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 yall in amongst it all. They knew about NZ mainly through the Lord of the Rings connection A slight improvement on
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 2nd 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 hadnt 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 quite cool today, only 31 degrees. Whos 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 2nd 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. out of this forest we were beside another lake at a little village which was part of the Trail of Tears.
