Nashville and tennesseek shelter

I made it to Nashville on Friday and got a new rear tire since my new one was already shredded through in three spots. When I made it to town I called on hotel rooms and one place said they had some available so I rode over there and they told me they were full. They weren't very helpful so I went to one nearby and they were full but more helpful. I was directed a little further out of downtown to a strip of hotels and found one. It turns out Vanderbilts homecoming is this weekend.

As I pedalled through town a few people rolled down their windows at lights and talked to me and welcomed me to Nashville. It was very encouraging. I decided to stay by my motel for the night and then went to town today. I picked up a new raincoat for my bike that is designed in the pacific northwest, so it should be good.

The day I left Memphis it was raining and slowly began to pour. I found out my rain jacket is now more water resistant than proof. It turned out to be a cold and wet day, but I stayed in a state park and had the tent site all to myself. I warmed up in the shower and hung my clothes up all over the room to dry.

The next day I was hoping to get just under halfway to Nashville and did a little better. I was trying withot luck to find a place to camp along the road and then in the next town I came to I stopped by a church and ended up talking to the pastor. He said I could camp in the yard, but then he asked if I would rather have a room. I said either way thinking he was talking a Sunday school room or spare bedroom. Instead he took me inside the church, called a motel, and had it charged to the church. Then he opened up the pantry and tried to give me a bunch of canned goods. I took two and he tried to get me to take more but I had no room.

So it was a rough start in Tennessee, but much better as I go through.

Memphis

I am now in Memphis and headed to Nashville for the weekend. I made it through most of Arkansas in two days with no problems other than the cold that was in the forty's. I stopped for hot chocolate on the second day and stayed for a half hour until I stopped shaking. I was then hoping to find a camping spot but everything was farmland and flooded. The one place I was hoping for turned out to be a state park without camping. A family reunion was going on and they were very welcoming to me. They informed me of a campground down the road about 15 miles away, so I took off to get there before dark.

Getting into Tennessee was horrible. No one really knew how to get to the walking bridge, so I ended up heading out on the interstate and then found the bridge and walked it. On the other side there was no way to go across town except by a jaunt on the interstate, which was illegal. I went that way for a bit and came to some backroads and headed to the visitors center. From there I headed to a bike shop and hotel. On my very welcoming memphis ride I picked up two tire shredding flats and had to tape my tire. My rear rack also sheared off a set screw sometime and I needed it drilled out and replaced. The bike store I found was very helpful and got my bike done by staying a little late. I now don't have to stay a second night in Memphis. I only dislike this town for cycling. I have visited here before and enjoyed it, but it is not biker friendly.

It looks like I will finally have to ride in the rain on my way to Nashville. I should've today but it cleared right as I left and the sun was out most of the time. I just hope the flooding in Georgia goes down before I get there.

Back to Life on the Road

I am currently packing up all my gear and getting ready to set back out on my trip. I am leaving Nebraska this afternoon to head back down to Arkansas and pick up where I left off. The doctor said I have a mild hernia, but doesn't think that is my main problem and says it's not big enough to operate on. He believes I hurt a muscle in my stomach that sometimes happens to extreme athletes. He says if I can grin and bear it to keep going, otherwise my next step is to see a sports specialist. I tried riding some yesterday and it hurt, but not unbearably.

I would like to make Florida in early November and that should still be feasible. I am still debating on how far to ride in Florida, but I have a few weeks yet to decide.

I had my bike worked on while I was home and had my rim strips switched out to try and stop the flats. I put less than 30 miles on it and got another flat, but it was the shops fault so they put in a new tube and fixed the problem. I then talked with them a bit about what was happening and one of their guys was a tourer who has done some long tours. He said he averaged a flat about every 200 miles once the tires were worn in. That is still less than half the flats I have been having, but it let me know I can expect a flat every three days on average. But I have been having 1-2 per day. I am looking forward to getting started, but a little anxious as this next stretch I know very few people. I may look into warmshowers.com and see if there are any on my route that will be available. Warmshowers is a website for cyclists much like couchsurfing.com.

Well...time to continue packing.