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Statistics, Useful & Otherwise;

Found Money Today;     $0.02                    Cumulative; $0.33

Lodging Cost Today;     $79.91                   Cumulative; $1151.19

I had carnitas at the local Mexican restaurant last night.  After 9 days of cycling, I was ready for some real food.  But I overdid it; the plate they brought out was ridiculous and could have easily fed 2 people. I ate the whole thing, and the whole bowl of chips and salsa, and washed it down with my Modelo Negra beer.  Yeah, that was ridiculous.

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It's 09:00 and I'm having peach pie and coffee at the nearby Rusty Rooster. After last night's overload of food at the Mexican place across the road, I'm feeling quite bloated and didn't want a big breakfast.  The waitress is maybe 25 and calls me "darlin" and somtimes "baby". As in "You drinking coffee Darlin'."  She brings my pie and says "here you are baby."  Lots of pickup trucks parked outside told me that this is the place for breakfast. I'm pretty content at the moment.

I spent the entire day planning ahead.  When I started this little adventure I only had time to plan out about half of it.  Well, guess what?  I'm halfway done now.  There are 48 maps that comprise the ACA Great Rivers South route, and I'm currently on map 24.  The official route distance is 1,400 miles, but I will cycle about 1,500 miles to reach the end.  The extra distance is due to many things; my "out and back" day at the start to cycle from the New Orleans airport to downtown and return, the approximate 30 miles required for the detour around the Natchez trace road construction, the extra 9 miles required for yesterday's "bridge out" kerfuffle, and the usual extra mileage it takes to get to and from lodging that isn't located directly on the route.  I may cycle more than 1,500 miles before it's all done; whatever it takes to get to Muscatine, IA "The Pearl Button Capitol Of The World."  Bet you didn't know that, now did you?   You probably thought I was cycling to Muscatine for no good reason at all - now that you know about it's pearl button bragging rights you are probably jealous that I'm heading there and you aren't.

Rather than try to explain all the myriad details involved in planning ahead while in the midst of a cycle tour, I'll just copy and paste this text I sent to my wife today; "Long day so far for a rest day. Changed routes to one town thanks to a fellow Cycle Blazer from KY, which meant doing a new map. Was staying in a really super bad place in Marion, KY, got that changed. Booked some regular hotels and awaiting confirmation on 1 AirBnB, researched a couple of small town older hotels (they are good, but you don't know until you check them out), checked road conditions to go offroute a bit to 1 small town (looks good), did minor maintenance on Harvey, and, oh yeah - hopefully got things rolling on fixing the social security issue after an hour on hold - we'll see. Waiting on a hamburger and mac&cheese right now at the Rusty Rooster diner."   I don't have camping gear with me on this trip, so I need to be inside at night.  I do have a sleeping bag with me so I can stay at a hostel (many don't have bed linens, you need your own).

The Imperial Lodge is okay for my needs, but it's pretty dated.  My room is reasonably clean, but the door was once kicked in and doesn't lock as securely as you might like.  The microwave wasn't plugged in and the cord wouldn't reach the outlet, so I carried it to the sink and sat it on the counter where I could plug it up.  The minifridge works fine, but they have let so much frost build up on the freezer that the fridge door won't close fully - so it wastes a lot of electricity, but it cools my water bottles.  The shelf over the clothes hanging area is about to fall down, but I don't need it anyway.  I have hot water for showering, the A/C works, the wifi isn't real strong but it works for my needs in updating this journal, the bed is fine, and I have a coffee maker and coffee.  So it's not somewhere you would stay on vacation, but I needed an inside place in Waverly and this is it. I'm happy. 

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I got out before noon and walked down to the Casey's store and found some gloves that should fit inside my leather work gloves and keep my fingers warmer on these mornings that are getting ever colder.  I also picked up a Peach Mango Body Armor Lyte to sip on this afternoon, then walked a bit further to reach a CVS pharmacy and buy more sunscreen.  On the return trip I stopped at a food truck; how could I resist a Greek food truck on the roadside in Waverly, TN? I found 2 pennies in the parking lot so the "found money" statistic grew a wee bit. I got a gyro plate lunch and walked back to my room to continue my planning and booking lodging and such.  Gee whiz - the gyro platet was another food overload and would have easily fed both me and my wife.  Why do we Americans eat such huge proportions?  I know that's a stupid question for me to ask since I'm the guy doing the eating, and yes - I ate it all.

Okay, I have 2 stories to tell on myself.  A little embarrassing, but why should I care - I'm getting too old to be concerned with my own shortcomings, numerous though they may be.  So, three nights back I was staying at the Volunteer Fire Department building in Collinwood, TN - remember that?  Do you remember that I said that after I got into bed I heard someone come in and move around and use the bathroom and then leave?  Well, the place was a little eerie, and by that I mean that it was a bit spooky to be inside this unlocked building by myself at night, and then to hear someone come in and move around outside my room - well, let's be honest, I was at least a little scared.  Not a lot scared, but a little.  The next morning when my alarm went off at 04:30, the same thing happened; someone was milling around outside my door!  Since I was getting up anyway I went out and met the source of the noise and my fright last night; a lady police officer.  What I didn't mention before is that she was a young (say 30-40 or so) and attractive lady.  So here I am, a big strong guy (okay, maybe not so strong anymore), and I was letting myself be frightened the night before by a pretty lady police officer.  If any of my buddies knew this they would never let me live it down, so don't tell them, okay?

The next story is harder to tell in a manner you will understand, but I'll try. Two nights ago I had an AirBnB near Lyles, TN for lodging.  It was a long hard day getting to it, and I knew that there was a Dollar General store about 1/4 mile past it where I could get some food for dinner and breakfast the next morning.  So I rode past the place and continued on towards the Dollar General.  As I rode on, I went past a "pumpkin patch" market where pumpkins and Halloween stuff was being sold.  A young couple was out walking around there and they waved at me and I waved back.  I went on to the store and got my food, then was anxious to cycle back to the AirBnB house and get settled in.  As I rode past the Pumpkin Patch (that's what I call such markets, it may sound odd to you) I heard someone yell out - I didn't hear it real clearly but it almost sounded like they were yelling "Hey George!"  Now, no one here would know my name so I just assumed it was the same young couple yelling "you go!" or some other encouraging phrase, so I just waved and rode on.   Later I messaged Monica, the AirBnB host, because I didn't know how to get the dryer started (you just gently tap the touch-sensitive button, I was trying to push on it - silly me) and she told me that it was her who yelled at me as I rode by!  I felt really bad because I would have loved to stop and chat and she had been extremely nice and helpful in the AirBnB transactions.  Geez, what an idiot I am sometimes.  I'm on a bicycle trip because I like to slow things down, and yet there I was in a big hurry and missed an opportunity to say hi and chat with some nice local folks.   Like I said at the start of this paragraph, it's hard to explain this one so that you will understand it; but I felt quite remorseful about not stopping.

Hey, it's late and I got to get back into the game tomorrow, so I better shut this down.  I'm in Tennessee, home of my mother's mother before she migrated to Arkansas.  Life hasn't always been easy here, but folks have learned to endure hardship and survive.  I hope you have only a little hardship in your life these days; we need just a little bit of hardship or else we wouldn't appreciate the good times.  But I do hope your hardships are few and minor.   G'night to all you "darlins" and "babys" out there.