Simple thoughts from a simple mind. Random musings of a wandering geezer. And the cool lady perched on the handlebars has been along for the ride for almost 45 years.
Sunshine.That’s the good news.We awoke Wednesday a.m. to the blue skies of New Mexico.We’d almost forgotten what sunshine looks like.
Yesterday was miles and miles of miles and miles.For years one has listened to Texans explain the wonders of their state.Yet driving through the panhandle of Texas one could only think of Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”
Somewhere out there is Texas
Finally, after 8 hours and hundreds of miles of fog we hit the New Mexico border and sunshine.Hooray for the Mountain Time Zone.
The number one tourist attraction in the Texas Panhandle.
The number two tourist attraction in the Texas Panhandle.
The highlight of the trip was stopping at the KFC in Childress, Texas.Nothing says “Yum-yum” like the guy taking your order weighing over 400 pounds with a dip in his lower lip.
While rolling through the un-ending terrain thoughts went to “If I were to ride the Trace again, what would I do differently.”
Top 10 Do-Overs On the Natchez Trace
10.Write the Missouri Dept. of Transportation and find out their good road (Law of Averages says there has to be one
9.Avoid the monsoon season
8.Visit Oprah’s childhood home in Kosciusko, Mississippi.
7. Learn how to pronounce Kosciusko
6.Put “No Stinging Insects Allowed” sign on my bicycle helmet.
5.Spend more time at the Collingwood, Tennessee Welcome Center.You have no idea how tasty a lemon cheesecake cookie can be in the middle of a 50 mile pedal.
4.Ask motel desk clerks if the “Free Wi-Fi” is in the rooms.3 times we were told, after we checked in, “Yall it’s free but you have to come to the lobby.”
3.Skip Missouri(Did I happen to mention theirroads suck.)
2. Take a speed flat tire repair course (for fixing flats in the rain)
1.Learn the difference between North and South followed by an advanced course the difference between East and West.
We did have a great end of the day dining at the Lake City diner in Santa Rosa, New Mexico.It’s a restaurant in a refurbished bank.Wonderful atmosphere, good food and worth the stop if you are ever driving New Mexico on I-40.
After yesterday’s journey and the past three weeks it brought to mind Johnny Cash and an old Hank Snow song.
We give up.The day dawned with the normal, slate grey, cold drizzly morning that’s been par for the course in Mississippi.
“Let’s give it a go,” said I and out we headed to The Trace.I unloaded the bike and Jan, always the wiser of the two remarked, “This is not a day for me to ride plus I won’t be too far away just in case it cuts loose.”
Natchez Trace outside Jackson
Didn’t take long.About two miles into the pedal a deluge enveloped the road.Within a couple of minutes the Ridgeline pulled up along.By the time the bike was back on the rack and this kid was inside the truck you were looking at one really drowned rat.
Go through the part about the "Sunny South" one more time...
“Okay”, came the question, “What now?”“Well” I replied still putting on the good face, “Let’s drive over to Vicksburg, it’s approximately thirty miles away, and see if there’s a museum or antebellum mansion of visit.Maybe it will clear this afternoon or tomorrow.”
Things were much better in Vicksburg...NOT!
Wrong.If anything the rain increased the closer the truck came to Vicksburg.Meanwhile the radio dj was telling us to “just hang in there this weather should move out by Friday.”
Friday?Hang around for five days to ride the final 150 miles.In the words of Al on “Tool Time”, “I don’t think so Tim”.
All this was occurring as the fierce rainstorm forced Jan to crawl along Interstate 40 at 20 mph.A decision was reached; “Screw it,” said I, “Keep heading west.We’re outta here.”
Adios Mississippi
So tonight’s epistle comes to you from Denton, Texas.The rain continued all across Louisiana.No rain in Dallas but it was 68 degrees.Tonight after a Cracker Barrel pork chop dinner we walked into the evening air and were greeted by more rain.
Where are we heading?We don’t know.Somewhere that’s not experiencing a monsoon season.The computer says weather is nice in New Mexico.Maybe we’ll end up in Albuquerque or Santa Fe where it’s in the 70’s and sunny, or so they say.Maybe we could pedal, golf or hike in “The Land of Enchantment.And Denver weather is supposed to be nice this weekend.Jan allowed as to how she could use a grandchild fix.
So what started out in steady drizzle of Iowa terminates in a Mississippi deluge. Fun trip but hey, stop with the rain already.
Despite the fact Randy Newman wrote and recorded “Short People” (not that I’m defensive about my lack of vertical or anything like that) I’ve always been a fan.And though I don’t have a pistol in my pocket or a horse between my knees his “Rider In the Rain” has been living rent-free in my brain for the past week.Hopefully in the next couple of days one of these entries can sign off with John Denver’s “Sunshine On My Shoulder.”
Another grey day in shivering Mississippi. Not once today has the temperature been able to make it out of the fifties. Adding insult to the miserable morning the local TV weather wizard said today, Sunday, might be the best weather we’ll see for the next seven days.
The real downer of today started yesterday afternoon when a bee flew into my helmet, decided he didn’t like the surroundings and did what bees do best. Sting. This morning I woke up looking like a Star Wars klingon. Doesn’t hurt and I don’t have to look at it but poor Jan does and finds herself married to a puffy Uncle Fester.
Wanna look like a klingon? Get stung by a bee bike riding.
In terms of comfort, the un-seasonably cool weather is optimum for bike riding. Not for others. We stopped along side The Trace for a bite and up pedaled a northbound young lady from Connecticut, all bundled like a January ski outing, yet still complaining about the cold. I almost felt guilty standing there in a short-sleeved bike shirt. Jan felt so sorry for her she put her in the truck and turned on the heater.
The original trace...Missouri would call this road "new and improved" in the show me state.
But the continual threat of precipitation is wearing thin. We Maynard’s seem to bring rain wherever we wander. Every time a well-meaning Mississippi matron blurts out, “Y’all are ridin’ bicycles in this weather? That’s too bad, I’ve never known October to be so cold and rainy here in God’s country” I feel like hitting her with my tire pump.
Yesterday was the 10th of October and Tupelo, Mississippi had received more moisture in ten days than is usually received in the entire month. And it’s supposed to rain all next week.
Not that this is unusual for Jan and I. On our coast-to-coast bike trip in rained almost every day. Rain has followed us to Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson (the Rockies had one rain-out at spring training last year, guess who had tickets). When it comes to weather, in the words of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Fast Train To Georgia,“
“I’ve had a Christian raisin’ and an 8th grade education and I don’t deserve to be treated this away.”
So we changed the plan. Tonight we were supposed to bed down in Starkville. Instead we moved on to Jackson, skipping one day of the trip in an attempt to get south of the rain.
Today was one of good legs and perfect weather for riding. So I took advantage of the great road and superb conditions for a seventy-mile pedal.
The natchez trace...440 miles of perfect road and nothing but trees.
Then we loaded up the bikes and headed south to Jackson.
We even discussed bailing on Mississippi for another part of the country. I’ve always wanted to ride the “Hill Country” of Texas but a check of Austin conditions on the ‘puter found the Texas capitol to be currently sizzling in the nineties. No thanks. Best weather in the country seems to be in Grand Junction.
All’s well that ends and we made it to Jackson in time to watch the Broncos go 5-0. Life is indeed good. Now if the Rox can just follow suit.
Tonight’s song is for Jan. We she signed up for this marriage hitch almost 45 years ago I doubt she planned on being the sole transportation support for an itinerant bike rider. Simply put were it not for her I couldn’t celebrate my 70th on a bike, and without her along the trip would be one long drag. So here’s Delbert McClinton and one for Jannie Lou. “ Baby, I’m With You”.
We awoke to an Alabama rain.We checked The Weather Channel but they were much more into North Platte’s 17 inches of snow and the potential for a blizzard ball game in Denver.
We were told it would be drizzly till noon and conditions would improve.They were wrong but it turned out to be a perfect bicycling day.
Yesterday was sunny and in the mid-eighties.Today never got out of the fifties.Plus the there was of wind was out of the north.While the weather kept most all Alabamans indoors life couldn’t have been better from a cycle seat.The drizzle was perfect for keeping sweat off your face, there was little to no car or motorcycle traffic, and the miles just flew by.
Crossing the bridge over the Tennessee River, a huge expanse of water, not a single boat was in sight.Later on while crossing over the Tenn-Tom Waterway (it connects the Mississippi by water all over the south according to their website and who knew? I didn’t and had to look it up) there was but one boat, a couple of good old boys fishing for bass in what we would call ski parka’s but give them credit as both caught fish while I was on the bridge.
We crossed into Mississippi ending our three states in three days string, Natchez being 280 miles away.
the stud-ette rolls into Mississippi
Mississippi is one state I know nothing about.I’ve been through it maybe twice, driving from Alabama to New Orleans.
I know it’s famous for writers; Tennessee Williams was actually from Mississippi, as were William Faulkner, John Grisham and Eudora Welty.
Athletes?How about Jerry Rice, Walter Payton and Colorado Rockie Seth Smith.
Country music is filled with Mississippians like Faith Hill and Charlie Pride.But that’s all I know.
My son-in-law thinks the education he received at Southern Miss was ahead of the teaching style at Cornell University’s Medical School.Friends have raved about the towns of Meridian, Hattiesburg and Oxford.So we’ll have to check out Mississippi from a bicycle.
Tonight we’re in Tupelo home of one of the greats.That’s right Tammy Wynette was from Tupelo.And also this other guy.
First time I saw Elvis?It was 1955 and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey had a summer replacement show that took the place of Jackie Gleason on Saturday night.They had on Elvis and I was hooked.One, I thought he was talented.Two, my Dad couldn’t stand him.I purchased every record he released both on Sun and later RCA Victor.Before the drugs, the sycophants, the obesity (can you imagine the calories in a peanut butter and nanner samich?) there was the consummate entertainer.He was “The King”.
Tomorrow it’s down the road toward Starkville.And GO BRONCOS & ROX!
life in the 1800's was just fun, fun, fun....they needed a driver like Jan
The day began, per usual when you’re bicycle touring, checking in with The Weather Channel. The call was for big time storms after the noon hour. We had what appeared to be a three-hour window to get in some pedaling.
The moisture was coming up from the South pushed by 25-40 mph winds. Guess what direction we were heading. After the first 12 miles I checked my watch to discover I was averaging about 8 miles an hour and was well on my way to exhaustion.
Jan, with the common sense unique to Iowans, and totally lacking to those raised in Illinois suggested, “Look you wanted to ride into Alabama. Why don’t we drive to the state line, take your picture and then you can pedal back here with the wind at your back.
Good-bye Tennessee and hello Alabama.....unless of course you want to ride with the wind
Off we went. Took the picture and I headed north. It was uphill almost the entire distance and I averaged over 15 mph. My wife is a genius.
Then she decided to ride thinking riding into the wind would give her a quick, hard workout. We were two hours past the noon deadline, that was the good news but storm clouds were gathering. I caught up with Jan after a ten-mile ride, she was tired and the wind continued to accelerate.
first place winner in the Collinwood, Tennessee criterium
Moving as quickly as we could the bikes were secured on the back of the truck when literally all hell broke loose. Rain in the south doesn’t pitter-patter its way into your life with an introductory drizzle. It just arrives, boom, cutting loose in a constant sheet of water so strong we slowed to 5mph due to our inability to see the road. The wipers on the windshield simply couldn’t keep up with the rain.
After what seemed an un-ending drive we made the 20 miles into Florence, Alabama, checked into the Hampton Inn (luv those warm chocolate chip cookies everyday at 4) got bags, bike, gin and tonic into the room (the bikes room with us rather than hang-out on the back end of the Ridgeline) and turned on the TV to discover we were smack in the middle of a tornado warning. Well the tornado touched down, but it was over by Huntsville, Alabama almost an hour away.
So tonight Auntie Em (Jan) and I sleep in what has to be America’s unknown music capitol. Florence sits right next to Muscle Shoals, Alabama home of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Haven’t heard of ‘em? You should if you’re a music fan.
Back in the early sixties four Florence, Alabama musicians worked at a small recording studio as back-up musicians. The four, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson wrote Mustang Sally for local singer Wilson Pickett and backed up another Florence resident Percy Sledge on the million selling “When A Man Needs a Woman”. They also backed up the Staples Family Singers on the classic “I’ll Take You There.”
Paul Simon heard the Staples cut and wanted the back up musicians on the song to record with him. Told he had to go to the small southern town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama Simon made the trip where he received a big time surprise. At the recording studio he met Becket, Hawkins, Hood and Johnson and after small talk inquired, “Well can I meet the band?” He thought he was talking with studio management since all were white. Indeed R&B legends, the MSRC, were Caucasian. Simon recorded several songs with the group, the best known being “Kodachrome”. Since then they’ve backed up myriad artists including The Rolling Stones, George Strait, Aretha Franklin, Liza Minnelli, Tim McGraw, Alice In Chains, Faith Hill and Rod Stewart.
When Leon Russell recorded in Muscle Shoals he always called the back-up quartet Swampers, a southern term for “helpers” i.e. waiters, hotel maids, etc. The name stuck.
So when the rock group Lynard Skynard wrote what has now become the un-official official song of the “Roll Tide” state, “Sweet Home Alabama” they remembered to include the state’s musical treasures the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
“Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feelin’ blue
Now how “bout you.
And now one of the most famous guitar intros in the history of rock.
Morning broke in middle Tennessee to the sound of raindrops.“Great” thought I, it wasn’t supposed to rain till Friday.We were attempting to pedal our way south of the precip.
By the time we reached the start of the Natchez Trace the rain had stopped.For once the TV weather geeks knew their stuff.The day continually improved until this afternoon we were riding under sunny skies and the temperature hit 81.
What exactly is the “Natchez Trace”?Here’s the Wikipedia description. “The Natchez Trace is a 440-mile-long path extending from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi that linked the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. It was a traditional Native American trail and was later also used by early European explorers as both a trade and transit route in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Today, the trail has been commemorated by the 444-mile-long Natchez Trace Parkway, which follows the approximate path of the trace. The trail itself has a long and rich history, filled with brave explorers, dastardly outlaws and daring settlers. Parts of the original trail are still accessible.”
Flock of wild turkeys seemingly undisturbed by a passing bicyclist
But to be truthful the Natchez Trace is a 440-mile bike path.Oh cars are allowed but the speed limit is 50 mph for the most part, 40 mph the rest of the time.Trucks are not allowed.Traffic is practically non-existent.The Trace is maintained and supervised by the Forestry Service.It is an absolute joy to ride.Hilly?Big time.But one can relax and ride without the constant worry of becoming a Peterbuilt hood ornament.
Jan took her bike out for a spin today and completed two really monster climbs.And one monster downhill.She couldn’t decide which one bothered her more.
Colorado's female Lance Armstrong pedals the Natchez Trace
And then there was her hike.After putting her bike back on the truck she headed out on a Trace Trail looking for a promised waterfall.Until a black snake crossed her path.Most likely geezer hiking in the southern states has come to a complete halt for a couple of Coloradoans.
After her ride today Jan went for a hike on a trail beside the Natchez Trace. Until she saw a black snake. Hike over. Tomorrow when she's not riding Jan thinks she'll read a book.
Today’s route also took us past the grave of Merriweather Lewis who either died by his own hand or was murdered along the Trace in 1809.
Grave of Merriweather Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame. The house where his life ended along the Trace sits a couple of hundred yards behind the grave. No one knows if Lewis was murdered or took his own life. I was surprised to discover he was only thirty five at the time of his death.
There is no lodging along the Trace.We’re 20 miles off the route tonight in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, a town of 12,000 that claims former Tennessee Senator and TV actor Fred Thompson as a native son.
We’re approximately 15 miles from the Alabama State line.Tomorrow’s weather promise is clouds before noon, rain after with the chances of precip lessening the further south one rides.Hopefully the showers will be avoided once we cross over into the “Heart of Dixie.”
And finally you can thank me for the Rockies win today.It has long been proven that anytime I tune in a Rockies game, TV or radio, the Rox immediately go in the tank.Yesterday, at the end of our ride, Jan turned on the radio to pick up the XM satellite feed.It was the 5th inning, 0-0 until, and because we were listening, the Phils jumped all over Ubaldo Jimenez.
Today, again at ride’s end, Jan tuned in the game.The first pitch was Ryan Howard doubling in the Phils first run.Thank goodness the Rox had scored early in the game.I insisted the radio be turned off so the Rockies could win.Which they did. Your welcome Colorado.
By the way Jan thinks this is total weirdness on my part.Women just don’t understand the nuances of baseball.
On a side note, the odometer on my bike's catseye hit 5555.5 today on the Natchez Trace. I remember 1111.1 was pedaling RAGBRAI in eastern Iowa. 2222.2 was riding across North Dakota. 3333.3 happend on Minnesota's North Shore pedaling toward Duluth. 4444.4 was an early April ride to Palisade. Wonder where 6666.6 will occur?
Tonight’s our final night in the Volunteer state. So why not feature the greatest female country songwriter in history. Dolly Parton and her “Tennessee Mountain Home.”
Yesterday was to be an off day.And it was.Just not as we intended.Our plan to sleep in came up short as thunder in Cape Girardeau brought with it not so much of a rainstorm but a deluge.One look out the window at the water rushing by and one had to consider that maybe it was time to start building an ark measured in cubits.Checking the ‘puter an e-mail informed us the golf outing we’d planned wasn’t going to happen, the course had been closed due to the downpour.
So Jannie Lou and I examined options.Scoping out the map, Jan noted our proposed Adventure Cycling route was going to take us almost 125 miles into Illinois, up to Cave In The Rock, across the Ohio on a ferry followed by a hilly pedal back to Kentucky’s Land Between The Lakes.This is two days of biking, over 140 miles, and we would wind up approximately 45 miles from where we were having breakfast.It made no sense.To us.
Plus it was raining meaning another soaked to the skin trip through Lincoln’s Land.I grew up in Illinois, have seen everything it has to offer, that’s what prompted the move west over 40 years ago, why would I want to ride it again and in the rain?
It was a unanimous vote to split for Kentucky.But first we spent a few hours wandering Cape Girardeau, Missouri.I’m not big on river towns.Usually they’re dumps.Missouri’s seem to be an exception.Hannibal was impressive and Cape Girardeau outstanding.
Downtown, along the river, is a sea wall, maybe it should be called a river wall since the sea is about 600 miles away, built in the nineteen sixties.Evidentially the flood of ’65 was the last straw and a wall over two miles in length was constructed.
Rather than just have a long, grey wall in their downtown an artist was commissioned to do murals depicting the history of Cape Girardeau back to when it was located in French territory.This, to understate the case, is one amazing wall.
We had lunch at Café Port Girardeau in a building that reportedly served as Gen. U.S. Grant’s headquarters for over three months during the Civil War.I especially loved the Coca-Cola ad on the side of the building.“3 cents and it relieves fatigue.”Ah the wonders of caffeine.
After lunch we bailed on Missouri, the land of cheap gas ($2.15 a gallon) and bad roads, (think there’s a connection?)and wandered our way to Kentucky.
This morning, under conditions so perfect they had to be experienced to be believed, we pedaled the Land Between The Lakes.Two of the TVA’s larger projects, Kentucky Lake and Barkley Lake, have a 55-mile long strip of land between them.This recreational area, governed by the US Forest Service, is the Land Between the Lakes or “LBL” as the locals call it.
What a glorious day for a ride.68 and sunny, a slight wind out of the north (we were heading south) and an unending series of rolling hills.I asked the lady at the Welcome Center if I should expect up and down terrain and she replied, “Honey I’ve lived in Kentucky for 76 years and not once have I ever stood on level ground.”Yes it’s hilly.
It was such a perfect day even Jan broke out the bicycle. Remember, she prefers to ski when it’s 60 degrees yet the snow is firm and is just as demanding about perfect cycling conditions.
North to south there’s not a whole lot to the Bluegrass State.So Jannie Lou can tell the world that over a few hours she cycled a couple of states.
Tonight we sleep in Tennessee.Tomorrow it’s the Natchez Trace, a 440-mile road starting outside Nashville and ends, as the name suggests, in Natchez, Mississippi.
But before we move along let us not forget Kentucky.If for no other reason than as an excuse to exhibit the talents of the world’s all-time best, without a doubt, no contest from anyone, chick singer, Emmylou Harris and “Blue Kentucky Girl”.
