Work Sites: Final Trip 14/14 ~ Wilson Dam FINAL SITE

Wilson Dam How ironic and poetic! It wasn't explicitly planned to end this way, but this is how the entire journey closes: at Wilson Dam, where it all began. Our organization's…

Work Sites: Final Trip 13/14 ~ Muscle Shoals

Power Service Center | Multipurpose building | Customer Service Center Even though I spent six years working on the computer systems that keep our operations running, it…

Work Sites: Final Trip 12/14 ~ Wheeler

Wheeler Wheeler Dam holds the distinction of being the first dam built on the Tennessee River after Wilson Dam, constructed in just over three years during an incredible era of…

Work Sites: Final Trip 11/14 ~ Colbert

Colbert Colbert was the very last power generation plant on my official itinerary - and it proved to be the most inaccessible site of the entire trip. I am telling you, this site…

Work Sites: Final Trip 10/14 ~ Pickwick Dam

Pickwick Wednesday morning brought a transition from natural gas facilities to classic hydro power. Named after Charles Dickens' famous novel 'The Pickwick Papers', Pickwick Dam…

Work Sites: Final Trip 7/14 ~ Kemper

Kemper Tuesday morning brought me to Kemper, another combined-cycle generating station. Unlike many of the acquired facilities I visited over the last two days, Kemper is special…

Work Sites: Final Trip 8/14 ~ Ackerman

Ackerman For over a year while planning this multi-state tour, I looked at the map between Kemper and Ackerman with genuine dread. On paper, that route seemed to cut straight…

Work Sites: Final Trip 9/14 ~ Caledonia

Caledonia I love this site - if only for the song that constantly plays in my head every single time I say the name 'Caledonia'! Rolling up to this beautiful combined-cycle…

Work Sites: Final Trip 4/14 ~ Lagoon Creek

Lagoon Creek Monday morning kicked off with a ride out to Lagoon Creek—a truly impressive site that offers a side-by-side look at both current power generation technology and the…

Work Sites: Final Trip 5/14 ~ Brownsville

Brownsville Rolling up to the Brownsville plant, the first thing that catches your eye is just how clean, pristine, and impeccably maintained the grounds are. It's a combustion…

Work Sites: Final Trip 6/14 ~ Magnolia

Magnolia If there were an award for the most hidden power plant on the entire grid, up to this point Magnolia would take the trophy. It is a true hidden gem - almost the most…

Work Sites: Final Trip 1/14 ~ Gleason

Gleason Combustion Plant It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon when I geared up, fired up the bike, and set off on a relaxing three-hour ride toward the very first site of this leg.…

Work Sites: Final Trip 2/14 ~Allen combined cycle

Allen combined cycle Midway through my ride toward the hotel on Sunday evening, I pulled over to re-evaluate my route. Originally, my itinerary had me visiting two local…

Work Sites: Final Trip 3/14 ~ Southaven

<span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Southaven Combined Cycle…

Work Sites: Clinch River (The future is now) | Oak Ridge (The past defines us)

Clinch River | Oak Ridge This is a case of killing 4 birds with 1 stone. I needed to test the bike after a recent fix, I wanted to check out the future Clinch River site, I wanted…

Work Sites: Racoon Mountain

Racoon Mountain I was saving racoon mountain because I wanted to take the grandkids there and do it together. But unfortunately through multiple unfortunate decisions that does…

Work sites: Cumberland, Johnsonville and an abrupt end.

The plan: 3 days, 12 s ites weekend celebrating graduating training. That was the plan... After packing up the bike I headed out to my first destination Cumberland. Forgetting I…

Blessings in a Breakdown

The Tire Change

Work Sites: Guntersville Dam - BFN

The first site ride of 2026!!! Guntersville Dam and Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. A quick(ish) day ride down into North Alabama to hit two major TVA power sites – Guntersville Dam…

Ruby Falls, Incline Railway with You!

Ruby Falls & the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway — a magical day on the mountain with you! A magical journey deep inside one of America’s most stunning underground waterfalls…

Work Sites: Appalachia, Hiwasee, Nottely and Chatuge

The final Site ride of the year. A quick(ish) 2 day loop starting at my favorite motorcycle hangout Smitty’s lodge in Tellico Plains and riding to Appalachia, Hiwasee, Nottely and…

Papou rides with his best friend to Kentucky

Papou and his friend Mr. Todd rode our bikes to Kentucky and back for a small vacation trip. Our travels took us from home to Glasgow Kentucky and all around the middle of the…

The Day with YOU!

Grandparent day turned into Papou Grandkids day!! Lunch with both of you was amazing! [](/assets/blog-images/IMG_2066.JPEG [](/assets/blog-images/IMG_2053.JPEG If that wasn't…

Work Sites: Bull Run

Bull Run From the highs of Norris to the lows of Bull Run. The once site that was in the process of being demolished. I wish I could have seen this site in its glory. When I first…

Work Sites: Cherokee & Douglas dams

Cherokee dam I must admit. Of all the dams that were your run of the mill, seen every day dam, Cherokee was it for me. Ironically, this is the big daddy of the trio that included…

Work Sites: Melton Hill & Fort Loudoun

Melton Hill Dam The marathon of sites for the day brought me to Melton Hill as the 6 th stop, 5 th site. And we are back to the seen one dam, seen them all feeling. And it is…

Work Sites: Norris Dam

Norris Dam. The sign was dirty, but the dam was not. Riding in, it was the 4 th site and 3 rd dam of the day so I was starting to get a little bit in the ‘seen one <> seen them…

Work Sites: Rogersville and John Sevier

I claim this town in the name of me! Riding to the next site I happened upon a town I adopted immediately. Rogersville Tennessee! Now I wanted to spend more time here but I had a…

Work Sites: Tellico Dam

Tellico The final stop on the ride and a complete surprise. While It is a TVA dam, it is not a power generating dam so, it was not even on my radar. Don’t ask me how I could miss…

Work Sites: Boone Dam

Boone Dam was the first power production site visit of the trip. Primarily because it was down the road from the hotel I was staying. It offered the first short ride with the…

Work Sites: Fort Patrick Henry Dam

The little dam with the big name! Fort Patrick Henry Dam is one of the smallest dams we have. Ocoee 2 is the smallest. While it’s not a huge tourist attraction, it is a…

Work Sites: South Holston Dam

South Holston Dam to me was just a very picturesque site. Riding in I first saw a cool little dam I couldn’t figure out what exactly it was, it wasn’t a dam dam, it was more like…

Work Sites Trip 10: (KOC and Bristol Motor Speedway)

How do you follow up a trip to another state and sites hundreds of miles apart? Well with a monstrous 2 day 16 stop site binge of course! To say I bit off a lot is an…

Work Sites: Wilbur and Watauga

Wilbur and Watauga dams. I came for one and found the other. Well sort of. It wasn’t until I was there that I realized that Watauga was down the road. But let’s not get ahead of…

Kentucky Site 7 Gallatin

Gallatin Combustion / Tennessee / Fossil I will be honest. By the time I got to Gallatin my mind was thinking about home. While still a 90 minute ride I was already there. To my…

Kentucky Ride

700 Miles of Solitude, Storms, and Self-Discovery This ride was nothing short of extraordinary. Seven hundred miles on two wheels, testing every ounce of my mental, physical, and…

Kentucky Site 1 Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek Dam Wolf Creek? But that's owned and maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers! Right? Correct! But who do you think runs the power generation from the dam? You guessed…

Kentucky Site 2 Paradise

Paradise It has been 5 years of saying the name and I still singing meatloaf! 😂 Paradise is the only thing that has stayed the same with this site. It used to be a fossil plant,…

Kentucky Site 3 Barkley Dam

Barkley Dam Another Army Corps of Engineers Dam? Yeah, I got carried away. I figured being neighbors of the next dam, and when will I be back over here? So why not take a look?…

Kentucky Site 4 Kentucky Dam

Kentucky Dam The Crown jewel of the trip. If you recall when visiting the Fontana Dam it was discussed that it was the largest concrete dam east of the Mississippi. But somehow…

Kentucky Site 5 Shawnee

Shawnee One of the last 4 remaining active Fossil plants. I'm glad to get a chance to visit them before they are all gone. At one time it was considered the 3rd largest coal power…

Kentucky Site 6 Marshall

Marshall Combustion The little Power Generating Beast! I had no idea what to expect at Marshall. I half expected a simple transfer/ booster station. I knew it wasn't a big site,…

Kentucky Sites

[ ](/assets/blog-images/Copilot_20250903_172333.png_ Main | The Ride | The Sites

Work Sites Trip 9 (The Kentucky Ride)

This ride set a new bar on site visits. Multiple days and multiple sites. Little did I know this would be just the first of these trips that stretch me. And boy was I stretched!…

Work Sites Trip 8 (Lodge, Tail of the Dragon, Fontana, Cherohala Skyway)

This trip sent me through 2 states. Some new and old environments. Imagine for a moment, there is a strip of road, people travel hours even days just to ride this strip of road.…

Work Sites Trip 7 (Nickajack, Bellefonte, Office, Chickamauga)

I’m going to start with some honesty, because this is something every parent goes through. Even yours… Kids. I’m just at the point that I need, what I saw when I looked up from my…

Work Sites Trip 6 (Blue Ridge Dam)

I am finding it difficult putting this week’s site visit in the proper words. But I will try, I just feel bad that there is no way I can express the emotions in the following…

Work Sites Trip 5 (Tims Ford Dam)

Tims Ford Dam ( Hey! … errr... Ok go ahead. Hey whatch your mouth! ) This trip was special for a number of reasons. (1) I was able to get a nice few hour ride in this morning…

Papou's Travels (MotoCamping)

Tims Ford State Park. We have a special blog this time. MotoCamping! Weeks in the making! Hours of preperation! Here's the thing. It's a VLOG! And my first one ever so be kind!…

Work Sites Trip 4: Ocoee

Ocoee: 3 Dams, (hey!.. Not today! Ok…sorry) all named the same, in one trip. I decided to do this trip to avoid the rain. And honestly, I needed to get away from today for…

Papou's Moto Camping Journey

Moto Camping In an effort to find things to do with my time now that my precious boys are both now out of the house I thought about what I like to do. Well we know riding, but…

Work Sites: Trip 3 Great Falls Dam

Great Falls Dam ( Watch your mouth !) I didn’t know this existed no less a work site until I searched google and thought, “hey! That’s close enough for after work trip!” So that’s…

Work Sites Trip 2 P2. Watts Bar Dam

Watts Bar Dam ( Hey watch your mouth! ) Down the road from Watts Bar Nuclear is Watts Bar Dam. It’s an impressive dam, it does its job. I am struck by how clean it is. And the…

Work Sites Trip 2 P3. Kingston

Kingston Fossil For the record I knew very little about Kingston’s history when I visited. I had an Idea there was a spill in the area, but I didn’t know it was ‘that spill’. So…

Work Sites Trip 2 P1. Watts Bar Nuclear

The second work site trip actually took me to 3 individual sites, Watts Bar Nuclear, Watts Bar Dam (Hey watch your mouth!) and Kingston Fossil. Approximately 250 mile trip, 4…

Work sites. So it begins... Sequoyah

The first work site destination is also the closest. Sequoyah. I work on so many computers in this site it's unreal, I also see this site as I go down the mountain into Soddy…