Day 84: Morristown, TN

Day 84

August 8, 2015

Miles: 53

Clinton to Morristown

Steve wanted to go to the Waffle House, so we woke early again this morning.  Beth's recommendation was all we needed to get us moving. To my surprise Steve was up and packed within 15 minutes.  This morning he waited for me to get ready, which is very unusual.  We were sitting in our booth ordering breakfast by 7:15a.

We were lucky to get there so early because within 30 minutes there wasn't a table left available.  This is quite the hopping place in the morning.  As we entered the restaurant music was blasting. Good music like American Pie - Don McLean and Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin.  What a treat!

Steve ordered a lot of food this morning as you can see. He was not that hungry, but he was so excited to try these waffles. He has eaten way too many complimentary breakfast waffles that were barely edible. He certainly wasn't disappointed with the Waffle House waffle.

Stuff it in the gullet as Steve likes to say

Steve being very satisfied

We rode on many different types of roads today - backroads, country roads, highways - the gamete.  Backroads with billy goats, to farm roads with crops and over bridges.  Today, we had to race away from dogs all morning as we made our way through the backroads.   We pulled out our mace many times, but never had to discharge it.  Most of the dogs either couldn't catch us or once they saw the mace being pointed at them, they slowed and eventually retreated.  At one point, we saw two goats. From afar, we thought they were dogs, but as we approached they never barked nor did they run after us, so we knew they weren't dogs.

Nicer than dogs

Stopping to hydrate

We climbed 3700 ft today.  It was extremely hilly.  About 3/4 of the ascents we climbed in the first 30 miles.   As we continue riding East we are encountering more and more hills.  Yesterday we climbed 2500 ft in 72 miles and today we doubled that.  Soon we will be climbing the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rumor has it, they are more difficult to climb than the mountains in Utah, which is unimaginable really, but we will tell you after next week.

Lots of hills

Farmland

Strange looking bridge

We rode a stretch of road with a very unique looking landscape. Lots of green leaves growing everywhere that we couldn't see any branches or tree trunks.  It was like being in a tropical forrest.

Felt like something was hiding in there

Surrounded by green leaves

Steve taking pictures

We have become mindful of our nutrition lately.  We are trying to keep up with our fluids and caloric intake, but it has become somewhat difficult to eat and drink enough. Sometimes we just eat because we know we have too. We go through stages of being famished to stages of not feeling hungry at all. I guess we are in the latter stage right now.

Hydrating

I have switched over to turkey jerky, a better choice for me than beef jerky.  It is a great protein, no fat and no sugar added, and it has a great taste.  It is a convenient protein snack and the sodium is good for electrolyte replenishment. I am not saying I've eaten a lot of jerky nor am I saying I will eat jerky when I return home, but for right now it is a good option. I wish I was turned on to jerky while in Kansas because this would have been a lot healthier than some of what I regrettably ate in Kansas.  

Turkey Jerky

We rode Highway 11E the 2nd half of the day.  It was the best choice we had even though it was loud with cars whizzing by; at least it had a big shoulder and it was a lot safer than other options.

Stopping to hydrate again

Sometimes we even had to clear branches from our path on the highway.  

Steve getting good bike karma by clearing the riding lane

We are very anxious to leave Tennessee.  For many reasons, but mostly because the culture here is not very cyclist friendly or pedestrian friendly for that matter.  There are few sidewalks and rarely do you even see crosswalks. As a result we have experienced a lot of impatient drivers and frankly not very safe riding at times.  Like Kansas was my least favorite state to travel through, Tennessee is Steve's.

We are off to Kingsport tomorrow, about 56 miles. I still have to do the route for tomorrow; hoping we will have better road options then we had today.