Day 72: Springfield, TN

Day 72

July 27, 2015

Miles: 48

Hopkinsville to Springfield

We stayed at the Hampton Inn last night. It was a great choice. It served a full, hot breakfast featuring homemade oatmeal and the usual scrambled eggs, bagels, waffles, assorted cereals and muffins, and fresh fruit.  As you can see, we are eating much healthier these days. After we finished breakfast, we went back to our room to pack our bikes so to leave before 9:00a. We were shooting for an early arrival in Springfield today.  We thought this was possible as long as we took fewer breaks and a shorter lunch. And because today's route was shorter and less hilly, and because the temperature forecast in the afternoon was for 97, we thought this was both achievable and wise. So as long as we have favorable conditions (distance, wind and elevations) we are going to stick with this strategy. We did this yesterday too. Yesterday we arrived in Hopkinsville by 4:00p and today we arrived in Springfield by 2:30p. This has given us more time to explore the town, rest and write the blog. 

Lots of fresh fruit

It really was a great day riding.  Other than the high heat in the afternoon, the roads were great and the elevation and wind direction was in our favor.  We made record time, while encountering some repeat scenery along the way.

Rows of corn

Me amongst the soy plants

More tobacco - healthy looking plants

This below was interesting I thought.  A truck with two sets of wheels designed for both the rail and also the road.

Rail truck

Hurry up

We stopped for lunch at the 1/2 way mark to eat a quick bite. We both had a chicken breast sandwich (the usual).  We didn't order any sides because as you know, we had a different strategy for today. 

Small town with one restaurant

Surprisingly it's a full house in the one restaurant in town ... so we thought.

Make some room for us

Me and the invisible people

Shortly after our, yet again, private lunch, we rolled into Tennessee.  Hooray!!!  Nashville here we come!

State number 9

TN Plate design

As you know, we checked into the Hampton Inn last night in Hopkinsville and again here in Springfield.  Of all the motels in this class, we think this one is the best.  It has a great  breakfast and also provides self-service laundry services for guests.  The rooms are clean and very spacious.  The rooms fit both our bikes nicely.  This hotel offers a free USA today newspaper, and also serves coffee 24/7 and free cookies M-TH.  Two different coffee options regular and robust. Nice!

When we checked into the hotel tonight the girl checking us in said we were the most interesting guests she has met this year.  Naturally, we had told her about our cross-country bike tour.  She gave us two goodie bags just because we were cyclists.  This picture below shows what was we got.

Yummy

We went to dinner next door at O' Charlies.  Steve had salmon and I had a chicken pot pie. After dinner tonight and on the way to our room, Steve scored a cup of robust coffee for his nightcap.  As if he needs more coffee!

Me Steve ... need coffee!

All room signs here at the Hampton Inn have a different picture associated with the room and just look at what picture is associated with our room ... isn't this appropriate!

We have decided to take a rest day tomorrow and go on a little excursion.  Assuming we can rent a car tomorrow, we plan to drive 81 miles (1 hour and 20 minutes by car) to Mammoth Cave National Park. This national park is located in Kentucky; apparently it features the largest cave in the Nation.  Mammoth Cave is a location on the TA but since we came off the TA to route to Nashville, we would miss this site.  So we decided since we have an extra day before arriving in Nashville we should go sight seeing!