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Published: September 5th 2022
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8 miles out of New Albany we were back on the TAT and immediately in another forest. We were on great gravel roads winding through some flat but interesting terrain. Once again occasional patches of soft sand and a gnarly section with ruts and washouts every now and again. All helped wake us up and concentrate.
A lot of these trails were red dirt – could be outback Australia! These trails were in and out of forested areas and occasionally through small groups of houses where normally the road was sealed (albeit potholes joined with bits of seal in some sections) but once again a mixture of housing quality.
We carried on until around 10am where we stopped in a small township for breakfast in a diner attached to a gas station. We had a bit of a laugh with the woman behind the counter as she tried to understand our accents. She claimed to be able to speak with a NZ accent and after a few attempts made a passable effort although pretty sure we heard a y’all in amongst it all. They knew about NZ mainly through the “Lord of the Rings connection” A slight improvement on
the girl who told Keith the other day that NZ was way up North somewhere.
“Slug” burgers and coffee for breakfast. We think the slug burger was a soy & meat pattie with onions and some sauce. Quite tasty. The server had explained what was in them but another lost in translation moment. The chef came out from the kitchen and told us she was from Oregon, had lived most of her early days in California where she became a drug addict. She shifted to Mississippi to clean up and now hadbeen clean for 18 years. This is the 2
nd tale like this we had heard as Keith had got into a conversation in a laundromat last night with a guy who volunteered that he had been in prison for 8 of the last 10 years on various drug offences. He is now clean and works assisting incapacitated elderly people, and was doing all their washing.
After enjoying our slug burgers we pressed on for more forest trails, cropping areas and variable houses.
During this period we crossed from Mississippi to Tennessee. Stopped to update our GPS maps as we hadn’t loaded TN maps at this stage.
After more forests we arrived at the Tennessee River and then did quite a few miles on dusty flat straight gravel between hundreds of acres of crops. Coming out of this area we rode into Savannah TN. This is the town featured in Midnight in the Gardens of Good and Evil by John Berendt, later made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood. An excellent historical non- fiction book that we have read in our book club. Savannah isa very Historical area in the deep south with lots pleasant and unpleasant history from the slave era.
Stopping on the outskirts of Savannah for lunch at a Subway Ian made the comment quite cool today, “only 31 degrees”. Who’s been riding in hot temperatures then? While having our lunch it started to rain so wet gear on which was off again after 40 miles when the sun was out, and it was pleasantly warm. After leaving Savannah we had headed South on the trail, again through forest roads interspersed with some great sealed twisties. Today we have crossed six or so small streams and also a similar number of large puddles which you had to ride through
as they covered the whole trail. Fortunately no incidents. Our route took us in a big loop Southdown to Pickwick lake where we stopped and admired the lake & the boaties enjoying a fine Sunday.
Following the lake the road became rougher with sharp switchbacks and steep up and down hills. One of the switchbacks claimed our 2
nd off of the trip with no damage or injury. No photos taken so rider remains anonymous. This area had some amazing, gated holiday homes perched on the cliffs overlooking the lake. Private boat ramps and being reasonably remote would make this an ideal holiday location. After coming out of this forest we were beside another lake at a little village which was part of the Trail of Tears.
The Cherokee Nation have named this so as in 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. They estimate approximately 3000 Cherokee died during this forced evacuation.
After this
we headed out on more great forest roads on the TAT route until we branched off to try and find accommodation. We had found 2 motels on our GPSs so after 30 miles we found the first one shut for renovation but the second one was only 5 miles further on, pristine, well priced & with a “Free” breakfast.
Every now and again there is a railway crossing in the middle of a bush trail. Amazing amounts of freight get moved by rail in the States as well as the huge road trucks we mentioned in a previous blog. The other day we saw an extremely long freight train going through a small town, that had six diesel locos pulling it. Imagine the carbon footprint from that exercise. Amtrak needs to be ex communicated from the Church of the Holy Climate Alarmists!
400kms today so quite a haul but great riding and mainly pleasant temperatures.
Attached photo of the Good ol' boys TAT Checkpoint I forgot to post the other day.
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