To begin our ninth consecutive day of riding, we pedaled out of our Covington motel to the SSW. Initially we were in beautiful rolling farmland with some very nice homes, probably not farm houses.
It was an exceptionally beautiful day with with a crystal clear "Mary" sky and the air was crisp with a bit of a bite with our short sleeves.
After crossing into Kentucky we began to see many, many road-killed possum; sometimes it seemed we saw more dead possum than cars. We were not seeing as many here in TN but still plenty. Possums should NOT be on the endangered species list.
As we approached Big Muddy the height and dcnsity of the trees and especially of the HILLS increased.
At this spot we had to ride fast to avoid capture by the fast growing kudzu! It was interesting to see an article in a local newspaper promoting the use of goats rather than chemicals to control kudzu; also, a donkey is good protection against the coyotes that like to eat kudzu eating goats.
We biked over miles of great roads through deep forest where the road was often like a tunnel through the trees. We were very near the river but unable to view it for the thick forest. Shown here is one of many MRT (Mississippi River Trail) signs that helped us find our way through th maze of forest roads. This one was in a more open and flat area and more suitable for photographing in motion; on the hills I was too busy huffing and puffing on the way up or hanging on for the flight down the hill for photos.
Soon we arrived at the spot north of Memphis proper where we had agreed to meet to begin our ride in the van to the south of the city. Since it was lunch time and we were in need of fuel after all the hills, we decided to stop on Beale Street in downtown Memphis. This was a good experience; what a unique place it is. Here we are having lunch at Alfred's with Beale Street in the background. We enjoyed our food but we had to wait longer than desired and this required a refeeding of the parking meter.
We were brazen or foolish enough to explore Beale Street in our biking clothes, looking about as out of place as possible and having lots of fun doing so.
Mounted in the sidewalk are golden notes engaved with names of famous blues musicians.
Following our enjoyable visit to Memphis we rode in the van to a launching spot on US-61. We flew down the road for over nine miles, but the heavy and high speed traffic was intimidating and too close for comfort on the narrow shoulder. It wasn't long before we had completed our 80 mile ride for the day near the town of Prichard in the midst of huge flat farm field with lots of cotton. There we piled into the van for our trip to Tunica, MS. Once the poorest county in the state the construction of huge gambling casinos on the river has changed the picture considerably. We elected not to eat dinner in the smokey casino and drove to the quaint Blue and White Restaurant in the old part of the town of Tunica. It was another day of heavy blessing.
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