Day 70: 7/29/19: Cowan, TN to Home

Got a fairly early start again this morning knowing that it was going to be the last day of this trip.  I had a ham, egg, and cheese biscuit for breakfast at a small market in Cowan, while sitting an chatting with a local about bicycle riding. Also bought a sausage biscuit and put it in one of my bags, and had it for lunch in South Pittsburg.

After breakfast, I climbed about 4 miles up a mountain to Sewanee.  Below is a pic of the valley from near the top of the mountain.

Rode a little on the Mountain Goat Trail in Sewanee (pic below).

Below is a pic of the first sign I saw giving the distance to Chattanooga.  It was in Sewanee.  When I saw this sign, I knew finishing this trip was now a  "piece of cake."

I had a nice downhill ride to South Pittsburg, and ate my sausage biscuit outside of the library.  I had a conversation with one of the library staff, and we discussed how God provides our needs.  As I was outside eating, she brought me a couple of goodies for dessert.  A packaged devil's food cake treat and a popsicle.  I stop at the South Pittsburg library pretty often to fill up water bottles because it is on my route when I bike to Huntsville.

I could definitely tell I was back in East Tennessee because of all the steep hills. The last few miles at the end of my trips always seem to be the hardest.  I don't know if that's because I'm tired, because I'm ready to get home, or because I live on a ridge with some steep uphills.  Probably a combination of all these.

I made it home to a cheering section of one (Lisa).  She made a cute little sign pictured below.  It sure is good to be home.

I cleaned up and aired out all my camping gear and got it ready for any future adventures.

I lost a about 23 pounds while on this trip, weighing in at 152.5 pounds. I could tell as the trip progressed that my clothes were getting looser.

I will likely gain a lot of that weight back over the next several days because my body will continue craving calories.  Let the feeding frenzy begin. (Homemade pizza by Lisa. Followed by peach cake with ice cream.)

Total miles today: 79.8

Total miles for the trip: 5514.1