Monday Day 30 - Henry Horton State Park TN to Lynchburg TN - 40 miles

It was overcast this morning when I awoke. I was hoping to get an early start, but I forgot to set my alarm and it was warm and cozy in my sleeping roll. Sometime during the night I was visited by some furry creature who ate up my whole bag of cheese puffs !!

I rode around the Horton State Park on the way out, stopping at the ruins of an old saw mill. I was wondering who Henry Horton was. Turns out he was a lawyer and he married the daughter of the couple who owned the old sawmill. He went into politics and was Govenor of Tennessee from 1927-1933.

I headed out of the park, east on Hwy 270 into a headwind. I was hoping to find a diner for breakfast, but no luck.

By the time I turned south on Hwy 41A - 16, I had started to see a LOT of chicken-hauling tractor trailers, the kind with open cages stacked about 20 high. After one of these pass you, either coming or going, it takes about two minutes of breathing chicken poop before the air clears. I bet I had 30 of these rigs pass me on the road today. A lady told me there's a big Tyson chicken processing plant nearby in Shelbyville, so these trucks are always running around up here.

I stopped at an Arby's restaurant in Shelbyville for a quick early lunch ( no chicken ! ). It was a little after 11:00 and I was hoping to get to the Jack Daniels Distillery by noon or 1:00.

On the way out of Shelbyville, the sky started getting darker and darker. Time to find a barn to hide in, for the second time on this trip ! I found a nice semi-abandoned shed with a bunch of broken down riding mowers.

There was a little thunder and lightening, and lots of rain, but it wasn't near as bad as the last storm I sat out on the way to Louisiana MO.

That reminds me of a funny story. After the big Louisiana MO storm last week, I pedaled into a gas station to get some Gatorade and peanuts. I was talking to a farmer in overalls, and he was asking me the usual questions, where you from, where you going, etc. As he was leaving, he said to me: "Your Momma didn't raise an idiot, just a darn fool!" I sure couldn't argue with him about that !!

Today's rain started to let up after about 30 minutes, so I put on my rain jacket, turned on my blinkey lights, and headed south towards Lynchburg on Hwy 82. First my clear sunglasses broke, then it started raining harder, and then I couldn't see because the rain was washing the sunscreen into my eyes.

I had to stop several times to wipe off my forehead and eyes with Mr. Chuckles, since I didn't have any rag or handkerchief. The road started getting narrow and curvy and hilly, with only a small speed bump shoulder. I should have taken shelter someplace, but there were no stores or barns to be found. Besides, I was on a mission, to make it to Jack Daniels before the tours end at 4:00.

It was a long, tough ride, but I made it to the distillery at 2:30 and I took the 3:00 tour. They put on a fun tour and I highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area. Just remember to bring a small bottle of No. 7 in case you want a taste afterwards.

After the tour, I got to go into the special "Tennessee Squire" room to hang out, and they gave me and Mr. Chuckles a special gift set of commemorative glasses.

As a Tennessee Squire, I own a square foot ( or inch? ) of land somewhere in the hollow, so I asked them if it was alright if I camped out on my land tonight. They laughed and said the land they gave away to the Squires is so steep you can't even walk on it.

So I headed south, and checked into the Lynchburg Motel, with a bunch of other soaking wet bikers ( the Harley type ).

Tomorrow is going to be a sad day. I'm heading west to meet up with my ride back to Tallahassee. Boo Hoo, why can't I just keep on riding on and on and on ...

Oh yeah, now I remember, I gotta work to save up for the NEXT big trip !

Sunday Day 29 - Dickson TN to Henry Horton State Park TN - 64 miles

Today's roads have been great - nice and wide shoulders, very scenic, and the weather has been perfect. There have been a few hills. One hill heading into Columbia was over a mile long, i was chugging away in granny gear the whole way.

I started the day off with a big buffet breakfast at the Farmers Family Restaurant, right next door to the Motel 6 I stayed at. They had a Senior Special, the full buffet with omelette bar and coffee for $5.99. What a deal ! The western omelette they made for me at Familys was the best I've had since the omelette bar on the old Carnival cruise ships that my sister Sandy worked on. Of course the Carnival omelets were free, and were served in exotic lands, so they were even better.

There has been lots to see today. I stopped at a giant crop of yellow wild flowers, I took some photos looking down on a river with people camping on the bank, and I pulled off onto the Natchez Trace, and I rode a few miles down the parkway.

I ran into some cyclists out of Nashville and we rode to a little store called Fly Grocery. It was a hoot, real old-timey with lots of locals hanging out. One fellow I was talking with was so local I could barely understand what he was saying. They had some neat bicycle yard art there, too.

I rode to Columbia TN, about 37 miles and stopped at a McDonalds to eat a late lunch. I downloaded most of today's blog while sitting around for an hour or so. I posted a photo of Diane, my number 1 fan at the McDonalds I stopped at. She asked me a million questions about my bike trip, and then told my story to all the other McDonalds staff. I felt like a real celebrity ! But I still didn't get a free cookie ...

I rode another 25 miles to Henry Horton State Park. It ended up being a very tough ride. I think I sat so long at the McDonalds that my body and legs just shut down for the day. I ended up spinning in low gears to get to the park.

I set up camp in the tent section. Again I'm the only camper there. A few trailers and motorhomes are in other sections of the park, but for the most part it is deserted. After setting up my tent I rode my bike around. This is a very nice place. It has a hotel, cabins, lots of pavilions, a big swimming pool, and a golf course. There was a big church group having a cookout, and a family reunion, too.

I rode back to my camp, met with the ranger, and paid my $11 fee. I cooked macaroni marigna and took a long hot shower.

Only a few more days to go !!

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 ?