Day 14 Brownsville-Dyersburg ...another interesting day!

Well after an incredibly good night's sleep we woke promptly at 5am, and were on the road sweating by 6am. A GREAT start... The road to Ripley was deja vu back to Alabama, as it was SOLID hills the entire way. However, they really weren't a problem, and we were kickin' right along. Andy had stopped at the library in Ripley, but April and I stopped for a gatorade and then continued on to highway 51 and on towards Dyersburg. Imagine our surprise when Andy called and told us he was IN Dyersburg while we were still 12 miles out! He must have passed us when we stopped for coffee about 9am...

Anyway, I had no sooner hung up with Andy and confidently crested a biggish hill when my phone rang again. This time it was April, whom I had assumed was right behind me, and she breathlessly said "I think I broke it..." and the phone went dead! This scared the daylights out of me, and I immediately called her back. She eventually answered and told me she thought she had broken her chain... whew! I turned around, road back down the hill and there she was, engaged in a comical dance with her bike and trailer.

However, my humor quickly evaporated when I saw the extent of her trouble. Apparently while she was down shifting, her derailleur had gone into the spokes of her rear wheel, and nearly thrown her off the bike! One spoke was entangled in the derailleur itself, and others were a bit worse for wear. We unhooked the bob (trailer), and inverted the bike to work on it. However, after freeing the derailleur, and bending it out of the wheel it became apparent that her bike was in no shape to tow the trailer and was infact barely rideable.

After enough 411 calls to necesitate a second mortgage, I finally found a taxi company that hadn't gone bankrupt in Dyersburg. We made arrangements to have April, her bike, and trailer picked up and deposited at the public library, and I would ride the rest of the remaining 12 miles into town. After the taxi left, I called Andy and had him find a bicycle shop... but the nearest shop is in Jackson, 40 miles from Dyersburg. Hmmmm. So I had Andy find us a rental car place, and tomorrow we go to Jackson to get a new derailleur and a wheel tru-ing for April's ride. We need to physically bring the bike, otherwise Andy would ride in for the parts.

I'm writing from the Dyersburg public library, and once again the librarians have been a god-send! Helping us with maps, phone numbers, and encouragement. A big thank you to the Dyersburg librarians!!

Stay tuned for an update as soon as we sort this out...

Day 13, Tues. June 5 Brownsville, Tennessee

Today was tough.
We're back into hill country, not as bad as Alabama but it's still a factor. Add to that a steady headwind after 11am, 90-plus degree heat, and then a bad decision on my part to continue riding after 1pm.

We just couldn't seem to get started this morning. There were all sorts of little individual things that people kept either forgetting or "just need to do this quick" that held us up initially. Then an extremely friendly railroad worker kept the conversation going for a half hour after breakfast, another friendly- but chatty couple in Whiteville... and finally both April and I just didn't feel 100% this morning.

Its 4.30pm and we've just rolled into the Brownsville library after 60+ miles of riding. I'm hot, tired, and my nerves are raw... The little endearing things that I've enjoyed these past couple of weeks are nothing but irritating to me at the moment, and I'm hoping we can get out of the library without having to exchange "pleasantries" with anyone about our being on an extended bicycle trip.

I've checked the weather and we can expect mid 90's all week in Tennessee. So I'm going to count today as a valuable reminder that I don't like strenuous exersize in the summer heat. Therefore, if we haven't reached our daily destination by 1pm, we'll be stopping until the heat breaks around 5pm.

As for right now, we need to find Andy and the motel he's chosen... and then a much needed shower and some proper food. I'm certain that we'll sleep well tonight!

Day 12 New Albany to Walnut

We're sitting in the Walnut, Mississippi library and the Tennessee border is 3 miles to the north. We were planning to cross into Tenn. today, but our camping prospects look slim and the owner of the local motel gave us a huge discount when she found out that we're on a fund-raising ride. So when it came time to chose between peddling further into an uncertain camping situation, or a really inexpensive, air conditioned room with showers and a bed... no-brainer!
We still managed 43 miles today, even with cutting it short. So we are still plodding along.

Our librarian, Ms. Jamie Wall, at the Walnut Library told us that we can have any books from the book sale we want for free as her contribution, what a lovely gesture! I've found a copy of "The Caesars", telling of the Roman emperors. It was a tough choice given the literally hundreds of harlequin romances...

I found another interesting fact regarding the public library system, and that is the fact that all the computers we've been using have been donated by the Gates Foundation. A big grateful "Thank You" to the Gates' for their generousity! It has certainly made our trip a richer experience. Not simply because of the internet access, but also due to the fact that that access has drawn us to the libraries and allowed us to meet such wonderful people as a result!

Tomorrow we're pushing for Brownsville, TN.

Day 11 New Albany Day Off

Not much to tell today. We took in a movie last night, which made us feel oddly part of society again. Today we all slept in and gorged ourselves on the free breakfast at the motel.

April is out lounging by the pool, and Andy is alternately sleeping, watching TV, and diving into his horded stash of stuff from the free breakfast buffet.

I've been working on my bike most of the morning, hard-core cleaning the chain, derailleur, and such. The staff here at the Holiday Inn Express is a riot, they have a great sense of humor and had no trouble with me rolling my room chair out into the back parking lot to work on the bike. They even gave me a toothbrush for scrubbing in hard to reach areas. So that and a bit of carburetor cleaner has me back in business... Completing it all Betty, the head of maintenance, kept me company smoking cigarettes while I liberally sprayed carb cleaner 3 feet away. Fabulous!

I've done all my chores, and have only to pack everything up in order to be ready for the morning...

With any luck we may be able to cross into Tennessee tomorrow. Not sure of our final destination, but we've got several options depending on how hard we decide to push it. The weather patterns seem to be shifting and so we must now contend with the very real possiblity of storms. I am not looking forward to rain-slick roads, logging traffic, and lightning. Of course on the bright side, the heat from the noon-day sun won't be quite so intense!

Day 10 Houston to New Albany

Last night had an interesting twist. Right around 6pm just as the Carnegi Library was closing someone off-handedly mentioned that we were still looking for a place to stay. Now, were simply talking amongst ourselves, but our favorite Houston librarian Carolyn Rogers, suddenly made her mission to find us a place to lay our weary heads... and I DO mean MISSION! She made nearly a dozen calls, checked the neighboring churches, contacted friends (and even ex-brother-in-laws!) and when it was all said and done let us follow her Jeep across town to our lodging.
As it turned out she had contacted one of Houston's charity organizations (Name withheld by request), and the director graciously interrupted her family dinner to take care of us! ...And the great city of Houston, Mississippi paid for our motel room, and even offered to pay for our supper! What a town and what a great spirit within the community, that on literally a "moments notice" they would find a bed for 3 very tired travellers. THANK YOU HOUSTON and A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR OFFICIAL HOUSTON LIBRARIAN, CAROLYN!!!

By the way our guardian angle librarian even contributed to the Pennies for Part-timers scholarship without our even mentioning the idea!

Today we were on the road at 6am again. As usual the first 30 miles clicked off fairly rapidly, but as it heats up, I slow down. April threw a chain and called me just as I'd finished a big hill (Mississippi big, not Alabama big) and I had to double back to assist. Topping off the day, we got directions fouled up trying to avoid riding on the interstate, and literally took a 45-minute uphill loop back to the city sign of New Albany! So interstate it was... and now with a shower completed and supper looming on the not so distant horizon it all seems sort of funny. At least more so than it did coming upon the city sign sweating and cursing as if in a scene right out of the old Twilight Zone series!

Tomorrow is a glorious rest day, and I've got a lot of bike maintenance to do. My chain has been causing a steady click in the derailler, which by the end of the day is like having someone run their fingers down a chalkboard! Also, I've got to cuts in my Schwalbe Supreme tires, one in each which need attention. And there is the overall tightening of every single bolt and nut which are constantly loosened by the all-day pounding on the road. Then there is laundry, and sewing the the latest holes in my clothing and in my rapidly rotting bicycling gloves...thank you Cannondale for using inferior-grade leather. The gloves were brand new at the start of the trip...

Finally we've figured out the uploading of photos...yeah. And so I'll be attaching images to the previous posts in the blog on Sunday, so please review them for the accompanying images from the road.

Day 9 Columbus to Houston

We started off bright and early at 6am, and before too long we came upon a retired couple in their 60's who were touring on a tandem bicycle. Their names were Jerry and Shirley Smith and they told us they were from Kansas... a cute couple. At least they were until we fell in behind them for our first leg of the morning! They were veteran tourers and set a modest, but relentless pace that was humbling. They were full of great, practical advice and it was fun speaking with them. At West Point they turned off to continue on the newly opened "Underground Railroad" tour route from Adventure Cycling.

We plodded onward toward Montpelier and finally on to Houston, MS. Currently we're unwinding at the Houston Public Library, and as always the staff is friendly, helpful and tolerant of our, umm... fragrance!

We are modifying our route to avoid some of the bigger "hills" that are looming ahead for us in Tennessee and so we'll be skirting Nashville to the east and then making a bee-line for the Missouri/Arkansas border. There we'll catch a ferry across the Mississippi and hopefully find flatness!

Andy has allegedly found us a free campsite for the evening, so hopefully there'll be a shower there to was off some of our 60-mile day today. I need to mention that cell phone service is spotty at best for us right now, but please leave messages.

Quote of the day: "Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do, than by the things that you did" -Mark Twain

Day 8 Pickensville Al to Columbus MS

We were up an running this morning and made great time on the way out of the hills of Alabama and into the DELIGHTFUL plains of the great state of Mississippi! We got into Columbus and found the Budget Inn, and it was SO nasty that we opted for the Econo Inn down the road... a bit better, or at least a bit cleaner. The Dingy-ness was about the same. Anyway we set about drying our tents out in the rooms, and then went on a quest to find a Chinese buffet... no luck. We did find a take-out place, and opted to eat in. The atmosphere was augmented by the complete lack of air conditioning. It is almost impossible to find anywhere in Mississippi that is not air conditioned, but we persevered and felt right at home in the sweltering heat.

Back at the rooms well fed, it was nap time... right up until supper. I received a call from a friend of Prof. Tony Wright, Shawn Donahue. Shawn is a veteran cyclist, and offered a lot of great advice and support. He also gave me a line on a set of maps that contain not only topographical information, but minor roads as well. Thanks Shawn!!! After searching in vain for these maps at the Columbus Walmart, it was pack up and then it was off to bed. I'll continue looking for maps as we travel.