Exodus to Adventure

  We left Weldon and headed northeast, Virginia bound!  The ride to Suffolk would be scenic and flat.  It would also be our last 75 mile ride of this adventure.   Throughout the journey, we would pass many fields, cross a numerous rivers and travel along all types of roads.  On this day, the road is busy with  truck loads of timber heading northeast and empty trucks heading southwest.  We would pass a large commercial mill and stopped to watch the unloading.  The facility would push lumber out of one side and wood chips out of the other.  It appears they found a use for everything. The fields in Virginia would change once again.  Peanuts!   Southeast Virginia is for peanut lovers.  I didn't know it was such a big crop in Virginia.   I guess the flat and sandy soil helps.  Swamps also abound in this section of the country.   So, if there weren't peanuts or corn, there were swamps!  We made...

Leaving Tennessee required climbing Roan Mountain and we spent the bulk of the day doing just that!  We stopped at the Davis Girls Peach Shed and Shirley picked us a few ripe peaches to eat.  I figured it's her shed and she knows peaches.   We chatted with her and later with a man I believe was her husband.  Both were very interested in the trip and offered us a rest on the rocking chairs on the porch.  Dale and I figured we might not get up if we sit too long so off we went.   The Appalachian Trail crosses Roan Mountain.  Although there was no sign, the white blazes gave it away.  Just another reminder that we were getting closer to home.  Elk River would be our next stop and, thankfully, my last flat tire.  I changed out both the tire and tube with new that I had been carrying, just waiting for the right occasion.  It was a relatively short ride (51 miles) but still a long day (8 hours).   Boone, NC is a nice t...

  Franklin was a only few miles from the Tennessee border.  Although the state changed the scenery was similar as we made our way towards Cookeville, TN.   Back roads and fields were the course of the day with a few hills.   Along the way,  the road was carved through limestone, including driveways with majestic rock entrances.  I was thinking they could have carved a little deeper and longer so the pitch of the hill was a little better.  No matter, the road was pretty decent.  During our adventure, you pass all sorts of memorials, like the one on Kirbytown Road remembering those who contributed in the 1940's.  There seemed to be water along the way and it turned out to be the Cumberland River.   The next stop was Oak Ridge, TN.  Oak Ridge is the home of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Bomb.  After 90 miles the previous day, getting there would once again mean hills.   The road names tell it all, Buck M...

  We left Miner, MO and headed for Kentucky along a relatively nice and flat road. This is where we had our third encounter with law enforcement, the Missouri State Police. Pulled over along Route 62, we thought he should have at least put the lights on to make it official. Fortunately, he was issuing us a warning! He asked "traveling across the country?" We said "Yes!". "Are you familiar with this road and the bridge ahead?" Our answer "No". He mentioned it was dangerous, long and narrow, and suggested we take up the entire lane. After seeing what we were in for, it was good advice. Crossing the Mississippi River was one of the points of interest we were waiting for...unfortunately, stopping on the bridge to take a picture was not in the cards. The next surprise was Illinois! Although we were there for just a minute, Cairo, IL is a peninsula between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Our time in Illinois was short, basically a right...