Saturday Day 28 - Dover TN to Dickson TN - 73 miles

It was a long, tough 73 miles today. I'm proud of myself for finishing today's ride.

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 ?

Friday Day 27 - Fancy Farm KY to Dover TN - 62 miles

Today's ride started out great. I was up early and I had coffee and cereal with Mike and Daisy. We talked a little, I took some pictures, and then I got underway. I had a great time visiting Mike and Daisy, and I really needed an easy day like yesterday.

Riding down Hwy 121 was nice. It was flat, had 6 ft. shoulders, the temperature was cool, and I had a nice tailwind. I took a photo of the courthouse in Mayfield KY as I passed thru town.

Continuing south on Hwy 121, I saw a big flock of birds in a field. As I passed by they all took off and swirled around, just like in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", except that they didn't peck out my eyeballs.

I stopped in Murray Ky for lunch at Martha's Diner. It was a country place, and I had chicken cobbler, squash, corn, and baked apples. It was good, but not as tasty as the Church Ladies' food at the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs.

On the menu it said Martha was from Kissimmee FL, so when I paid my bill I said "hi" to Martha and we talked a little about Florida.

When Martha found out I was riding my bicycle, she said her brother did a cross-country bike trip this Spring, from Oregon to Florida. I was thinking, pretty cool, but then Martha said that when her brother got home he got food poisoning and died. Well, I didn't know what to say, I think I said something like I was sorry for her loss and I'm glad he got to do a big bicycle ride before he died.

After I left Martha's Diner I was thinking about what she said, and I decided that it was pretty weird. Then I burped and my stomach started feeling funny. So I started thinking, I wonder if Martha's brother caught his food poisoning at his Sister's restaurant !?!!

A few miles later I was feeling fine, but the road changed to a narrow two lane, with hills and no shoulder and a headwind. luckily there wasn't much traffic, but I did have a log truck run me off the road. I am so thankful for my rear view mirror, I was standing on my pedals, watching him barrel down the hill, and I bailed into the ditch at the last moment when I saw he was not pulling over to pass. It was my lucky day !!

When I passed into Tennessee I got on Hwy 76 - 79, and went over a long bridge on the south side of the Land Between the Lakes. The road was nice, flat, with 6 foot wide shoulders. I was going to turn off onto Old Hwy 76 and take the backroads south, but after the logging truck incident I thought I'd stay on the wide-shoulder new Hwy 76. Plus I didn't see any town or campground on the old highway.

I made it 62 miles, into Dover TN, and decided that was enough for today. I checked out a campground, but it was empty and depressing, so I went a ways further and got a room at the Dover Inn.

One more weird thing happened - I went across the street to a small Bar-B-Que trailer called "Hillbilly's". Well, Hillbilly John himself was hanging out and invited me to join him at the covered picnic table they have set up. The BBQ was great, and Hillbilly John was an interesting guy. He grew up in Dover and recently moved back home from Atlanta.

He was a little drunk and gave me some rum for my coke. A couple of times he said Jesus drank wine, too, and then said he's a Jehovah's Witness. We talked a little about religion, fishing, hunting, politics, and raising a family. Then a car pulled up with a guy Hillbilly John called "Redneck". Well, Redneck pulls out a gun, takes out the clip and gives it to Hillbilly. Redneck says he's going into the LBL and doesn't want to get caught with it. Hillbilly puts the clip back in and says OK, he'll hold it for him, but he ain't asking any questions.

I have no idea what was going on, but it's times like this I'm reminded that there are whole other worlds out there that I know nothing about ! I said thanks for the BBQ, thanks for the drink, it was great talking with you, but I better be getting back to the motel. Ha !!

Thursday Day 26 - Wickliffe KY to Fancy Farm KY- 25 miles

I had a nice breakfast at the Wagon Wheel Family Diner down the street from my hotel. A sign on the wall says: "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you only have today."

After breakfast I stopped by the Wickliffe Mounds State Historical Site. I learned a lot about our Native American culture. I am always amazed at how civilized they were.

Before I left the Mounds, I telephoned and emailed Uncle Mike, my old BMW motorcycle buddy. I knew he lived in Kentucky, and when I checked on my route for today, I was surprised to see that I would be riding right by his house ! He wasn't home when I called, so I left him a message and hit the road.

I took Hwy 121 out of Wickliffe and it was a great road. It's only 2-lane with no shoulder, but the lanes were wide and the traffic was light. I stopped 15 miles out to rest and cool off under a shade tree. I drank a quart of Powerade I had brought with me and I ate some cheese puffs and a cliff energy bar.

I decided to oil my bicycle chain, a task I've been forgetting to do lately. A nice couple came out from a nearby farm house to see if I needed any help, so we talked a while.

Back on the road I saw a motorscooter coming in the opposite direction. It was Uncle Mike ! We stopped and said HI, then we raced down the highway to his home 5 miles away. Uncle Mike whooped my butt !

So it ended up being a short and fun and relaxing day. We sat around watching the Olympics, we talked about racing MGs and Corvairs, and we petted purring cats.

Later on Daisy cooked up a fine spaghetti dinner, and then we went on a tour of Fancy Farm. This is a beautiful community and I can see why Mike and Daisy like it up here so much.

So ends another great day in tour. It was fun visiting with good friends - Thanks Uncle Mike and Daisy !!