October 26 – I’m Late, I’m Late, for a very Important Date!

This week I have been on a tight schedule. My friends since childhood, brothers Mike and Randy Clark invited me to go up to Lexington, Kentucky with them to see our beloved Tennessee Volunteers play the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. In order for this to happen, I needed to either be in Nashville (where Randy lives) or in Knoxville (where Mike lives) by Thursday night so I could leave my bike at their house and ride with one of them to the game. And it was more than just a football game – I hadn’t seen my friends in a year and we were also going to the horse races and possibly a bourbon distillery tour. The plan was to leave Friday morning and come back on Sunday. Before my bike’s mechanical failures cost me a day of cycling I was right on schedule…..but now even getting to Nashville seemed like a tough call as it was over 100 miles away. I awoke at dawn and started cycling as soon as it was light – right into a head wind 😦 . But I put my head down and kept pushing. Soon I was encouraged as I came to this sign:

I was headed in the right direction! An hour or so later I was in Dover, TN where I stopped for a quick lunch and called Randy to let him know how I was progressing. As it would be dark before I reached his home, he offered to meet me out on the road when I had ridden as far as I could – whew! I started talking to a couple of good ole boys at the restaurant and told them about our plans. They reviewed my map with me and planned out a route that would end with me meeting Randy at The Thirsty Goat – a taproom they really liked. Interestingly, one of the guys had gone to my high school and had lived about 5 miles from me – although he was 7 years younger than me so we didn’t know each other. The other guy was good friends with the LBL director, and we called her so I could give kudos to her employee, Leigh, who had been so nice and helpful the day before during my bike emergency. The director was going to recognize her – pretty cool! So with a plan, a route and a destination I said goodbye and got going. As I rode through Clarksville, I came across a veterinary clinic that has to have the best name ever!

It was a long day of cycling, but after nearly 80 miles Randy and I got to the Thirsty Goat right at dusk and within 10 minutes of each other. It was great to see him – we had a pizza and a beer and caught up before heading over to his house. It was going to be nice to have a little vacation in the middle of my adventure.