Today was a rainy humid day, with intermittent showers most of the day long.
I needed both a bike ride and a few WalMart items to replenish the RV supplies (AA batteries and a couple small propane bottles) - so after a while I noted the rain was slacking off. I stepped outside several times to judge the clearness of the overhead clouds and skies, and decided to risk it and take a ride. Several times.
Each time I'd change into my puke-yellow biking shirt and get set up to ride, the rain would start again. I'd go back inside, change into a presentable shirt so I could DRIVE (Yuck) into Niota, only to find, once again, the sun was out and brightly shining.
About the third cycle of such nonsense, I finally decided to risk it and ride instead of drive, and I was miraculously able to make the run without getting soaked.
The route into Niota from the Sherwood homestead is only about 3 miles, but there are lots of fairly steep hills 'twixt here and there. Thus it involved a lot of huffing and puffing to accomplish this mighty trek in spite of the shortness of the distance. The altitude here is only around 700-900 feet, so one would think the additional oxygen would make it easy for an old mountain goat. It is always a bit tougher than I think it should be. It has nothing to do with my lack of exercise during this trip, with maybe a few hours of riding during a month of driving, har har.
The big city of Niota Tennessee (pop. 718) for some reason does not have a Walmart, the RV'ers favorite venue. It does, however, have a rather well stocked Dollar General which was my destination for the day.
The roads are paved and not too bad to ride on, until I topped the last small hill approaching the Niota metropolitan city limits. As I smoked down the hill at 30 MPH, I encountered a fair sized pot hole that thankfully wasn't deep enough to destroy my trike, but at speed it was enough to jar everything and make my teeth rattle. No wheels bent or blew out, and as far as I know nothing deployed into the shrubbery next to the road, so all was well.
I arrived downtown to the stares of several folks who may well have never before seen such an odd contraption patrolling their streets. 2 or 3 cars with drivers stopped and watched me as I parked the trike and bumped it up onto the sidewalk near the store so I could cable-lock it to the shopping cart rack. It took me several minutes to get situated, take my helmet off, put on my boonie floppy hat, take a drink of water, and start to enter the store, and only then did several cars finally back out and leave the parking lot.
The store was packed like an old fashioned drug store, with odds and ends clogging every aisle, and I enjoyed my search for my intended and unintended purchases. Unfortunately they did not stock small propane bottles for camp stoves, so I had to ride farther up the busy street to find a gas station that DID sell such things, and the price made me gasp: $10 for ONE tiny propane bottle.
I did indeed miss my normal $3 or so WalMart pricing. But pricey or not, it was a successful shopping expedition, and I returned to the RV safe and sound and tired and sweaty. Humidity is normally high in these parts, and after all the rain it is downright soggy in the air. Thank goodness for a good shower in the RV.
Ride Started: 1:44 PM Ride Ended: 3:37 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0 Ending Voltage: 12.8 Lowest: 12.8
Beginning Blood Glucose: 289 Ending BG Reading: 93
Lowest Temp 71F Highest Temp: 82F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.4
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
3.1 MPH 5.2 MPH 28.5 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
1 hour 30 mins 1 hour 20 minutes
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