have several stories of them being obnoxious just because they could.  

From: Tim Murphy Sent: Monday, July 11, 2022 2:02 PM To: bruce
11-6 thru 11-11 is great for me. Sandra and I have a Bicycle Adventures trip in late October. Trying to have all the fun. Thanks for your work herding cats.

On 7/11/22 15:10, Tom wrote to Bruce:
Quick thoughts. As of Nov 6 to 11, it would be “all or nothing.” In Oct 31 to 5 we had the Nov 6 as an option if Oct 31 had rain or too cold. That is also why I was emphasizing maintaining flexibility.

I just remember how the weather and Fall Colors went with our Cycle for Life and Red Boing Springs at that time of the year.

From: bruce Sent: July 11, 2022 To: Tom
Assuming non availability of rooms on short notice, it will always be all or nothing. I suppose we could make reservations for two stretches and use the 24 hour prior cancellation to choose one stretch when weather predictions are more accurate. Say, reserve both blocks Nov 3-6, Thursday-Sunday and November 10-13. Not very considerate of the motel but would work for us. Not sure I'd want to do this if we have more than the Turtles.

Any time after October 1st is risking cold and wet as well as the unpredictable fall colors.

From: Tom Sent: July 12, 2022 To: 'bruce' 
I had assumed we wouldn’t change the date unless the long forecast was for extensive rain. But your reservation idea is interesting.

Yes, end of October is very unpredictable. That’s why I considered a plan B option, if it made any sense. If those other than turtles, they did their own planning. The non-turtle wouldn’t want to associate with us.

On 7/12/22 09:54, Tom wrote to Bruce:
In a recent email you mentioned looking for bike routes out of Dayton. That’s when I realized your McMinnville was a closer distance to Dunlap.

When I laid out a Sequatchie Tour in 2020, I was unable to get rooms in Dunlap. My Plan B was to lodge at a nearby motel and daily van to one of the half-dozen routes.

I didn’t invent those routes. They were recommended by Velo View Bike Tours and the Chattanooga Bicycle Club. I have all of them listed at https://seqval.blogspot.com/p/routes.html. So, I am not sure why we need to create different routes unless you know these routes are unsuitable.

You also have a Plan C option – the Cycle Sequatchie Century on October 1. It looks like a great sponsored event. That option would have lower risk of weather as we are worried about in early November, just no Fall Colors. I have included their routes in https://seqval.blogspot.com/p/routes.html

On October 1, I will be in Budapest Hungary. No problem, I can probably have my son and his Chattanooga biking buddies join me in November.

From: bruce Sent: July 12, 2022 To: Tom ; 'Tim Murphy'
Re: my reason for creating new routes. After suffering many "official routes" and wondering WTF the planners were thinking I give zero credence to any officially published route until I've ridden it. Official routes, even those with approval of trustworthy organizations, are often created with criteria other than a cyclist's welfare. Thus, if we must stay in a place that requires SAG to the start I always look at possibilities that start from the motel parking lot. Leaving and returning to the base motel eliminates some logistical issues. I'm not saying the published routes are bad, I just don't trust them.

However, if we have the ability to SAG to the start, the routes are not something we need to decide for a couple of months. It's the lodging, place and dates.

Tim and Phil have stated preferences for November. Tom has suggested four riding days. Including a weekend will allow more participation. Weather and leaf color are unpredictable. So here's my latest proposal.

Hendersonville to McMinnville = 2 hrs. Hendersonville to Dunlap = 2 1/2 hrs. McMinnville to Dunlap = 45 minutes.

Place: Best Western Tree City Inn, McMinnville,
Dates: November 3-6, Thursday-Sunday. Four or five riding days depending on if we leave soon enough to ride Thursday and/or stay to ride Monday.

If by November 1 weather predictions are for terrible conditions on our chosen dates then we can cancel and try to get rooms the following weekend, November 10-13. When we get responses from Turtles I'll make the reservations for sufficient rooms. We can than publish our plans so others who wish to join and can make their own lodging and transport arrangements.