I started out with a good hotel breakfast, cereal, toast, doughnuts, OJ and coffee. I headed east on Hwy 76 - 79 about 8:00 am. The road was long and straight and pretty flat. There were 10 foot shoulders with those speed bumps separating the road from the shoulder.
It was a safe road, but very boring. Not much to look at, and not much to stop for. So I just rode and rode and rode, 35 miles to Clarksville. I did take a few pictures crossing the bridge and some shots of a weirdly designed High School in Montgomery County. It looks like alien space ships.
I ate a nice brats for lunch in Clarksville and stopped at the Riverside Bicycle Shop to check the air in my tires. Nice shop !
The road thru Clarksville was awful. There is literally one road thru town, along the river, with 4-6 lanes of heavy traffic and no bicycle lanes or sidewalks. Amazing ! There was a short bike lane for about 2 miles heading south out of town, but it was too narrow and cars were driving in it.
As I headed south on Hwy 13 - 48, I was very disappointed to find the road was narrow, curvy, hilly, and only had a 2 1/2 foot shoulder. And 1 foot of the shoulder had speed bumps grinded into it, so you couldn't ride on the shoulder.
It was like this the whole 35 miles to Dickson. Not a fun ride. But I am proud of myself for surviving ! Luckily the weather was great today, with not much wind. I also talked to lots of nice people when I stopped for Gatorade and water.
It was 7:30 when I got to Dickson, and the sun had already gone down. I was surprised, since back in Iowa the sun didn't set until almost 9:00. It also got a very chilly 70 degrees. I wish I were camping tonight, but the only campground I saw was 5 miles off route, and it would have been dark by the time I got there.
I decided to stay at the Motel 6, and it's very nice. Even has flat screen tv and bamboo floors. I picked up Zaxbys chicken on the way to the hotel, first Zaxbys in over a month.
A nice day, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's ride. Maybe I can camp out one last time tomorrow night ?
