Day 3: 6/21/24: Big Hill Pond State Park to Memphis, TN

I was again the only person at the campground, and had a great night's sleep.  My plan for today was to get up early (without an alarm of course) and get some miles in before the heat of the day.

Pic of today's sunrise below.

I woke up at 4:10 a.m. and was on the road by a little after 5:00 a.m.  There were a couple of restaurants along the route today where I could have second breakfast.  The first one was about 13 miles away in Middleton, TN, and was about 2 miles off my route.  The second was about 30 miles away in Grand Junction, TN, and was right on my route.  I ate some crackers and 2 bananas before I left the campground, and decided to ride to the restaurant in Grand Junction for breakfast (pics below).

The waitress noticed I was wearing a hydration pack on my back and she asked if I wanted her to fill it with ice since it was going to be hot today.  I emptied some of the water out of the pack to make room for about 3 scoops of ice.  That sure felt good on my back, and the cold water was nice going down.

I biked through this area several years ago while we were living in Chattanooga.  On that trip, I did a loop through TN, AR, LA, MS, AL and then back home.  I had forgotten what Grand Junction's claim to fame is, but below are pics to let you know.

That is BIG.  It's not the capital of TN or the USA, but the World!!!

After Grand Junction, I went through the small town of La Grange.  It is a quaint, clean town.  The residents obviously take great pride in their town.(pics below)

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the town of Moscow.  It appeared to be a booming town at one time situated right next to the railroad tracks.  It now seems to be in a state of decline (pics below).

Today's route was another good one.  As can be expected, the traffic picked up as I got closer to the Memphis metro area, but it was not unbearable.  I eventually made it to the Shelby Farms Greenline, which is a 10.65 paved urban trail for pedestrians and cyclists.  It was formerly a railroad track.  It was nice to get away from any/all vehicular traffic for a while (pic below).

For supper, I ate a burrito at Chipotle.  The person preparing it messed up the first burrito and had to move all the fixings to another tortilla.  She was going to throw the first tortilla away, and I asked her if I could have it - I need the fuel. She kindly let me have the broken tortilla (pics below).  I think the broken one tasted just as good as the one that had all the fixings in it.

I made it to Frank's house, where I will be staying tonight.  He is a Warm Showers Host and agreed to let me stay there.  When I got there, I met him and his dog, Flynn.  Soon after I got there, Frank had to go to Nashville for a few hours to visit a friend's wife who broke her foot.  He left me with Flynn and keys to the house with instructions that "my house is your house." He has hosted several cyclists through Warm Showers, most of them being from other countries.  Pic of Flynn below.

Total miles today: 80.6