MEMPHIS TO COVINGTON TN

MAY 4 57 miles plus a 10 mile boost!

We found our way out of Memphis with hardly any trouble. We had to do a detour because of the equipment taking down the stages from the music festival on the river front...you know, cranes and lifts and things that make people nervous to have bicycles around.
On the way out of town we stopped at Mud Island Visitors Center. Uncle Dave had recommended that we stop to see it if we could. It was right on our way BUT it is closed on Mondays. This is a Monday!
After we got out of town we wandered through some back country roads through some Tennessee woods and hill country. The first ten miles were absolutely gorgeous! Very much like riding theNatches Trace Parkway with lush greenery, almost no traffic and birds chirping their southern serenade. And the first couple of hills were greeted enthusiastically! Hey! Some variety in the ride. But the hills kept coming. I know "Hills are my friends" but some of these were not all that friendly. We walked one that was a good 10% grade and a couple of others that got the best of us.
Hills may be my friends but dogs aren't! Rusty has an air horn that we bought especially because the MRT book author had one and said he needed to use it. Well, up until now we had only blasted it by accident when we bent over the bike but today we needed it for real! In fact we used up all the air, tried to refill it but did something to it so it wouldn't work. After that when we met up with dogs we had to rely on adrenalin. Mine really kicks in and I peddled like crazy! I don't know how Rusty can stay so calm when dogs are nipping at his feet or leg. There was one yard that had about 6 or 7 appearing all of a sudden out of no where!
Once we stopped at the top of one of the hills to rest and happened to be in front of a trailer. Two dogs lived there but the owner came out and scolded them and whacked them with a plastic shovel. She said the reason they have the dogs is because the people around there steal everything. Basically I think we were in the back woods country of Tennessee.
We stopped at Shelby Forest Country Store for a cold drink. (you may have noticed we haven't talked about chocolate milk this ride. I think it's because the temperature hasn't been hot and our rides have been fairly short. We did buy some chocolate "drink" at an isolated market in Mississippi and it was really cold and sweet but I don't think it falls into the "recovery drink" category. My favorite drink this ride has become V8 juice!) But I'm mentioning the Shelby Forest Country Store because it is for sale and they are offering $10,000 to someone who brings them a buyer. It's a charming store with lots of history. Built in 1935. Talking with the owner she said it has to be just the right buyer. They won't sell it to just anyone. A man at the counter said "This store is kind of like a church to the people around here."
We rode those hilly back roads of Tennessee for 57 miles. It was starting to get late and we were pretty much mentally and physically finished with this ride today but there were ten miles to go! I was waiting for Rusty along side the road in front of a house with two pickup trucks. Rusty rode up along side me and said "I wonder if I offered to pay for gas would those people load our bikes in the pickup and take us on in to Covington?" I thought he was kidding but I said "I was thinking the same thing". So he headed off toward the house and said "OK, here I go!" The man in the at the house said he could take us in but he had a couple of stops to make. We loaded up our bikes and drove off to pick up his son and take him to scouts and then he took us on in to our motel. (we're staying in a motel tonight because it was either ride 25 miles from Memphis to a campsite or 67 miles to a motel. ) The road never flattened out! The hills kept going for those last ten miles! I think we would still be riding! The man's name is Al Smith and he owns a body shop outside of Covington. His son's name is Storm and he is twelve. I think it was almost the highlight of the trip being able to meet them and chat awhile. I told him that we call people like him "Trail Angels". He liked that. So if you need any body work done and you're in the neighborhood be sure to stop in and say hello to Al.