Day 75: Nashville, TN Rest Day 1

Day 75

July 30, 2015

Miles: 0

Exploring Nashville

We got our of bed a little past 9am this morning.  Today is a rest day and there's no reason to ruin a rest day by getting up early!  We went downstairs to enjoy the free breakfast and because we had a lot of time on our hands, we stayed eating and drinking until we were kicked out a little after 10am.  

This was our first pass at the breakfast buffet

We finished our breakfast and then went back to our room to lounge around for a while.  Hey, its a rest day and we have to make sure we get our rest!  After an hour or so we felt we were sufficiently rested and decided to ride our bikes to the downtown area.  We've come to really appreciate riding our bikes when they are not loaded down with luggage.  Its not that riding our bikes when they are fully loaded with gear is not fun, its just that riding our bikes without gear is a whole lot more fun.  When we arrived in the downtown area we weren't quite sure what to do first, so we did what any normal person would do in that situation - we went into the first coffee shop we saw and bought ourselves iced mochas with an added chocolate shot.

Mike's serves ice cream as well as coffee - smart!

Iced coffee and an apple danish means instant happiness

Di outside the ice cream and coffee bar - now if they only sold used books as well

Once we had our coffee we felt capable enough to walk around Nashville.  Di wanted to look for a Nashville t-shirt, so I watched our bikes as she visited a number of stores.

View outside t-shirt store number 1

view from t-shirt store number 2

View from t-shirt store number 3

Di wasn't having good luck finding a suitable t-shirt, so she decided to give up on that and look for a pair of cowboy boots instead.

Visiting boot store number 1

Coming out empty-handed at boot store number 2

View down the street at boot store number 3

View across the street at boot store number 4

Walking towards boot store number 5

I am obviously enraptured by the sign

Well, you won't see a picture referencing boot store number 6, because at boot store number 5 Di bought herself a nice pair of boots.  I didn't mind going to all those boot stores because I found those stores interesting and I liked looking at all the cowboy hats.  I picked up one nice looking Stetson, but quickly put it back down again when I saw that it cost $700.  I learned today that its expensive to dress up like a pretend cowboy!

Di's new boot (she bought left boot also, in case you are wondering)

I probably owe my love of Johnny Cash to my Dad.  He loved Johnny Cash and I remember my Dad playing and even singing along to his songs when I was a kid.  Well, the Johnny Cash Museum was just around the corner from where Di bought her boots, so you know where we ended up next.

That's right, the Johnny Cash Museum!

The museum tells the story of Johnny's life through pictures, letters that he wrote, and of course, through his music.  It was interesting to learn how he got his start and to see his hand-written lyrics for "I Walk the Line" and other songs and some of the guitars he used.  In addition to those displays, there were also three different viewing rooms showing clips from his movies, television shows, and live performances.  Despite all those interesting things to see, the part I enjoyed most was listening to the steady stream of Johnny Cash singing his most popular songs.  I know I could listen to those songs any time I want because I have all his records, but being in the museum surrounded by all Johnny's stuff just made those songs a little bit more special.  

  

One of Johnny's early guitars

He loved to take photographs (I want that camera)

Mixing board from his studio (Andy probably has all those controls on an iPhone app)

A later guitar

The man in black's guitar

We went back to the hotel after the Johnny Cash museum to do some relaxing.  Did I mention that it was a rest day?  After resting for about an hour, I called Andy to remind him he is coming to Nashville tomorrow.  He said he remembered and he and Paige were excited to be coming to Nashville.  I'm so happy they are coming - I have never gone this long without seeing the A.  I talked with my mom and then Dine and San.  I will be home soon and there better be some insalata left when I come over on Thursday night!  

Di and I decided to return to the The Row to have dinner and listen to live music.  The Row has a lineup of performers who each take the stage for one hour.

Di enjoying the live music

Those are fried green tomatoes

Kaylee Rose was the second act of the night - she was good!

The bar area of the Row

I ordered the homemade fried chicken and Di got brussels sprouts, string beans and a mashed sweet potato

Many of the songs the artists had written themselves, but they also sang what I'm guessing are popular hits by other artists.  I'm guessing because every time they said something like, "Y'all know this one" or "C'mon and sing along with me on this one", I had no idea at all of what song it was.  Sometimes the singer would say the name of some famous person who wrote the song, and I hadn't heard of that person, either.  It then occurred to me that I don't listen to country music.  In fact, I don't really like country music.  I had the good sense, however, to keep that fact to myself.

Tomorrow we go nowhere and await the arrival of Andy and Paige. Wahoo!

Day 74: Nashville, TN

Day 74

July 29, 2015

Miles: 28

Springfield to Nashville

It was great having an unscheduled day off yesterday. Renting a car and driving to Mammoth Cave was a lot better than riding 160 miles round trip to the caves.  As Brian pointed out, it did feel a little weird driving after all these days on the bike. I don't know how people do it - drive everyday! 

We woke at 7:00a and were sipping on a cup of coffee by 7:30a.  We had another heathy breakfast this morning. I sure do love my oatmeal!

Good stuff

We left the hotel at about 9:30p.  We wanted to get into Nashville around 12:00p. We made great time and again weather, wind and elevation were in our favor.  The ride itself was just ok.  We were on a road for a while with lots of traffic, but a least we had a small shoulder to ride on.  Along the ride, we noticed many 'Share the Road' with cyclists signs and drivers seemed to be considerate of us. This was a bit different from our experience in Kentucky.  We got the sense that it wasn't just the dogs, but some drivers too in Kentucky that didn't really like the cyclists. Perhaps because of the one guy who yelled out his window ''get off the road', and another revving his engine as he passed us, and a few others as they passed by us hitting their horns for long bursts, not the approving couple of short beeps we get from drivers who are encouraging us. Steve and I talked about this a bit.  Kentucky seems to have a different culture from the other states.  We likened it to our experience riding our bikes through Connecticut. They too were angry at the cyclists on the road. A real sense of entitlement - as if they own the road or something. The difference however, while in Connecticut when we experienced this we would just yell back - 'share the road', but in Kentucky we were afraid that it might result in a gun fight and of course, we only have mace so lets face it, it would be an unfair fight. So we simply ignored them!

During our 28 mile ride today we encountered some interesting things along the way. Like the sign below - that's too early for kids to go back to school!  Kids need their summer vacations!

What up with that? What are they thinking? 

Nashville within 10 miles

Nashville in sight

We arrived in Nashville by 12:00p.  We requested early check in to the Hampton Inn and they were able to accommodate us, so we were in our room by 12:10p.  We took showers and then went across the street for some lunch.  We rode straight through so we were pretty hungry.  We asked for a restaurant recommendation and the locals recommended The Row.  It was a great little restaurant close by the Inn, which offers genuine food and drink, and features pictures and stories of different country music legends displayed on the restaurant walls.

On way to The Row

Quinoa Burger for me and Meatloaf sandwich for Steve

Steve touring the restaurant reading the stories on the walls

We are here in Nashville for the next five nights and six days.  Andy and Paige will join us on Friday.   Whoo  Hooo!   Its seems odd that we will not be riding our bikes for four full days, but I'm sure we will get over it.  Steve and I plan to explore Nashville tomorrow;  tonight we plan to lay low and relax to get ready for our wild weekend with the kids!

***

Here are some bonus shots of Mammoth Cave.

While at the Mammoth Cave we were asked where we were from by some of the others exploring the caves.  I guess the accent teed them off.  I don't know :).  When we told this woman about the cross-country trip, she just couldn't believe it.  I told her that we have met so many making the ride cross-country along the way. I told her about 250 people annually do it.  This didn't change her opinion; she just replied by saying yeah out 330 million.  This had us thinking how close we are to achieving our goal, and how for others it may seem crazy, but for us it still seems like just a long bike ride.

Day 73: Springfield, TN Rest Day

Day 73

July 28, 2015

Miles: 0

Springfield to Springfield

We got up a little after 8:30am this morning.  Today is a rest day and when I remembered that when I awoke earlier at 6:30am, it made me so happy to turn over and go back to bed.  The free breakfast at the Hampton Inn is decent, so we headed downstairs and were eating breakfast by 9am.

Di eating a decent free breakfast

There have been a few comments regarding the lack of other patrons in the restaurants when we are dining.  I'm not sure why this happens.  Most of the towns we ride through are very small, so there just aren't that many people around to begin with.  Also, we tend to each lunch around 1:30pm and that is a time when most people have already eaten, so there is another probable cause for the lack of people.  But I have to admit that the suggestion that perhaps folks don't want to be around a couple of cyclists who have been riding in the sweltering heat has a lot of merit.  I know I would probably lose my appetite if I was in a restaurant and two cyclists riding through the heat of a mid-west summer plopped themselves down next to me.

We ate our breakfast and walked a mile and a half to the car rental office.  I remarked to Di that we didn't see a single person walking outside.  It became painfully obvious after ten minutes of walking why nobody else was outdoors - it was incredibly hot!  We were not a pretty sight when we finally arrived at the car agency.  This made me think of something else that has been commented upon: the lack of people walking around the towns we ride through.  I thought the reason for this is because folks had moved out of the towns and nobody was around anymore.  Now I'm wondering if its because people have too much good sense than to be outside in the summer when its hot and humid.  Obviously, because Di and I are riding our bikes through this weather, we have not been endowed with that good sense.

We picked up our car and rode the 80 miles to Mammoth Cave.  We signed up for a two tour that would have us walking over two miles of the cave.  You might think that a cave that is two miles deep is a large cave and you would be right.  This cave, however, is not just a large cave, it is a mammoth cave and as such, its passages total close to 400 miles long.  That fact alone is remarkable, but what is truly amazing is to be in the cave itself. The passageways are at times narrow and at other times so large they are used as an amphitheater complete with rows of seats.  Flash photography was prohibited and the cave was dimly lit, so I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures below.

Di navigating a passageway of Mammoth Cave

A vertical shaft created by falling water

Di going into one of the less spacious passageways

The view down from one of the ledges

Di enjoying her cave walk

Some of the dark recesses were actually other passageways

Rows of benches turned this cave room into an amphitheater

Some of the rock has fallen from the ceiling exposing the smooth layer that was once mud

The dripping water calcified into interesting patterns

This part of the cave is called Frozen Niagara

Another part of Frozen Niagara

Calcified drippings clinging to the ceiling are called stalactites

Stalactites

Another view of Frozen Niagara

A Di-prevention rail was in place to keep us from harm

More stalactites

Stalactite close-up

Looking up a vertical shaft from the cave floor

We finished our tour and drove the car back to the rental agency.  The folks there were kind enough to arrange a ride for us back to the hotel - they were shocked we had walked there in the morning and insisted upon giving us a ride.  They must have thought we lack sense enough to stay out of the summer's heat and I guess they would be right.

Tomorrow we ride to Nashville!  Its only 30 miles away, so it should be an easy day.