Just another day of riding. We are rolling thorough our 4th week of the tour and almost out of Tennessee with a good pace! The target of Little Rock, AR is in sight and if all goes well we should be there by Friday afternoon at the latest.

I personally want to push hard and make it to Little Rock on Thursday. Every extra minute I can spend with my family is precious and worth the soreness in the legs. We did 94 miles yesterday without really trying or feeling much pain. We are getting stronger and choosing flatter roads.

We took Highway 70 most of the day until we broke off towards Medina for lunch after riding 58 miles. Part of the fun of this tour has been stopping in the small towns and meeting their super friendly people working the hotels, gas stations and restaurants. There have been a few odd characters along the way too but we love chatting with everyone.

The Rhodes Family Diner waiter Wes warned us that their pancakes have been known to put truckers to sleep but I went ahead and got a 3 stack with my chicken salad and Dave got his own stack. We ended up laying there for about an hour after eating almost all our food. The “No Carb Left Behind” motto was forgotten for a meal.

Wes shared his story about losing 85 pounds and how he loves to
go hiking with his brother. They have even been up to New York to camp. They once were hiking way up this mountain and it was getting dark. Their phones where dead and the trail makers were disappearing with the sun. With no camping gear they had to keep heading in the direction they thought was the way out. They were so excited to finally find the road and we could all agree that trips like this are dangerous and the unknown can be frightening but finding your way out safely is such a rush and makes everything totally worth it. We have definitely had moments like this but I don’t talk much about it for our mother’s sake.

Wes had been an inspiration to the folks in his town to be more healthy and active. It’s ironic that he is the man serving up pancakes the size of our bicycle wheels. No Joke. They are huge. He hopes to hike a 6 month trek through the Appalachian Trail someday.

We had them sign the New York Red Bulls (big thanks to them for sharing our journey on Instagram yesterday!) soccer ball and hit the road another 30 something miles to Brownsville where we found a cheap hotel with a very weird art installation above it. It was by far the cheapest hotel we’ve stayed at and it’s quality was on par with the Chinese food buffet we had next door for dinner.

Can’t wait to be in Little
Rock where I know my mom will take such good care of us like she always does for everyone. She is the best!