Tennessee---"Um...before or after he turns around in his grave? Daddy's been gone five years, Elaine. Make matters worse, you were at the funeral, remember? You were Chanel-ing that awful black hat? Look, here's the deal, I don't need y'all to approve my choices, alright, but I do ask that you respect them. You have no idea what this boy has been through and if this becomes some running diatribe, I can find overpriced salad a lot closer to home."

Staying with Eli and Patty was a treat for a whole bunch of reasons. First off, she's a great cook. We had a pasta, spinach, and cheese dish, spinach salad, garlic bread, and apple pie ala mode. Secondly, they are great conversationalists. Our sides were sore from all of the laughing that went on during the dinner conversation. They were both hilarious. And third...there was a severe weather watch...a thunderstorm blew into the area, dumping rain with the thunder and lightning. We...were snuggled safe and warm in downy beds with lots of pillows. Thank you so much, Eli and Patty, for going the extra mile, for attending to our every need, and making our stay in Memphis delightful!


It was still raining (and thundering...and lightning) when I got up at 5:30, but the forecast promised an end to all of the nasty weather by mid-morning, so I headed east out of Memphis, the plan being to hook up with Karen and Liz when the weather was a little better and the traffic was a little lighter. It proved more difficult than we thought. Somehow...and we still have no idea...they got ahead of me without seeing me alongside the road. It took us a little while to connect, but when we did, the ride was very nice. Most of the day was spent along Highway 57...small towns separated by spacious farms. We passed one that had a LOT of white fence...enough to keep a teenager busy painting all summer long.


We are all kicking ourselves for not taking the time to take some pictures in the town of La Grange. It started out as an Indian village, but became home to many settlers before the Civil War. Some of the houses we saw were built prior to 1850.





There were more dogs today...they are fairly harmless, but they seem to be compelled to run alongside of us and bark their little heads off. At one point Karen had pulled off at a little restaurant...Top o' the River...where catfish is a speciality. I couldn't eat catfish, but I'll give him a tickle on his whiskers.


Both yesterday and today I would be riding along and recognize the smell of honeysuckle. Mmmmm...intoxicating...and there were plenty of daylilies (I think here they call them ditch lilies) growing alongside the road.


We were on Highway 57 most of the day and the scenery went from high end developments in Memphis, to well kept farms and ranches, to some poorer areas, and then back to well kept farms. We had turned south on Highway 224, which became Highway 22...when all of a sudden we realized we were in Kentucky. Uh-oh...this won't do...the 100 miles have to be done within the state...I subtracted the Mississippi miles, turned around and rode back into Tennessee to finish my century. The stats at the end of the day? A little over 3000' of elevation gain, an average of 13.82 and 100.35 miles.

We headed south into Mississippi and after stocking up on some much needed groceries, arrived at our destination for the night in Kosciusko (pronounced kos-zee-oo'-sko). Our host is Donna, and though she was unable to be home, she graciously provided us a place to stay. She was at a baseball playoff game in which Ole Miss was playing. I would have loved to meet her. She lives close to the Natchez Trace Trail where we will be riding tomorrow. Her assistant Piccolar let us into the beautiful backyard where there was...a pool. We pitched tents on soft grass and had a nice chat with John and Klaus, two men who also cycle and were there to watch the baseball game. It was dark when we ate, and we didn't get to bed very early. There are warnings of isolated thunder showers, but I'm not putting the rainfly on...it's warm and isolated probably doesn't apply to us.


maybe you can't...because you won't...