I'd Rather Be Cycling: Day 1: 3/20/22: Athens to Brushy Lake Campground

I, accompanied by Bob and Scott, started a bicycle trip today headed to the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. When we get to the Trace, we are going to head North to Meriwether Lewis Campground, where we plan to turn south and head back to Athens.

We set a start date on Sunday to hopefully not have a lot of traffic going across the Tennessee River bridge into Decatur. Bob and Scott spent the night with Lisa and I Saturday so we could hit the road pretty early on Sunday.

For supper Saturday night, we carb-loaded on spaghetti. Along with the spaghetti, we had salad, bread, and chocolate pie, all prepared by Lisa. Below is a pic of me, Bob, Bob's wife, Patty, Scott, and Scott's wife, Frances, at the supper table.

Pic of us just prior to leaving the house.

Before leaving Athens, we stopped at snapped a pic at the Limestone County Courthouse (pic below).

We made it across the bridge going into Decatur (pic below). The traffic on the bridge was not too bad on a Sunday morning, but I would not want to ride across it during the week.

We went through a very small community named Oakville, and stopped and ate lunch at a cemetery. As we were sitting there eating, we noticed what looked like a park about a country block west of where we were. We rode to the park, which turned out to be the Jesse Owens Park and Museum. He was born in a house in the land where the park is located. We toured the museum and learned a lot about Owens. Below are some pics from the museum and park.

Replica of his home in his early years pictured below. His parents and 9 children lived in the small home.

We then rode on very lightly traveled back roads to Brushy Lake Campground in Bankhead National Forest. Below are some pics from some of the back roads we traveled on today.

Our #1 fan today.

We got to the campground and all the water was cut off. When we got to the campground, a camper named Dawn, who is from New York, greeted us and asked about our travels. Since the water at the campground was cut off, Dawn gave us a gallon jug of water to replenish our supply.