Walking in Memphis

The sleeping in the air conditioning last night was a real treat for everyone.  We woke to find the person in charge of the Continental Breakfast at the hotel neglected to show up.  So off I went to Mcdonald's for some egg & biscuit sandwiches.  What I really wanted was a good strong HOT cup of Coffee.  Worth the trip for me as I am the only one who drinks coffee.

The guys got on the road at 7:00 as they had hoped.  Then this little piggie went to market to get ice and supplies for the next couple of days.   I then tried to find them in the back roads of Tennessee which was no small task.  The Twisty, Windy, Curvy, Hilly and Scenic route was hard to follow without the Garmin.  Lots of turns and road signs well hidden.

As Dave & Terry came down the road they came upon a damsel in distress with a flat tire on her bicycle.  When they got there two truck driven guys had stopped to help her.  Neither of them knowing how to change a bicycle tire.  So Dave and Terry came to the rescue with a new tube and some air to get her on her way. The guys in the truck and the damsel were both interested in the trip so we hope we here from them on the blog.

I finally caught up with them around 10:30ish.  Fresh water and a change of riders was in store.

 Dave and I then switched as I do not like the heat.  So off we went onto more twisty, windy, curvy, hilly scenic roads.  The days sights were truly spectacular.  These roads were meant to be cycled.  We saw many other peddlers along the way also enjoying the back roads of TN.  The roads were canopied with big arching trees with lots of shade and dense forest on both sides of the road. Again the vegetation was a sign of the south.  We saw bamboo and large elephant ear plants.  The leaves had to be at least 3' long.

Then we came to Shelby a little blip in the road with a great general store which turns out to be a little hot spot for local cyclists. We talked to many and gave out more blog cards so we hope to hear from them as well.  We stopped in and had a nice cold beverage of chocolate milk and sat on the deck with a huge shade tree covering the whole deck.  This is where Terry met up with his two beer drinking buddies.  Root beer that is!

Then we headed down the road for more twists and turns and scenery.  This day was truly a blessing.  We could not have enjoyed ourselves more!   The sights, smells and sounds were a gift.  We rode into Memphis  around 1:00 for lunch  at a Park on Mud Island Tennessee which is on the east side of the river.  I then got back in the van and drove to the end of the bike trail to meet Terry and Dave after an 82 mile day.

Terry and Dave both raved about the last section of bike trail on Mud island. The bike trail actually went into River Terrace plaza that had an elevator that took them up to the 5th floor to access the pedestrian bridge to cross the inlet waterway.   They ended in Martyr Park where I picked them up to cross to the Mississippi into West Memphis Arkansas.

We are going to meet Roger Vos and his family tonight for dinner at a hotel down the road. it will be fun to see Roger as he used to Live in Austin and was a very active cyclist/ athlete.  He will be riding with us in the morning so we will have another guest rider.

We have laundry services in our hotel so we jumped at the chance to get some clean clothes for a fresh start in the morning.

Here it is 5:54 pm and we have the laundry done, Blog done, and pictures loaded.  This a first.  Don't get used to it.   We have quick wifi service which really helps.

Look to hear from us tomorrow night as we are going LULU!   No I mean we are going to Lulu Mississippi.

Terry, Dave & Julie