Nursery west of Winchester, TN 

Total Trip Distance: 2565.4

TOM:

Day 31 – Today's trip was great.  There was no wind and no flat tires!  It was raining in Lawrenceburg as we were having breakfast, but by the time I was ready to leave it had stopped.  The roads were wet at the start, but the skies looked like they would be more blue.  During the first hour I covered 15 miles.  It was a good speed.  Just before entering Pulaski it started to rain. I pulled off the road at the bypass liquor store which had a covered porch and put on my poncho.  When I got back on the road the 64 bypass was only about 1/4 mile away. This part of 64 was 4 lanes and had a wide shoulder marked for bikes which made riding in the rain a lot easier. This condition lasted until I reached  Fayetteville, TN where I stopped for lunch.  I found a covered bench on the main street just past the town square to eat.  While having lunch the rain stopped and  I was able to continue without the poncho. A light rain did start again about an hour later for about 30 minutes. In total, rain lasted about 2 1/2 hours.  This was the most rainy day that I have riden.  The experience was new but not bad.  It is just like riding into the wind or climbing up hill.  Keep pedalling and the end location get closer and closer. You need to mentallly adjust to the condition and know that a hot shower is waiting at the end of the day.  The trip today took 6 hours and 16 minutes to cover the 85 miles at an average speed of 13.6 mph. The birds shown in day 28 have been identified by a life long Arkansan Larry Plumlee of Berryville, Arkansas (northwest Arkansas).  They are guineas and reportedly they eat ticks (a good thing). They roost at night in trees.  Another great day of biking. 

Day Thirty-One - 5/25/2003

Tennessee horse

Rainy day

Unusual rock formation

Lawrenceburg, TN to Winchester, TN 85 miles.  Today's route starts at 900 feet and ends at 960 feet. The elevation descended to 675 feet and was flat with rolling hills for about 20 miles. Then there was a 1100 feet hill and back down to 650 feet for 30 miles with many rolling hills. At 60 miles there was a climb to 1050 feet and the remainder of the trip was flat with rolling hills. 

Promise of blue skies

Lucille:

May 25 - Sunday - Today was fun.  I found Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lawrenceburg and went to Mass there.  They were honoring their high school graduates with a reception after Mass.  Everyone was invited so I went.  I sat at a table with one of the graduates and his family.  When his mother heard my story about the bike trip, she got up and introduced me to everyone and asked them to welcome me.  Everyone was so friendly.  I was offered food from the reception to take along on the trip.  There's one thing about being a Catholic--wherever you attend Mass, there is the familiarity of the rituals and the feeling of belonging to one large community.  After leaving Lawrenceburg, I went to Ethridge, an Amish community.  As I expected, since it was Sunday, the homes with the crafts were not open to the public.  There was a Welcome Center there that was open, and I met and talked to the most delightful woman.  I was the only person there and spent quite some time looking around.  The woman who runs the place is Sarah Evetts, known in the community as Granny.  She offered helpful suggestions about which roads to take to see where the Amish live.  As I was about to leave, she gave me some pamphlets with information about local attractions.  One of them had information about Granny's Network.  I looked at the picture, and recognized the person as the lady I was talking too.  I questioned her about Granny's Network, and she showed me her bulletin board that had several articles and pictures of her being interviewed by Johnny Carson and other talk show hosts.  It turns out that she has her own small TV station.  According to the literature I read, she single-handedly got a license to operate a station, bought a transmitter with her own money, bought a camera, and began filming and broadcasting coverage of hometown events.  Local people love having their family reunions, church socials, and school ball games shown on TV.  Some years ago her exploits in low power TV caught the attention of the Associated Press and she became a national sensation, appearing on national TV talk shows, and newspaper and magazine articles. She asked if I would like to see a video of one of her interviews.  Of course I said yes, and so she showed me the video of her interview with Peter Jennings.  She said to Peter Jennings, "This TV--there ain't nothin' to it."  By the way, Granny is 78 years old and still running the Welcome Center and her TV station.  On the way to Winchester, I stopped at one gift shop that was open and met some friendly folks there, including some former Californians - a woman from Pinole and a man who years ago had attended the Language School at the Presidio in Monterey.  Today it rained most of the day--a light rain.  The drive was through more beautiful country--very green, wooded,  and hilly.  We are staying at the Best Western Inn in Winchester.  The dinner I had last night had such huge servings that I left with a doggie bag.  Tom and I decided to not go out to dinner tonight but to just eat the rest of last night's dinner that was in the cooler.  We're enjoying just relaxing at the motel tonight without going out.