Day 3: 11/8/23: Crossville to Heiskell, TN

The day started at about 4:45 a.m.  My stomach convinced me to alter my course today and ride through Crossville to get breakfast.  This added several miles to my distance, but it was worth it.

Pic of the county courthouse in Crossville before sunrise below.

There were a lot of steep hills on my route and a lot of pretty scenery.  I was primarily on back roads with little to no traffic.  Below are a couple of pics of some of the scenery.

 

Before I started this trip, I looked online for campgrounds that had tent camping that were along my route.  I saw somewhere online that Escapees RV Parks in Heiskell had tent sites for $12.  So I figured that would work out for me.  I got there a little before dark, and the worker said all of their sites were taken by RVs.  I explained that I would not need any hookups and that if she had a small grassy area (which they did from my observation) that that was all I needed.  She told me they had nothing like that and proceeded to tell me about another campground in Knoxville.  She knew I was on a bicycle and seemed to have no empathy for my situation.  She did say there was another campground a half mile down the road.

I went to that campground and inquired about tent camping knowing I was at their mercy to charge me some astronomical amount.  The lady at that campground told me they do have spots for tent camping, BUT you have to have a vehicle.  I almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of that explanation but I didn't.  I pointed to my bicycle and said that's my vehicle.  In a snarky way, she said "You know what I mean, a motorized vehicle." I almost told her mine has a motor, me, but I saw this was going nowhere so I moved on.  I looked on line and saw that tent campers at that campground must have "transportation." Hard to believe that something that has transported me several hundred miles over weeks and months is not "transportation." :)

There is a church across the street from the 2nd campground, so I went over there thinking I might could pitch a tent on their property.  As I was sitting by the front door of the church, Tyler, the youth pastor at the church and his family pulled up to get ready for Wednesday night service.  I explained my predicament to him, and he called Chris, the lead pastor, and got permission for me to pitch a tent behind the church.  They also fed me some stew, and I played a couple of board games with Tyler, and his children, Ryen and Allison.  Allison won the first game and I won the second (beginner's luck).

Total miles today: 92.9