Straight south.

Arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Sunday night and decided to hang out Monday and catch up on things and get my next few days planned. 

Chattanooga was a really cool place. Reminded me of Richmond in a lot of ways. 

Last summer Chattanooga was a big competitor for Outside magazines 'best river city'. Richmond did win. Most people that I spoke to seemed annoyed with what the magazine had to say about their city, which was pretty much 'the city was cool and outdoorsy, but the food sucked...'  

Either way, I liked it. It has a lot of things that I think Richmond has potential to get done in the future. 

Just explored the area by bicycle. Picked up some supplies and had a frustrating clicking sound on my bike taken care of. 

Went into a hot dog shop for some lunch and a few beers to finish out the day. Met 

Jack and his 'work wife' Erica. He met me after work and had another drink next door. 

Jack plays in a band called 'hot damns'. Yes, just like Richmond's own hot damns. And they play Americana music too?!  What a coincidence. Had a good conversation about life and such. He offered me a place to stay except I had already checked into a hostel earlier.  

This was my hostel bed. Liked it a lot 

There was an art walk overlooking the river. This was one of the sculptures. 

Like fish down a waterfall. So real. 

I rode South from Chattanooga on Tuesday. Crossed into another time zone

and a bunch of state lines all in one day. 

 

 I went from Tennessee into Georgia, Georgia back into Tennessee, and Tennessee into Alabama. I didn't expect that to happen. 

Mostly flat roads running by rivers and lakes.

Made my way into Scottsboro Alabama to camp out on this huge lake. Sorry but I can't remember the name of it 

The next day was a shorter ride west to stay with a host in Huntsville. I saw that there was a cave on the way and made time for some sightseeing. 

Cathedral Caverns!  I haven't seen many caves in my life, but this one was huge. Supposedly Alabama has thousands of caves all over the state. 

This was cool. A crack on the ceiling that looked like JFK 

I met David at the cave. Former lawyer turned beer brewer/musician. The state park allowed him and his band to record a couple of Sigur Ros cover songs in the cave a couple of years ago (and he wrote his own lyrics to the songs in English).

He sent the recordings to the band and they really liked it. Sigur Ros Invited him backstage at their show in Birmingham last Friday.  He was stoked. 

So kept riding after the cave..

I made it to another warm showers host that allowed me to stay for a night. 

Rob (friend of theirs on left), Marjorie and her husband Michael. 

Marjorie was so nice. She prepared an amazing dinner for everyone. Seems I have been spoiled with good food a lot on this trip.  

Fun fact!  Her husband Michael, has a father who was a rocket scientist for the Germans during WW2. At the end of the war, his father was captured by the US and given 15 minutes to decide the option of either coming to America to train our scientist, or staying behind to let the Russians decide his fate. He came to Huntsville.  Even today a huge NASA town. Look it up. 

 Marjorie and Michael are avid cyclists and have done a lot to organize riding events and to make Huntsville more bike friendly. She really took care of me and I enjoyed talking to her. Thanks again! 

Thursday I rode west towards Florence. Some sketchy roads and bridges, but Loved the flat terrain. 

After almost 900 miles, I had my first flat tire too. 

To add to it, I mistakenly rode onto the interstate when I should have been on the highway parallel to it. After a mile I was lucky to have found a gate to the separation fence. 

Scary for a moment..

But most of the way made for good Alabama scenery.  Mostly gigantic cotton fields. 

BUT FLAT ROADS!

I stayed with this wonderful family that night. I can thank my good friend Alex Shaw and his in laws for it. Alex's brother just got married to Francis Saturday and this family is his now wife's family's next door neighbors in Florence. 

(Catherine, Kevin, Frances Jane and Emma)

Catherine was an avid cyclist at one time and had done a bit of touring in the past. 

Again, they were extremely hospitable to me. Not only allowing me, a complete stranger,  to crash last minute at their home, but wining and dining me with a delicious home cooked meal. Southern cooking and hospitality at its best. A great family to stay with. Thanks again guys!  

This blog post is toooooo long. But almost done...

Met these cool guys on the road!

I usually try to wash my bike clothes and dry them using a bathroom hand dryer for 30 minutes, or just riding with them on my rack the next day.

Sometimes roads are like this..

And sometimes they can be like this..

Friday I made it over to the Natchez Trace parkway. A historic parkway that runs from Nashville Tennessee to South of Jackson Mississippi  I want to miss the 

Ozark mountains and head more south. 

I met Mike once I started the parkway. He had started at the southern part and was finishing up. He is only the second bike tourist I had seen since starting. 

He was just finishing up his journey. 

Unfortunately the parkway is part of the National parks. With the government being closed and all I have seen this:

It only affects me by limiting my bathrooms and potential campgrounds along the way.

More more state on my belt!

So much more I could add for the past few days!  But I'll get to it once I leave Jackson, Mississippi. 

Really stressing which route I want to take for the rest of my trip. Head towards the southern route? Or head towards southern Utah?  

Thank you everyone for all of the support while I've been on the road. It helps more than you know  

Until next time...