"Jackets On. Jackets Off" ...

Fulton, MS to Pickwick Dam, TN

77.3 Miles

Total Miles to Date ~ 457

... That's the sort of day it was.  However, before I tell you about the "ups" and "downs" of our day, let me tell you about an average day in our lives while on the road.

Wake-up call, 4:45 (4:15 if it's a long day with a REALLY early start). We use the alarm on my cell phone and are awakened by Willie Nelson singing "On The Road Again". Our first comments to one another, "I'm not riding today." followed by totally illogical reasons why we won't be riding. Truth is, we ride, but it's so much fun to begin the day with a laugh. We lie around talking while the tea is brewing (I microwave mugs of hot water), repack our bags and try to figure out what we need to carry on the bike and what to leave behind ~ the weather helps makes these choices for us. Out to the trailer for a great breakfast of oatmeal and scrambled eggs and to pack our lunches - I make our PBJs and Holly makes our trail mix. Back to the room for last minute things, take our vitamins, the final pee, schlep our luggage out to the trailer, and bring our bikes out. By 7:30, we head out. Throughout the day we ride off and on with others, but prefer to ride alone together in order to talk our talk and laugh at ourselves. We laugh A LOT! 

When we get to our motel we check in, take our bikes to our room, go to the trailer and grab a beer, get our luggage out of the trailer and bring it up to our room. Then, the reward. We get ice, make ice packs and put them on our knees. While we are sitting in our beds and icing we eat our trail mix, drink a beer and watch a little TV. Holly showers, I shower, we eat dinner at the trailer, come back to our room and go to sleep. 

I know this sounds romantic and you are thinking this is something you would like to do for four or five weeks. I can tell you this. Next year a number of the women we have ridden with are doing a four week ride called the Northwest Loop - beginning and ending in Portland, Oregon. Holly and I are definitely considering joining them ~ waving good-bye to them on the first day and welcoming them back to Portland on the last day, with a month at a yoga center in between. No hills, no heat, no bikes, no PBJ, no Willie Nelson. That being said, we are having a great time because we are together.

TODAY'S RIDE:  Loads of climbing. Most were doable and a lot of them were long but felt comfortable - no heavy shallow breathing and we could easily carry on a conversation while climbing. Am I getting stronger? Yes. The roads were two lane country roads, traffic was not bad (Sunday), the sky remained overcast most of the day, the temps were in the 70s, and the humidity was low. It drizzled a little - very little - throughout the day. Thus the Subject Line. We are in Tennessee - a new state - at Pickwick Dam (Unfortunately, we are not near the Dam). Our riding days shorten by approximately ten miles each day until our next rest day ~ Friday, May 23 ~ when we will be in a new state, and at Kentucky Dam State Park. Time for dinner. Will try to add some photos later. Otherwise, not until our rest day.

TheWanderingJu and Holly