Cades Cove Loop, Smoky National Park, Tennessee

June 8, 2022

11 miles

We arrived in the Knoxville area the night before ride day. The weather forecast is daunting. I'm discouraged because riding in Cades Cove has always been something I've wanted to do. Every Wednesday the park rangers close off the 11 mile loop to vehicles. It would be almost impossible to bicycle when there are vehicles on the narrow one way road through the cove. So, if we can't ride tomorrow, we can't wait around for next Wednesday.

We woke up to a rainy overcast day. Looking at the hourly forecast it looks like there will be a couple of hours of no rain around 1 pm. We decide to eat an early lunch and then drive up to Cades Cove parking lot and wait for our riding window of opportunity. When we arrive there are plenty of parking spots and very few people around. We unload the bike in the rain and do all our preparations under a park pavilion. After about 30 minutes it stops raining and we decide to go ahead with our ride. I purchase a rain poncho from a ranger just in case it starts raining again. 

We were less than 2 miles into the ride when we approached a couple that were on foot. The lady was motioning to us about something. We then came to her husband and he was pointing to the side of the road, we turned and looked and we were passing between him and 3 bears.  I asked Clay to stop so I could get a picture. When we felt like we were a safe distance we stopped and got a great picture. It was exciting and scary to see the bears!

There are several old churches, graveyards and homesteads to stop at along the loop. The views of the Smoky Mountains are pristine, especially after a rain. The ride is hilly and there are several dangerous sections where it was recommended to get off your bike and walk. It was even more so since the pavement was wet. This is a relatively short ride for us but it will definitely be one of my favorites. The rain turned out to be a blessing because it kept the crowd numbers down. Since the weather had cleared up, as we were leaving, the cars and people were streaming in and there were no parking spots to be had! We were so fortunate that we arrived while it was still raining. Perfect Day!!

Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail, Florida

 June 2, 2022

22 miles

Decided to ride this trail again since we were in the area. We rode it last time in 2013 with Tom and Susan. As we pulled into the parking lot I noticed a sign about being under construction. I don't like these signs because as a visitor you don't know if it's 1 mile down the trail or 15 miles down the trail. We decided to continue our ride as planned and hope for the best. 

We started out slow because of the slight incline and from being sore from our other rides. Between miles 3 and 4 we noticed the surface was new. It was really nice and smooth. The majority of the bikes we passed, or the ones coming from the other direction, were recumbent bikes. I've never seen so many on one trail. Just as unusual observation. At mile 11 we finally hit the section that was closed. It was 3 miles more to the end of the trail. Not too bad, we got the majority of the trail ridden!

Turning around and coming back to the parking lot we really picked up our speed. We ended up with our highest average speed for this trip if not for the season. We missed having Tom and Susan with us and thankfully we didn't have yellow fly trouble like we did in 2013!

Amelia Island Trail, Florida

June 1, 2022

14 miles

Amelia Island is north of Jacksonville Beach where we are staying. Loaded up the bike early and drove to the island. Parked at Peter's Point Parking. Very nice parking lot with nice bathrooms and a lovely access to the beach. 

The trail took us back west just a tad bit before turning south and hugging Florida's A1A highway. The trail in town was curvy, crossed lots of streets and very tree covered. It was very beautiful riding under the spanish moss draped live oaks. The trail also is very actively used. After 4 miles we were out of town and the trail was straighter. When we hit the 7 mile mark it was on an old bridge that parallels the current bridge. Many people were fishing off the bridge. At the south end of the bridge we came to a chain link fence blocking the rest of the trail. We found out later it is because part of the trail has collapsed . We could have biked on the road but didn't want to cross on a bridge in the narrow bike lane with vehicles. Florida drivers don't have a very friendly reputation regarding bicyclists.

It was a very short and pleasant ride for us. Afterwards we ate lunch alfresco at Palms Fish Camp. Delicious shrimp and fish baskets and bread pudding for dessert. 

Tallahassee-St. Marks Trail, Florida

May 29, 2022

32 miles

Wide, smooth, straight and flat all describe this trail. These are all attributes of a great trail. We got out early to ride before the Florida heat and humidity got too bad and it was definitely a great decision. It was a calm, beautiful morning and the trail wasn't busy yet on this holiday weekend. We were pleasantly surprised at the road crossings it was the cars who had the stop signs and not us. It made crossing roads so much smoother!

 

Interesting situation upon arriving at the trailhead this morning. When we pulled into the parking lot there were two men outside of a car about two spaces away from us and their trunk was open. As we were unloading and preparing our bike we heard quite a bit of screaming. I looked over and one man had crawled into the trunk of the car and was pretending to be in distress. Then a few minutes later, even though he was just steps from the bathroom facilities, he urinated on the back tire of his car. Then both men got into the car and just sat there. As we rode off on our bicycle I was both glad to get away from them but also concerned about what they might do after we left. It was all very strange.

Tanglefoot Trail, Pontotoc, Mississippi

May 27-28, 2022

50 miles

Arrived at the Bodock B&B late afternoon. The innkeepers are lovely people and great hosts. They live next door and have turned the old homestead into a B&B. No one else was staying so Clay and I had the whole place to ourselves. Our whole stay was Southern Hospitality at it's finest, including the cheese grits served at breakfast and the fresh gardenia in the bathroom.

After checking in we rode north on the Tanglefoot trail. Fifteen miles out and turned around and came back. An interesting thing about this trail is we saw many golf carts. One cart had a man and woman and the man had a sheriff's badge on his t-shirt. We learned from our host that they patrol the trail. The others we saw we don't know what they were doing. Possibly going for an evening ride or going to dinner at one of the towns along the trail??? Maybe they are saving gas by going in the golf carts instead of driving their vehicles. It's so unusual because motorized vehicles aren't supposed to be on the trails.

The trailheads were also called whistle stops and had nice facilities with bike repair stations and pumps. Most also had benches or picnic tables and flowerbeds or hanging baskets of flowers.

After breakfast Saturday morning we rode south on the trail 10 miles, turned around and came back. There were more people on the trail this morning compared to yesterday. Also, more golf carts. It was a gorgeous morning and a great way to start our day! Thanks to retired judge Toby Winston and his beautiful wife Jane for letting us have a late checkout so we could clean up after the ride. Next stop....Tallahassee, Florida.

Southwest Missouri Tandem Rally

 June 4-6, 2021

141 miles

This was an impromptu mini vacation. Our friends, Mike and Shanna Cooke from Oklahoma City, asked if we would be interested in riding this with them. We have not seen them for many, many years and we both do a lot of tandem riding. Springfield, Missouri is about the half way point between us.

We arrived Thursday night and did a pre ride with the Springbike club there in Springfield. The Rally started the next day and we did a ride each of the three days. Being in the Ozarks, it was very hilly. Our legs are not used to hills so it was a struggle for me. There were 41 tandems and we were quite the site starting our rides in the mornings. We were even featured on one of the news stations. 

We met many new friends from lots of different states and met several couples from the St. Louis area. All the different tandems were very impressive and it was fun to see them all. Our rest stops included a local winery which served us a large variety of crackers, cheese and fruit, and Fantastic Caverns where we had a picnic lunch. 

Storage room for the 41 tandems