Death And Burritos
Posted by DaveMcD | | Posted On Sunday, May 27, 2012 at 9:53 PM
Today was an "interesting" day to say the least.
The riding was fantastic - everything else left quite a bit to be desired.
First an explanation about the title of this post. Saturday's ride ended at the Meriwether Lewis Campground. The southbound approach to the campground from the Trace is about a mile... pretty much all uphill. Not exactly what you want to be doing at the end of a long day of riding - but such is life. As we were approaching the campground, there is a large sign that proclaims: "Meriwether Lewis Death and Burial Site". In our state of exhaustion, Richard misread the sign and initially thought that the sign said: "Death and Burritos" - which quite frankly sounded better to all of us than "Death and Burial Site". So it only seemed appropriate that we would begin day two with comments about Death and Burritos - and considering the day we ended up having today, I thought it only appropriate to end the day with a ceremonial gift to Richard from Taco Bell as we headed home from the end of Day 2.
The place we stayed in Linden, TN was called the Commodore Inn - named in tribute to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the War of 1812 and the name sake of the county in which we stayed - Perry County. We also learned that evidently Tennessee sent allot of boys to the War of 1812 and there are a large number of things in the area named in tribute to things that occurred in that war. Memorial Day weekend means picnics and music - which for Linden, TN means a music festival in the town square... which happened to be directly across the street from our hotel. The bands kept things rockin' in Linden till just about midnight. Not exactly what you want after a long day of riding and an evening of all you can eat Catfish at the Amber Falls Winery CajunFest.
While at the winery for the CajunFest on Saturday afternoon/evening, we mistakenly laid down our good camera and left it behind. Ann had to backtrack to the winery after dropping us off, but she did manage to retrieve it. Just goes to show that there are some honest people left in this world.
I lost the keys to the Van while we were packing it which made us about an hour and a half late starting our ride. We weren't actually rolling out of Meriwether Lewis Campground until nearly 8:30am - which given the heat we are dealing with is kind of a big deal.
Renee and I were ready to roll a little ahead of Richard and so he pushed us to go on ahead and that he would catch up with us down the road. Unfortunately, Richard took a bad turn coming out of the park which ended up adding 12 miles to his ride today.
We missed connections with our SAG vehicle which resulted in a low water situation that had us concerned.
Richard worked so hard to catch up to us that he made up the 12 miles in about 3 hours. This really cooked him, but he recovered during a pit stop after he caught us.
Less than 3 miles from the end of our ride, Richard popped a spoke and had to call it quits for the day. Finding a bike shop capable of fixing his wheel on Memorial Day will cost him a full day of riding with us.
The high point of the day was dropping by Glen Clemmons home on County Road 5, just off AL 20 - less than a mile from the Trace. Glen loaned us his back porch, gave us ice and good company. We were able to rest and recharge and complete the rest of the ride in much better spirits.
We ended the day at Highway 72 at the Buzzard's Roost Spring rest stop.
No bike shops open on Memorial day anywhere in North Alabama capable of repairing a broken spoke.
Had my first "Sonic" experience - loved the Cherry Limeade - the onion rings we a little rough.
We met some interesting people along the way.
We caught up with Mizou on his recumbent special who we had run into at Lieper's Fork the day before.
The "crew" from North Carolina with Jim and Chris the doctors. Jim just had knee surgery 3 weeks ago and is riding from Nashville to Tupeo - the rest of the group is riding all the way to Natchez.
The father and sons carrying everything plus the kitchen sink on mountain bikes with kid trailers hauling all their stuff.
Stats for today:
69.6 miles for the day
130.26 miles total
320.3 miles to go
Average for days 1 & 2 combined: 14.8
Total time in the saddle: 8:46'07 (for both days)
Temperature ranged from 77 to 100 degrees Farenheit
The riding was fantastic - everything else left quite a bit to be desired.
First an explanation about the title of this post. Saturday's ride ended at the Meriwether Lewis Campground. The southbound approach to the campground from the Trace is about a mile... pretty much all uphill. Not exactly what you want to be doing at the end of a long day of riding - but such is life. As we were approaching the campground, there is a large sign that proclaims: "Meriwether Lewis Death and Burial Site". In our state of exhaustion, Richard misread the sign and initially thought that the sign said: "Death and Burritos" - which quite frankly sounded better to all of us than "Death and Burial Site". So it only seemed appropriate that we would begin day two with comments about Death and Burritos - and considering the day we ended up having today, I thought it only appropriate to end the day with a ceremonial gift to Richard from Taco Bell as we headed home from the end of Day 2.
The place we stayed in Linden, TN was called the Commodore Inn - named in tribute to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the War of 1812 and the name sake of the county in which we stayed - Perry County. We also learned that evidently Tennessee sent allot of boys to the War of 1812 and there are a large number of things in the area named in tribute to things that occurred in that war. Memorial Day weekend means picnics and music - which for Linden, TN means a music festival in the town square... which happened to be directly across the street from our hotel. The bands kept things rockin' in Linden till just about midnight. Not exactly what you want after a long day of riding and an evening of all you can eat Catfish at the Amber Falls Winery CajunFest.
While at the winery for the CajunFest on Saturday afternoon/evening, we mistakenly laid down our good camera and left it behind. Ann had to backtrack to the winery after dropping us off, but she did manage to retrieve it. Just goes to show that there are some honest people left in this world.
I lost the keys to the Van while we were packing it which made us about an hour and a half late starting our ride. We weren't actually rolling out of Meriwether Lewis Campground until nearly 8:30am - which given the heat we are dealing with is kind of a big deal.
Renee and I were ready to roll a little ahead of Richard and so he pushed us to go on ahead and that he would catch up with us down the road. Unfortunately, Richard took a bad turn coming out of the park which ended up adding 12 miles to his ride today.
We missed connections with our SAG vehicle which resulted in a low water situation that had us concerned.
Richard worked so hard to catch up to us that he made up the 12 miles in about 3 hours. This really cooked him, but he recovered during a pit stop after he caught us.
Less than 3 miles from the end of our ride, Richard popped a spoke and had to call it quits for the day. Finding a bike shop capable of fixing his wheel on Memorial Day will cost him a full day of riding with us.
The high point of the day was dropping by Glen Clemmons home on County Road 5, just off AL 20 - less than a mile from the Trace. Glen loaned us his back porch, gave us ice and good company. We were able to rest and recharge and complete the rest of the ride in much better spirits.
We ended the day at Highway 72 at the Buzzard's Roost Spring rest stop.
No bike shops open on Memorial day anywhere in North Alabama capable of repairing a broken spoke.
Had my first "Sonic" experience - loved the Cherry Limeade - the onion rings we a little rough.
We met some interesting people along the way.
We caught up with Mizou on his recumbent special who we had run into at Lieper's Fork the day before.
The "crew" from North Carolina with Jim and Chris the doctors. Jim just had knee surgery 3 weeks ago and is riding from Nashville to Tupeo - the rest of the group is riding all the way to Natchez.
The father and sons carrying everything plus the kitchen sink on mountain bikes with kid trailers hauling all their stuff.
Stats for today:
69.6 miles for the day
130.26 miles total
320.3 miles to go
Average for days 1 & 2 combined: 14.8
Total time in the saddle: 8:46'07 (for both days)
Temperature ranged from 77 to 100 degrees Farenheit
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