A Memorable Day

Stats Tuesday, September 7 – Paragould, AR to Jackson, TN. Day distance 127.6; ride time 8 h 13 m; ave speed 15.5; total climb 1,385; total miles 2,684

In a week of “getting through” to our week’s destination, Chattanooga, what a great day!

Not too long into the morning we came upon cotton fields. Lots of cotton fields as we entered the “toe” of Missouri. We don’t take our cotton tee shirts and undies for granted any longer! Those cotton plants work hard all summer to produce what we pull out of the drawer and put on. And then the farmers work hard to harvest and process.

Not only did the cotton fields allure us to take pictures, but we also got to see farmers harvest cotton. Maybe we took a little too long to watch. Mickey was anxious to get on down the road. But I wanted to linger and observe. Mickey said, “We are going to get caught in the rain this afternoon if we stay too long.” I said, “No, we will miss the rain.” The afternoon would determine the debate.

After the cotton fields we looked forward to crossing the Mississippi River. But the only bridge within reasonable distance was on I – 155. Bicycles are not really supposed to be on interstates.

But we knew of no other options. So onto the interstate we rode.

A mile before the bridge a Missouri State Trooper was working an accident. He must have seen us, although we didn’t wave at him. No lights. No siren. No horn. We pedal on.

However, after having crossed the bridge, one mile into Tennessee, a state trooper traveling in the opposite direction hand motioned us to stop. He flipped directions at the first opportunity and came to talk to us. “Sorry to rain on your parade guys, but I can’t let you ride the interstate. If I let you, I have to let everybody.”

“Officer, we understand. We just didn’t know where else to cross the river.”

“There’s a ferry 40 miles up in Kentucky.” (Yea, right, like we are going to go 40 miles out of our way just to cross the river-NOT!) The officer directed us to secondary roads which we gladly took.

Six miles from Dyersburg, TN rain threatened from the south. Oh no! I took too long this morning watching the cotton harvesters. Was Mickey going to be right? We pedaled hard. But we did not quite make it into town before the rain. We found refuge in the garage of a house next to the road.

In Dyersburg we stopped at local restaurant, Alvinos. I wanted pasta. Pizza was advertised. But maybe they had pasta also. I checked. They did. We had a great lunch visiting with “Tony,” the owner of the small eatery, along with his staff. They seemed to be very interested to hear of our experiences on the road.

It was time to go. I asked for our bill. Tony said, “It’s on me today.”

“No, we want to pay. You can’t run a business like that!”

“It’s my business. I can do what I want.”

THANK YOU TONY. It was great meeting you and your staff. We wish you all the best.

After Dyersburg we decided to bite off another 45 miles to Jackson. It was a long day (127 miles). But memorable. And if you are in Dyersburg, TN stop at Alvinos. It's the best!