LOBAA19 - Mason's Boat Landing , Waverly, TN

6/4/08 Wed (again) CDT

LOBAA19 - Mason's Boat Landing , Waverly, TN

Sally bike mileage/time 95.21 7:09:00

Sally total miles 1221.19

Bill bike mileage/time 26.2 1:51.28

Bill Total 528.6

Jim mileage 98.2

Jim total 5510.1

Sally:

Today was more wandering in the hills of Tennessee. Killed me to ride east for awhile. Everything here is green, green, green. I've seen woods, hay fields, wheat fields (ripe) and rural homes. We've been near the Tennessee River and there are lots of boat related facilities. Roads were narrow, but very little traffic. Only one truck all day! I ended up riding farther than planned because the place we were hoping to camp was a total bust. We couldn't take two bad spots in a row. We are now camped on Tennessee Valley Authority land for free, next to a marina/RV park that had no room for us. So it was a solar shower night and it felt great. We are in deep shade and have grass out the door. If the road quiets down we will be totally set.  I finally saw a beautiful clear, flowing creek today. I could see lots of little fish flashing in the rocks and several turtles, one really big. It looked like a good swimming spot. If Bill had been there we would have definitely jumped in. That's been the biggest problem with our set-up, Bill and I ride together only for an hour or so in the mornings. We have good camp time, but we get into more fun/trouble on the road together! We had a fellow approach us while we were taking a break in the shade in town. He saw the bikes and wanted to know our agenda. He runs a  B&B in town in a home built in the 1870's. He talked and talked, interesting history of the area from ciivil war days to area lore. I would've loved to see his B &B, but as bill said, he would've talked all night. True.  Cramalot should be cool and comfortable tonight.  Last night Bill fashioned a screen for the dutch door so we can get more air-flow without the bugs. Actually I've been pleasantly surprised that the bugs haven't been too bad. Being cool just feels so good  OK, now that I mentioned bugs skeeters are getting after me. enough.

Bill:

I feel cheated! I have been trying to ride 1/3 the distance of Sally, the cycling ANIMAL, so I turned around at about the 13 mile point today  giving me 26 miles for the morning. But after the campsite we had planned on didn't pan out, Sally continued on and did her longest distance to date 95.2 miles ... and appears more refreshed than me after all this workout. Ah, well, it is all great fun and luckily I rode almost full time the first week so I am well ahead of my 1/3 goal. The heat continues unabated here with lows in the mornings around 70 and highs in the low 90's. Weather report for the next couple of days is more of the same with no rain. While riding back yesterday, it occurred to me that Sally & I are a lot like the cars we drive. Sally is like her nimble sporty Suburu going up the hills with ease, while I am more like my aging Jimmy (with Cramalot in tow!) ... slow up the hills but speedy on the way down. Will be nice to get out of the winding hills so I can start tailing Sally again. The last few days have been too complicated to navigate while driving so I took more direct routes. In fact because of this, Sally has gone farther than Jimmy for most of this week.