Day 30: Crossville, TN to Townsend, TN

99 miles, 9000 feet of climbing.


This was another day of lots and lots of small hills. Personally, I'd rather have a few big climbs rather than a lot of little ones. That way you can settle into your climbing pace, and afterwards you get a nice long descent.
As we get into more populated areas, we run into more and more loose dogs. I don't mind the ones that don't bark and just like to run alongside for a while. It's the dogs that think you're invading their territory and go after you like a, well, a wild dog.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the best dog yard today. The front yard had about seven beagle puppies lying around, like someone just sprinkled puppies all over the yard. So cute! Then at the far end of the yard, mama was watching the cyclist in front of me go by, and didn't notice me approaching. I gave her a little "Woof!" in greeting, which startled her. She whirled around, let out a high "Yowl!!" and started a pretty pathetic chase. She was trying to be menacing, but it came across as awfully silly.


Nancy and Hans.

Day 27: Erin, TN to Nashville, TN

70 miles, 5000 feet of climbing.

Today we had one thing in mind: REST DAY!

It was a "short" day (only 70 miles), and the roads were quite pleasant. We were really happy to get out of Erin. The hotel there was quite a dive. Dinner was pretty awful too.

Apparently Nancy and I are the only people on this trip who believe in following directions. We all have a thick packet of route guides, one for each day of the trip. Each day has a brief itinerary that lists what time breakfast will be served, when they expect us to hit the road, and when/where dinner will be. Nancy and I try to follow the directions and show up for breakfast at the assigned time. Nobody else on this trip believes in that. If breakfast isn't early enough for them, they show up early or skip it. Today breakfast was supposed to start at 7:30. Sounds great, we said. In fact, the restaurant looked awful, so we just had Pop Tarts in our room and stepped out at 7:30. Everyone had already eaten and rolled out. We were the last ones up. The guides thanked at us for following instructions, but laughed at us nonetheless for being last.

I'm writing this at the end of the rest day, which has been wonderful. Nancy's brother drove up from Birmingham to see us. We didn't have the energy to go sightseeing, so we just had lunch and talked. Oh, and we did see the full scale reproduction of the Parthenon. Somehow I don't think the real Parthenon had chicken wire over everything to keep pigeons away.



We've been logging all our progress on this trip with a GPS. Here is the route from each day shown in Google Maps.

The best part of the bike trip: when we get off the bike.

Day 26: Union City TN to Erin TN

100 miles, 5000 feet of climbing.

Are we there yet???

We had a really pretty day of riding in Tennessee farmlands today-- even saw some tobacco fields-- with lots of ups and downs to keep the afternoon exciting. Today was a major day for roadside dogs barking at us and running after us. So far most of the dogs have been friendly, and the mean-looking ones have been too slow, behind fences, or tied up.

We've also seen more trailer homes and rusting, late-model vehicles than we've ever seen. You know that Jeff Foxworthy line, "If you've got five cars parked on your front lawn and only one of them runs... you might be a redneck"? Well, this must be where he got his inspiration. But most of the drivers have been pleasant and courteous, and it was a good day.

Tomorrow's a short ride (only 70 miles) into Nashville, and a REST DAY!!! Hurray!

60th Birthday Wishes

Today is my dad's 60th birthday. 60! Methinks it's about time someone retired and spent some quality time with his wife and kids in Maui. =)

Dad, Ed and I wish you all the best in the coming year and as you ease into the best years of your life. We love you.

Day 25: Poplar Bluff MO to Union City TN

105 miles, 1500 feet of climbing

Today was a relatively easy day through the flat cotton fields of southeastern Missouri.



Neither of us had seen cotton fields before, and we were surprised at how much the natural product looks like the processed one. (My wonderful new sister-in-law Elena might giggle at that-- she's from Tennessee, and her brother is in the cotton business, so it's probably not as new and exciting to her as it was to us. But we thought it was really neat!)



We went through some rough roads, including a cobblestone section out of Poplar Bluff that left our wrists aching. We've gone through some long stretches of gravel and rough roads in the past 3 days, and our joints and butts were complaining, but the rest of the day was nice and smooth.




It was a pretty eventful day. After spending most of the day in Missouri, we hopped onto a ferry to cross the Mississippi River into Kentucky, where we rode for about 8 miles before crossing into Tennessee.

Some of our fellow cyclists on the ferry ride (from left to right): buddies Randy and Roland from Wisconsin (and it's Roland's 50th birthday today!), Warren from Saskatoon, Jerry from Texas, Hans from Vienna, and Ed.





Three states in one day! That's progress!

Day 24: West Plains, MO to Poplar Bluff, MO

110 miles, 9900 feet climbing.


Today was another sunny, beautiful day of rolling hills in the countryside. All ups or downs, with nothing in between. We've noticed a whole lot more unleashed dogs here in Missouri than elsewhere-- dogs that will bark at us, run after us, and sometimes look like they want to bite us. At those times, Ed's my knight in shining baby blue spandex, barking at dogs in an alpha-canine voice to scare them off. *Sigh* My hero. We saw some really great sheep-guarding dogs that looked exactly like the sheep they were guarding until they ran up to the fence and barked at us. Still, they were great looking dogs, and did their jobs very well.

I've gotten a few flat tires on this trip-- 6 in all, I think. I used to be pretty quick at changing flats when I was guiding, but since I met Ed, he changes all my flats for me, and my skills have gone downhill. In the month or so before this trip started, I've insisted on doing it all myself, since who can tell if it'll happen when he's not around? I needed to be self-sufficient again. I've changed all of my flats on this trip, and most times Ed will be there, just keeping me company while I do it. Some of our fellow travellers, mostly older men, have remarked on the fact that he's letting his woman do the dirty work. We're pretty amused by that, since at this point I can probably change a tire faster than most of them =)

We've started counting down the days till this whole adventure is over. Our bodies have started complaining in various ways. For example, today Ed's knee started acting up, and he needed some attention from one of our massage therapists, Dana, who did some interesting work on him at a rest stop-- which I, of course, captured for you all to see. Here's another woman making my husband feel better (she's very good at what she does):

Tomorrow we hit the flat plains of Missouri, and we hope the winds will be on our side.

Day 23: Branson, MO to West Plains, MO

102 Miles, 10,000 feet of climbing.

Today was HILLY. Constant up and down. The elevation profile looks like a sawblade. But the weather was great. Nice and sunny with minimal wind.

You may have noticed our roadkill list on the right. What has really surprised me about Missouri is the abundance of armadillos. There are a lot of them! Haven't seen a live one yet. According to Wikipedia, they have poor eyesight, and tend to jump to fender height when startled. Not a terribly useful trait in today's automotive society.