We took our truck in to the shop this week to be fitted for a new bed. We stopped at the grocery store on the way to the shop. We knew we would be truckless for 3-4 days, but we tried to prepare for longer than that - a good decision in hindsight. With a big grocery store just thee blocks away from our house, we weren't accustomed to long-term planning. Well, we thought we planned long term, but there is a different feel when the nearest store is more than 20 miles away and you have no motorized transportation. This preparation was a little more worrisome. Well, we've gone six days so far and the only thing we are low in is Diet Coke. Susan has enough to last through Monday: after that things get scary.
The first two days we worked and got things done around the trailer. By day three we were sensing our confinement and felt the need to be a bit more mobile. JW previously told us about a great place for Pizza in Eagleville, TN - "Just five minutes up the road." We saw the place we thought he was referring to last week on our way home from Nashville. We thought, "We have bikes - why not try it.?" After a bit of Google-ing, and a bit of discussing, we decided we needed pizza for lunch on Thursday. It was a 17 mile round trip up and down the "hills of Tennessee."
[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="One of our "take a breather" stops riding to Eagleville."]
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We took the back roads. We didn't realize that the back roads involved some unmaintained dirt/gravel roads. The hills were brutal for two novice (aka out of shape) cyclists. We had to stop a couple of times after particularly trying uphill runs, but we made it. The scenery was awesome and we were able to ride in shade much of the time, but we also struggled with our wheels getting hung up in the loose surface for the unpaved portion. We took the highway on the way home - it had a paved shoulder the entire way. It was a much more pleasant ride. Still hilly, but the surface was smoother and the ups and downs a little less exaggerated. (Remember that we are in the middle of Nowhere, TN, so there was very little traffic.)
[caption id="attachment_111" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="In this part of TN, they raise horses, hay and wheat. That is pretty much all you see."]
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There was much to see both on the way and on the way home. Most folks who passed us on the back roads waved and we met some very friendly (and some not so friendly) dogs.
The pizza we had was awesome! We put our leftovers in the hip pack and ate it the next day for lunch. If you ever find yourself in Eagleville, TN, stop by the Main Street Cafe and get some pizza.
We were positive we would feel the effects of our bicycling excursion the next day, but we were fine. Our confidence riding high, we decided we needed to eat at Main Street Cafe again on Saturday. This time we took the longer, but milder highway route both ways. After about 1/2 mile, we could feel the effects of Thursday's ride. We had a brief discussion about turning back before it was too late, but decided to pedal on. The pain quickly passed (well, somewhat quickly). Once we arrived at the cafe, we studied the menu for about 20 minutes. Everything looked so good and we were hungry. Being the risk-takers you know us to be, we ordered pizza again and enjoyed it just as much the second time.
On our ride home, we passed a local airport - glider airport. Just as we were riding past, a glider was taking off, pulled by a small propeller airplane. We saw the take off, but didn't have time to get the camera out to take a picture. We watched it soar on the winds and then land.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4f0T04FQ4U
Another glider customer was getting set up to go, so we decided to watch this one take off. Sorry for the camera shake, but a car pulled in the lot and I had to move because I was standing in the only available parking space.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XwZ_Yry9Sg
We were hot and tired when we finally arrived home, but we had a great day!