Day 12: 6/7/23: Williamsport TN to Athens AL

I'm home!!!!  Yay!!!

Total miles today: Unknown (but at least 77)

Day 11: 6/6/23: Piney Campground to Williamsport, TN

It was a very eventful day today.  I woke up about 3:30 a.m. because I wanted to give myself enough time to make it to Erin, TN, to eat breakfast at a place I've eaten at before.  When I moved my bike at the campsite, I discovered the front tire was completely flat.

So the first thing I got to do this morning was repair a flat tire.  There was nothing found in the tire that caused the flat.  This is the 2nd time this tire has done this to me on a trip, so it's time for us to part ways.  I put on the spare tire and a new tube.

Despite many attempts, I was unable to get the spare tire to properly seat on the rim.  It is difficult using a portable frame pump to get some tires to seat.  I decided to leave well enough alone and I loaded up and took off for Erin about 4:45 a.m.

As I was rolling down the road, the unseated front tire caused a pretty major bump every rotation.  That was really annoying and I decided I was going to make more attempts in Erin to get the tire to seat.

On my way to Erin, my bicycle computer went haywire.  It worked fine for about the first 5 miles, but then started elevating my speed and distance.  It has done this once before and I was able to adjust the sensors to correct it.  This time, sensor adjustment didn't work. I got frustrated fiddling with it so I adjusted the sensors so no speed or distance would be shown. I had to use the clock to estimate my next turn.

In Erin, I wrestled with the front tire enough that it gave up and properly seated on the rim.  Back to a smooth ride.

I happened to look online at the restaurant I was going to and it is closed on Tuesdays.  So much for the morning rush to get to eat there.  I was able to find a coffee shop there that cooked me some eggs with a few veggies.

I finally headed out of Erin, but the road that leads east out of the city was closed due to bridge construction. There was no way for me to get around the construction site other than take an out of the way detour.  The detour I came up with included the road pictured below.

I finally made it back on route and arrived at the bicycle only campground near the Natchez Trace where I will be spending my last night on the road this trip.

So to recap, I will now be limping home from this trip with a broken tooth crown, a broken sandal, and a broken bicycle computer, using my spare tire :)

Total miles today: Unknown (but at least 93)

Day 10: 6/5/23: Marion KY to Piney Campground TN

Had another great night's sleep last night and got up and going a little before 4 a.m.  Made it out before sunrise and got to enjoy the moon for about an hour (pics below).

Then to the east the sun popped up (pic below).

Wheat, wheat everywhere.  Couldn't make it through Western Kentucky without getting a pic of a large wheat field.

A view of Lake Barkley near Kuttawa, KY pictured below.

A nice example of an old dog trot house below.

Pictured below is my typical lunch, and supper too for that matter, during this trip.  

About 3 months ago, I decided to stop eating anything with added sugars.  I also stopped eating dairy.  I was concerned about what that would do to my energy level during this bike trip.  During previous trips, I would eat Poptarts, pancakes with syrup, jelly, M&Ms, Fig Newtons, etc, etc.  This trip, I have already finished 3 jars of no sugar peanut butter and will likely finish the 4th jar before I get home in 2 days.  I have been eating a lot of bananas, apples, raisins, and oranges.  I used bigger panniers this trip because I knew I would have to carry more bulkier and heavier fruit.  I'm sure some added sugars have crept in my diet in items I have eaten at restaurants, but that has been fairly rare.  I have found my energy level to be better than when I was eating all the sugary stuff.  My energy seems to be more stable throughout the day without any spikes either way.

Another state down and entered...

Those are bison in the pic below at The Land Between the Lakes in Tennessee.  Didn't get to see a single bison in the great prairies of Kansas, but when I entered Tennessee there they were :)

Total miles today: 90.0

Day 9: 6/4/23: Goreville IL to Marion KY

Had a very restful sleep last night.  It was dark and quiet at Barbara's farm.  The moon was full and it was a clear sky.  I did not use my rainfly on my tent so I could clearly see the sky.  At one point during the night, I woke up and thought I had left my headlamp turned on in it's holder inside the tent, but it was actually the moon shining through the mesh (pic below).

The little lady pictured below found me interesting this morning.

I met Matthew and Karin (pic below) today.  They are from South Africa and are riding from Boston to Astoria, OR.  They then plan to ride the Pacific Coast route.  They estimate it will take them about 6 months to complete with about 6200 miles of biking.

Below is a pic of their rigs.

I was glad to hear they are going to stay at Barbara's place tonight.  Goreville had a church that allowed cyclists to stay there, but they stopped allowing that in August 2022.  I think this is going to cause Barbara to see an increase in her cyclist camping activity.

I made it to...

I noticed the state motto is "Unbridled Spirit."  I think they should add "and unleased dogs" to the motto.  

I've heard from other cyclists that dogs chasing cyclists are a big problem in Eastern Kentucky.  Matthew told me that a pack of dogs came after him and Karin in Eastern Kentucky.  There was also vehicular traffic at the time that were having to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the dogs.  Matthew pulled his bike in the grass right next to the edge of the road to try to fend off the dogs without getting struck by a car.  The owner of the dogs came out of the house and instead of calling off his dogs, he began yelling and cursing at Matthew demanding that he get off his property.  Hearing this story embarrassed me as an American, and I apologized for how the man acted.  Matthew said he realizes that there are a few jerks everywhere, and stated that people have overwhelmingly been courteous and nice to them during this trip.

I made it to Marion KY where I will be staying inside at the United Methodist Church tonight.  To get out of my routine of having peanut butter on whatever for supper, I decided to go to a Mexican restaurant.  I was really hungry so I ate through my first basket of chips and salsa.  They asked if I wanted more chips and salsa, and I say "sure." Close to finishing my second basket of chips I felt my broken tooth crown pop off.  Oops, guess I overdid it on the chips.  I pulled the crown out of my mouth, wrapped it up and stuck it in my billfold.  When I got back to the church, I reglued it with hopes it will stay put till I get home in 3 days.  The crown had lasted a little over a week this time around.  I guess it was because I was mainly eating softer food.

Total miles today: 69.9

Day 8; 6/3/23: Chester to Goreville IL

Today's ride was a breeze compared to the previous 3 days.  There was a lot of flat riding, and the hills were smaller.

Rode through some Illinois wheat country (pic below).

The pic below was taken in Murphrysboro IL.  Don't recall ever seeing one of these before, but they may be on to something.  The building was air conditioned.  Hmmm, possible stealth camp?

I saw another couple on a tandem bicycle going west near Carbondale, but I was halfway up a hill as they came flying down.  So as not to commit a cycling cardinal sin, I did not try to stop and talk to them.  We just waved and kept going our different ways.

Pic below is Spencer.  He is riding from VA to OR,  but is going to get off Bike Route 76 through Missouri and get on the Katy Trail to get to Kansas City to visit family.  He is from KC but now lives in San Antonio.  He knows where Athens AL is because he went to college in Huntsville and graduated from UAH.

I met a couple of women who were doing a 4 day bikepacking trip on gravel roads.  Pic below of them gaining on me...

...and yep, there they go :)

I met Brayden (pic below) near Goreville.  He is hiking from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River.  This is his 4th day of hiking about 25 miles a day.  He has hiked 109 miles so far.

Barbara, who lives near Goreville, allows touring cyclists to camp or stay inside her residence for a nominal fee.  This is the first time I have camped at her place. Pics below of the scenery from her place.

Total miles today:  83.3

Day 7: 6/2/23: Johnson's Shut Ins State Park, MO to Chester, IL

It felt like I literally had to climb my way out of Missouri.  The last 3 days have been long days with a lot of climbing. 

I made it into Illinois and am camping at Chester, the home of Popeye.

Pic below of me, Larry and Jan.  They are a married couple from Columbia SC.   They are staying at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, where I am also staying.  They are riding a tandem bicycle from VA to OR.  This is their first bicycle tour, but they both are backpackers.  They agree that this trip is Jan's, who recently retired, idea, and Larry just went along with it.

Total miles today: 88.2

Day 6: 6/1/23: Houston to Johnson's Shut Ins State Park, MO

Last night the group of 4 riders (The Cuatro) staying at the park said they were getting up at 4 a.m. today.  I figured they were just early risers that woke up early.  Well, at 4 a.m. cell phone alarm clocks started going off. Spinning off Tom Hanks speech in "A League of Their Own" about "there's no crying in baseball," someone needs to give them a speech about "there's no alarm clocks in bike touring" :) Just use your internal clock.  Also, there's enough to wake you up when camping that something will wake you about the time you're shooting for.

Also, as I was heading out this morning, one of the members of The Cuatro was grinding coffee in his coffee grinder he brought on the trip.  There are certainly different luxury levels of bicycle touring.

Below are photos of several cyclists I met throughout the day.  They all started in Yorktown, VA, at various times and met along the trip.   They are all headed to Astoria, OR.

Steve (Chesapeake, VA) and Lou (London)

Eric (Hawaii)

Noel (Australia) and Illen (Washington)

Total miles today: 101.9

Day 5: 5/31/23: Ash Grove to Houston, MO

Sunrise pic from today.

Today I rode through a couple pop-up thunderstorms.  In my rear view mirror, I could see the first one approaching me rapidly by the rain hitting the road.  It reminded me of the scene from "Jurassic Park" where they could see in their Jeep mirror the dinosaur behind them gaining on them.  I didn't have my rain covers in my panniers so I quickly pulled off on an incline to put my rain covers on.  I got them on just prior to the rain arriving.  As I pushed my bike to get started again, I blew out my sandal.  I'm determined to finishing this trip with them before permanently retiring them.  So now I'm trying to limp home with a broken shoe and broken tooth crown :)

Pic below is Nam from Vietnam.  He has been in Boston awhile and is returning to Vietnam in 2 months.  He decided to see the US by bike so he is riding BR 76 and Western Express routes from Yorktown VA to San Francisco CA.

When I made it to the city park in Houston, it looked like a tent city (pics below).

There were 7 other touring cyclists already there to spend the night.  They all are headed west and are biking from Virginia to Oregon.

Below is a pic of Jay, Michael, Dan, and Carl.  Jay put a "companions wanted" listing on the Adventure Cycling website for a cross country ride and the other 3 signed up to join him.

The other 3, Rodney, Owen, and Gerrie, (pic below) connected with each other on their individual cross country trips and have been camping together several nights.  Gerrie is from the Netherlands, Rodney Indiana, and Owen North Carolina.

Total miles today: 114.6