May 1, 2016 Brentwood, TN to Sparta, TN

87.41 miles in 7:23....1982.89 miles for the trip, averaging 79.315 miles for 25 days....ascent3261 ft (41780 ft for the trip.
I left John and Kate at about 8:30, anticipating a long day with lots of ascent. I couldn't have been more wrong. The day turned into one of the most pleasant surprises that I've had on this trip. It was a delightful ride (and I've never used the term delightful to describe a ride in my life.) Getting out of Brentwood was the hardest part of the trip. Even though it was Sunday morning, traffic was a nuisance because the roads I was on had no shoulder. And there was quite a bit of climbing. Once I got out into the country, things leveled out. Riding through the town's of Smyrna and Murfreesboro, were downright flat. I was hoping to get about 25 or 30 miles of easy riding before the relentless hills started, but the hills never really came. Even though I climbed over 3200 ft, it was one of the easiest climbing days ever. Almost 1000 ft happened in the first hour, getting out of the Nashville metro. When I finally got through Murfreesboro, I was 40 miles into it, had picked up US 70 again and had no more elevation gain . When I finally  left US 70, I climbed 4-500 ft without really noticing it over 6-8 miles. The road I was on followed Stoney Creek, and reminded me of riding through Valley Grove, WV, following Middle Wheeling Creek. Before it was over, I had painlessly climbed to 1200 ft., doubling my elevation above sea level from Murfreesboro, a few miles back. At the headwaters of Stoney Creek, I turned onto TN 146, and spent the next dozen miles riding a ridge, with very little rolling, through the community called Short Mountain. The ridge road led to Smithville, where I hooked up with US70 again.
After riding 70 out of town, with decent shoulder, by the way, there was a major 3-400 ft descent to the Caney River, where it had been dammed, to form Center Hill Lake. The bridge was brand new, and it was a beautiful area, but after crossing the water, I had to climb back up the other side. It was the toughest climb of the day, but it wasn't terrible at all. From there I argued several times with GPS girl about leaving US70, and I did not leave when she wanted me to, many, many times, therefore cutting about seven miles off of the 94 mile trip I had anticipated this morning. The motel in Sparta is on the outskirts of town, within walking distance of a Pizza Hut, so that's what I did.

Somebody was having a bad day near Short Mountain.  No one was hurt.

April 30.....a day off

John and Katie Hamm played host and hostess today on my layover and visit in Nashville. My day off started with an early rise to go downtown, and while John ran the half marathon, I wandered through the famous streets of Nashville, across the pedestrian bridge, and to the finish line at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL s Tennessee Titans. The whole atmosphere at such a huge event is what I enjoy, and seeing downtown gave me a great vibe for the place. I definitely want to being Pam here some day, as well as several other places in Tennessee. After the race, we went to see John's son, Erik play a few holes in a junior golf tournament,( he played one under par for the three or four holes we watched), then we went to Alex's lacrosse game, and watched him get penalized for picking on a kid that was bigger than him. We came home and had steaks for dinner, and watched the Penguins beat the Caps in a NHL playoff game.  The day was a welcomed respite from the daily grind, and the friendship shared and rekindled was one of my priorities for this trip. Now it's off to the very challenging grind through the Great Smoky Mountains and into North Carolina. This will be the most grueling unsupported ride that I've done, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

30,000 people are off to the races!

John Hamm races by the camera

The mass of humanity

Home of the Nashville Predators

Images along Broadway Avenue

The security presence was huge

The pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River to the stadium

The stadium in the distance

Modern architecture with Broadway Street in the distance

Lots of really good bands.  Hey....it's Nashville

The finish line

Alex Hamm in action!

Alex and John

April 29 - Waverley, TN to Brentwood (Nashville) TN

70.26 miles in 6:35...1895.48 miles for the trip... Ascent.... 3376 ft (38,519 ft for the trip)
I wasn't long out of Waverley, before I realized the topography was about to change. Western Tennessee was a little flatter than I had imagined, but things were about to get serious. All told for the day, my ascent was the third biggest of the trip, exceeded only by the climb out of Tuscon on the third day, and the mega climbing day into the Guadeloupe mountains. The first 23 miles were on US 70, and it was the same old thing. Pretty heavy traffic, rumble strips for shoulders, no guard rails ( with some really steep landing spots if I went off the road), and tons of armadillo shell shrapnel. The shells obviously don't decompose as fast as the meat, and they were everywhere, as a monument to how stupid those animals must be. The forecasted rain looked like it was going to hold off, so I has no sense if urgency to complete my days trip. My final destination was to be the home of my best man(twice), John Hamm and his family, near Nashville. He had commitments to work, so I didn't want to roll in too early, and that was just fine for my legs. I kept a casual pace on the climbs and just did what I had to do. That really didn't keep my quads from getting tenderized as the day went on, however.
Once I got to Dickson, the most sizable town on my trip, it was time to leave the familiar shoulder less confines of US 70, and I was at the mercy of GPS girl. I was taking some pretty back roads, with quite a few dogs that didn't know what to do with me, just like the people. Some looked, some ran away, some gave me a half hearted southern token bark, but many joined me running down the road. I only pulled my defense out of the case once, and I was really torn as to whether to use it or not. The devil in my right shoulder was saying "go ahead, blast him," and the angel on my other shoulder was saying " you know u can outrun this guy, just pedal a little harder." I came this close to letting him have it, but I just accelerated, and left him barking at air.
The recurring roadway that I kept coming back to after every GPS foray down a hollow, was TN 96. I paralleled I 40 for a short while, but it kept me in the climbing business in the middle portion of my trip. GPS girl took me down two major hollers, and the climbs back out if them were as brutal as...no.....more brutal, than any climbs of the trip. But that's what u expect in Tennessee. I just don't know if they were necessary if I had stayed on TN96.
With about 20-25 miles to go I made a major descent, and I passed a sign that said Nashville metro area. I was going so fast that I didn't even try to stop and get a picture. But everything changed. A bike lane appeared, and things flattened out. There were still some real good climbs to go, but they were long and manageable. I passed under what I believe was the northern terminus of the Natchez trace freeway, which is a limited access Highway for tourists and bikers to Natchez, Mississippi. I think I read that it was 444 miles long, and it is an adventure cycling assn tour that is advertised. Finally, signs of a biking culture if some sort. As I came into Franklin, a bedroom suburb of Nashville, then Brentwood, where John lives, Friday afternoon traffic was picking up, and there was one really bad road with a steep climb on tenderized legs, no shoulder, and a significant line of traffic behind me as I muscled my way over the top. Everyone was courteous, however. The only thing screaming was my quads as I busted it over that final hill. McEwen Street, I believe. After that, for the last 3-4 miles I had a nice multi use path to ease me into John's neighborhood. He was there waiting. We figured we hadn't seen each other in 23 years. I spent the evening getting to know two of his three boys, Alex, the lacrosse player, and Erik, the golfer, as well as his wife, Katie (who I knew before)  It was a great evening of catching up and reminiscing.

Ribbons of rollers on US 70.  The photo doesn't do justice to their steepness.

April 28 - Bells, Tennessee to Waverley, TN

April 28...91.06 miles in 7:23....1825.22 miles in 23 days for an average of 79.357 miles per day.....ascent 2870 ft .....35,143 for the trip.
My morning started off with the lady at the motel 6 saying...." I passed you on the way to work. You were on the wrong side of the road!" Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!! Really? She thought I should be riding facing traffic!! I mentioned before that sometimes I feel like a Martian on this trip. Am I breaking new ground here???! Drivers and pedestrians treat my bike like a flying saucer. They slow down, check me out real hard, but don't wanna get real close, because of the unknown. I hope I get through here without causing a head on collision because people move over so far. They follow me for so long, because they don't know how to safely get by me. The truckers are the only ones who can get by me normally. Don't people know that if there is enough room for an eighteen wheeler that there's enough effing room for their car!!!!!???? I'm not saying that I regret coming this way, but I wish some other people from my planet would come this way!!!!
Now about the trip.... US 70, which I was on all day again today has the record for official designations. It is the purple heart Highway, it is the gold star family memorial Highway, it is Tennessee's first state highway ( from Memphis to Bristol), it is the Tennessee scenic byway, and it is the Broadway Street of America. I really had noticed that it was called Broadway Ave in every small town I've gone through. It's just not as famous as US 66, the mother Highway, or even US 40, the national road, but it did go coast to coast, I guess.
Tennessee is one of those states that's real big on rumble strips. Unless I was in a town, I had rumble strips since I've been in this state. The white line is even cut into rumblers in places. That means I spent most of the day in the driving lane today. And US 70 was pretty busy end to end today, and yesterday. I did have some time to look around, and I saw farmland, even though not much, logging areas, nice lakes, lots of forested areas, and lots of rollers, but not huge ones. I climbed almost 3000 ft today, but averaged a good speed, because I could use downhill momentum to pop over the top of some of the hills without downshifting. That's the way the hills are in western PA, u can just power over some of them without grinding to a slow, climbing speed.
I went through three pretty big towns, Jackson, which is the ' birthplace of rockabilly' because Carl Perkins was born there, Huntingdon, and Camden. There were so many unincorporated towns, however, that it seemed like I was always near civilization. I was never " in the middle of nowhere ". The most impressive landmark that I passed today was the Tennessee River. It was huge, but I think it was damned up because I saw alot of power lines from the TVA, and I saw a sign about Kentucky Lake.
Once again I dodged rain, and had a beautiful day.

Jackson, Tennessee's claim to fame

April 27....Olive Branch, Mississippi to Bells, Tennessee

77.51 miles in about 6:30....1734.16 miles for the trip in 22 days for an average of 78.82 a day.....ascent....1886 ft....32273 ft for the trip.
It felt good to lay around this morning, and wait for rain that never materialized. They've been talking about today being a big storm day for a week, but once I rolled, about 10:30, I never saw a drop. Not to say there wasn't any rain around, but it rained in the places I was going, before I got there, and it rained in the places I was, after I was gone!  Talk about being lucky! I packed for the rain  and I fully expected to get wet, but I'll take what I got. Mostly tailwind, which was really blowing, especially in the morning, and mostly overcast.
My plan was as to go 47 miles, to Mason, TN, and see what the weather was doing. The first 20 or so miles were on suburban roads, through nice neighborhoods, and on two nice trails, the Wolf Creek Trail, and the Chickasaw Trail, both paved. I rode past the Fed Ex world headquarters, and the South Winds TPC golf club, in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis. I actually went inside the city limits of Memphis, when I thought I was East of it.
Once I got North of I 40, it wasn't long before I popped out on US 70, and I was headed Northeast, out into the country. This is the same US 70 that I have been on and off of since Mesa. The rollers began, the shoulder was usually nonexistent, but traffic was cooperative. There wasn't as much farmland as I thought there would be, there was more bayou type water than I expected, but I spent most of my time watching that white line, on the right side of the road,  trying to squeeze in with the traffic.
When I got to Mason, weather was good, and I decided to move on, but not before I noticed my back tire was totally down to the steel belts, all the way through the rubber. I was in the middle of nowhere, and now I was going to blow out a tire. It was 21 miles to the next town, so I decided to go for it. The rollers leveled out a little between Mason and Brownsville, which was very helpful, considering that every time my back tire went around, I expected it to blow. Well, my luck held out, and I made it to Brownsville, and by the grace of God, they had a Walmart. The Walmart had my size of tire, and my incredible luck continued. I continued to push my luck, and rode nine more miles to a motel 6. When I walked out, after checking in, my tire was flat.. Amazing. I tore my bike apart, and pulled alot of steel belt shrapnel out of my Kevlar tire strip. The bad portion in my tire, wasn't even the place where my tube was leaking. Amazing again. When I changed my tire out, there was a guy at the truck stop next door, with a compressor, a tire gauge, and hand cleaner. It cost me a three dollar tip to have my tire filled properly. Tomorrow will tell if there are any pinches in it! .I am now at the mercy of a Walmart tire, with no Slime in it. Glad I'm close to Nashville.

I was never officially greeted to Tennessee with a sign, but here is their flag.  I also add another state that I've never ridden in!

I thought I had missed all of Memphis, but I could see a few tall buildings over the hills.

They don't have many bike lanes here, but the trails are nice

The Chickasaw Trail

Some scenes on US 70

I think I got my money's worth out of this tire!  All the weight makes them wear out pretty fast.

April 26...Forrest City AR to Olive Branch, Mississippi

113.62 miles in about 9 hrs...averaged 12.6 mph for the day...1656.65 miles for the trip over 21 days for an average of 78.8 a day. Ascent 1230 ft....30,387 for the trip....
Not knowing how difficult it was gonna be to get across the Mississippi River, ended up costing me about an extra 25 miles, the way I figure it. I could have used Highway 49 out of Brinkley yesterday instead of going on to Forrest City. This morning I had to head due south on AR 1, into a head wind to get to the nearest bridge that bikes are allowed to cross. If I was in a big hurry, or really wanted to visit Graceland, I would have snuck into I 40 and made a run for it. Who knows how that would have turned out!AR 1 wasn't a bad road, mostly four lane with a nice shoulder, for 40 miles to Logan's Corner, into a 10 mph headwind. That took about 3.5 hrs, but as soon as I turned onto Highway 49 to go to Helena/West Helena, the wind became my friend. When I got to that point I was ready to say goodbye to the state that gave us Walmart and Bill Clinton. The roads were very nice, however, and I would travel Arkansas again. Not so much for Mississippi. I've spent the last 1500 miles of the Mississippi River in only four states. The 60-70 miles I've spent in Mississippi so far, have all been harrowing, death defying, and just downright unsafe. I can't believe they make a biker ride what I rode today. I 40 would have to be safer. The roads in Mississippi have zero shoulders, and the ones that do,like US 61, have deep gravel shoulders. The drivers were overly cautious, because they probably thought I was a Martian. When I got across the bridge, GPS girl had me take some dirt roads, which deteriorated before I finally found some pavement. These back roads ran through farmers fields, and Delta waters before I came to 'old' US61. That road wasn't bad because it had a smooth surface and no traffic, and by then the tailwind was rocking, since I turned to come back north after getting across the bridge. I got to the town of Tunica, which I had never heard of, but after a nice downtown area, there were miles if casinos. All the big names, on 'new' US61. There was a 25 mile stretch I had to travel on, and it was four lane, like an interstate, with gravel shoulders!!!! That didn't do me any good at all. Fortunately, the wind was wailing, and I averaged 16-18 mph to get off of that road before I got killed. That's when I turned onto Church Road, a 20 mile death trap that took me to my motel in Olive Branch. This road was two lane for ten miles, then turned to four lane, but there was zero shoulder, heavy traffic, because it was near five o'clock by then. The road began to climb out of the Delta, and I got 90% of my ascent on this road, after 90 miles of going down, then up the Mississippi Delta. I got to a motel pretty late for me, and got the last room....a smoking room of course. It only choked me when I walked in from outside. When I was in the  room, I was nose blind. I ate at a BBQ fast food place that filled me up, and it even tasted good, because I was starved!!

This is the town where my ONLY way across the Mississippi River was located

The de Soto bridge, I believe

The Mississippi River is a BIG RIVER!

My fifth state of the trip

.....which deteriorated to this

I guess the snake didn't mind the dust!

I finally got pavement!

The scenery in the Delta was beautiful.....

Really it was!

This is what passed for a shoulder in a four lane highway!

This was the best shoulder I found in Mississippi!

The new Mississippi flag

The safest road in Mississippi!  Loose dust and packed gravel.....