From the Beating Heart of the Southland

I am Sewanee, TN, home of the University of the South, actually staying on the campus. We're camping next to a manmade lake tonight. (In the South, there are Sonics and Piggy Wigglies. Sonic is good especially for ice cream blasts, and we saw an employee on roller blades in Dunlap. I think originally it was a roller skating drive in eatery. Piggy Wigglies...well I've only passed them and not gone in for groceries, but a name like that is so comical.) I went swimming in the lake after my ride, which completely hit the spot, and it's a nice place to camp with a pavilion. My appetite has definitely revved up again now that we've been riding. And something exciting!! I am now in the Central Time Zone!!! We're also going to bed earlier, at 9:30, and getting up at 5. I hate getting up early. But getting here before being boiled in my own skin by the sun is Worth It!

The best part of the last two days has been my riding group, the "Chainrollers" (pronounced "Chainrolla's"). We do a pace line sometimes, so we can all draft off of each other, switching who is in front every half mile. It's like geese! We also wait for each other if we get flat tires or fall behind. The core four of this group are me, Melanie, Lee Anne, and Ivey, though sometimes others too. And the initiation is that you have to tell a story involving feces/defecation. And yesterday I blew my first snot rocket! I know. My hygiene goes more and more downhill everyday I lack a steady base to call home. And every day I am covered in sweat, sunscreen, chain grease, and assorted grime. This morning I noticed that because we were doing a big climb in the morning, instead of in the heat of the afternoon, I was only subtly glistening with sweat, instead of dripping it. That was nice. Getting up at 5 is worth it in this hot climate. And Friday we have a day off in Memphis!! Only 270 miles from here (ha!) And I am getting a MASSAGE. I've been planning this since before I left. I'm getting an arnica sore muscle massage, and man I can sure use it. The masseuse will probably be full of pity for my knotted muscles. That first day on the bike after our break in Maryville was tough! (only because I got so out of shape already) But it was also SHORT, only about 32 miles thankfully, and only rolling hills. I also got my first flat tire, which I fixed with a Cliff Bar wrapper, a perfectly acceptable practice, and then we realized that the National Guard Armory where we were staying was only about 500 feet farther up the hill!! Oops. I could have just walked, or probably rode, rather than make 5 people wait for me to change the tire. I also got another flat yesterday! But I think it was in the same spot because the Cliff Bar wrapper got moved when I was deflating and inflating yesterday afternoon. This time I used a Nutrigrain bar wrapper, and have experienced no further problems, after patching both punctured tubes.

Ok and here's a revelation! Bike chains and sprockets and cassettes, all those moving parts - are supposed to be SILVER, not black! When they are black they are dirty, and you need to clean them with rags, soapy water, and degreaser, and then relube them. I was astounded. And also to learn that our little patch kits are only to patch the tube inside the tire, and when your tire is punctured a little bit, you just ride on a cliff bar wrapper to plug the hole until something worse happens! So I'm pretty sure that before San Diego, I will have to invest in a new pair of tires, but I will keep going on these for now. I also added up the total I spend on equipment, and it falls in the neighborhood of $750+. That is a lot of $. New tires will bring it up to over $800 probably, and then I just bought my plane tickets home (with a detour to Portland), so there goes a good chunk of $! I am praying that I will be gainfully employed in the fall so that I can pay back my loan before the grace period is up, and boost up my savings to buy a car. Anyway, biking.

Something else I want to write about is the smells of biking across the country. Every sense is so much more visceral when you are on a bike - feeling the wind, feeling the burn in your thighs, and then the scents - the heady smell of honeysuckle is one we smell often, but far more often is the putrid stench of roadkill. I'm pretty sure that I've seen more dead animals than live ones, even including all of the herds of cattle we've passed now. That's bad! How do I feel about the infrastructure of America? Without it, I couldn't do what I'm doing either, but any thought I ever glancingly had of animals having any kind of peaceful coexistence with humans is completely shattered. Papa said we will see a lot of dead armadillos in Oklahoma. Is a bad I am excited for this?? Just to see armadillos I mean.

I think maybe this is just about enough for today. We have had some interesting host sites in Tennessee. Unlike in North Carolina, where we stayed almost exclusively in churches, in Tennessee, we have stayed at a camp (though a churchy camp), a National Guard Armory, a rescue squad, and a college lakeside campsite. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I'm riding sweep to Pulaski, TN, so it will be a loooong day in the sun, but lots of fun to be able to relax, go slow, and take lots of pictures. And though I do not dare to predict anything involving hills (it seems that every time I say, I think we're at the top! I am completely wrong), I know that there are no major mountain ranges left. And perhaps no more ridges either? We had one major climb yesterday, and one today, but neither have been anything compared to what we did in the real mountains and I love it that I feel so strong! And rolling hills can be awesome with the Chainrolla's momentum.

Over and out from the University that pretends to be THE University (of VA),
Emily