Entry for Tuesday, 5 May 1998

A tugboat pushes barges of shredded wood in the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The bridge above is the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Last Modified on 5/9/98 at 4:36:56

Day's Narrative: I got up early this morning and had time to pump up the tires, clean up and lube the bicycle after breakfast of eggs, bacon and grits at the Waffle House. Neville and Barbara came to the Holiday Inn, arriving about 8:30. We got out on the road about 9:00.

Neville and Barbara wanted to stay at a B & B in Cherokee, AL tonight -- only 2 miles from the Parkway, but the B & B had closed. We had no reservations or, in fact, any idea what kind of motels there were in the area. The only one we could find in our books that was close to the Parkway was a Day's Inn in Iuka, MS -- 13 miles west. We really wanted to stay closer than that. In the other direction we found a Holiday Inn near Florence, Al in our motel books, but that was over 20 miles to the east. So the plan was for Connie to drive ahead and see if Cherokee had a motel, then drive back to the Parkway intersection and meet us.

This was another one of those beautiful days for bicycling. The high temperature was around 78 F (about 26 C) and there was a slight tail breeze from the south.

We met Connie about 1 p.m. for lunch at the Tenn-Tom Waterway, a canal running through Mississippi and Tennessee (photo).

We got to the Cherokee intersection where we were to meet Connie at 4:30. No Connie, and we were all out of water. In fact, Neville ran out six miles before the intersection.

We could see a Citgo service station just up the road, so we cycled up there, drank several cokes, other assorted beverages and filled up our water bottles. Once we had satisfied that need, we decided I would go back to the intersection to wait for Connie and Neville and Barbara would wait at the service station.

I cycled back to the intersection and found Connie waiting there reading her book. She had been to Cherokee and there was no motel there. She went as far as Tuscumbia, about 20 miles past Cherokee. Tuscumbia (the birthplace of Helen Keller) has motels, but she couldn't find them, and since Iuka was not as far from the Trace as Tuscumbia, she went to Iuka, 13 miles the other way, and got us rooms at the Victorian Inn. So she did quite a bit of driving around to get us the best place to stay.

We mounted up and rode at a good pace to Iuka, riding the 13 miles in 45 minutes over rolling terrain. That's over 17 mph (28 km/hour).

Tomorrow we expect to have scattered thunderstorms, but we will be trying for Waynesboro, TN. It's a small town, so Connie will drive ahead and see if there's a motel there, and then ride back to the Sunken Trace turnout (about 43 miles from here) where we have agreed to meet. If there's no motel we will ride to Lawrenceburg, TN and stay there. We'll see if all this works out -- while dodging thunderstorms too.

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© Ray & Connie Poore, 1998