Rushing Creek to Centerville

Click the map for route details

To continue on the Trace Road through LBL from Rushing Creek campground, the road turns back into Kentucky for about a mile, then re-enters Tennessee and heads south towards Dover. Since I did not get a picture of my entrance into Kentucky yesterday, here is one of me leaving.

Leaving Kentucky

A glimpse into the past of the Land Between the Lakes
As I mentioned already, LBL has a rich history. One last remnant of this history is the Great Western Furnace, all that remains of the former town of Model. As a plaque will tell you, for more than a century, Stewart County, Tennessee, was an active industrial iron produced in an agricultural south. The furnace only operated for 34 weeks in 1855-56, during which time it produced 1350 tons of iron. It was sold off after its owners went bankrupt and a slave revolt drove the final nail into their operation. They put up an ad in the Clarksville Jeffersonian newspaper that read:

"...furnace, 8 wood slides, 4 yokes of oxen, 12 wagons and gear, 1 set of carpenter tools, 1 set of blacksmiths tools, 2 extra steam engines, 1 grist mill, 8 horse carts and harnesses, and 80 likely and valuable Negro men, experienced furnace hands."

Some industrialization. All that is left today is the main furnace.

The Great Western Furnace in LBL

Tennessee
Tennessee, at first blush, appears much like Kentucky, which in turn was much like Missouri.

Riding through Tennessee

But after a while, differences begin to emerge. It feels cleaner and not as poor as Kentucky. Yes, there are still plenty of trailer homes, many of which appear as though they have been abandoned years ago. Usually, they will have several cars outside, about half of which are more expensive than the house, the other half completely worthless and non-operational. But there are also many more houses that are in good shape, many built solidly of stone, which I personally like. One thing that I can say for all three states, though, is that the roads are generally in very good shape, better than in Minnesota, to be sure. (I can hear it now: "But roads are much harder to maintain in Minnesota! Hot, cold, harsh weather, blah, blah, blah..." Just fix the roads.)

The Adventure Cycling maps had advertised the Tennessee terrain as "exhausting rollers," but had never even mentioned the elevation changes in the Ozarks, so I was understandably nervous about today. Turns out that is was not so bad at all. Sure, there were rollers and they were kind of exhausting for the first sixty miles or so, but it was nothing like the Ozarks. Not even close. And as the day went by and the route departed from the Tennessee River, the rollers became more and more benign.

Tennessee opens up and flattens out

So today I am in Centerville, Tennessee. It is close to the Natchez Trace Parkway, along which I will be riding for the next four days or so; more on the Trace and why I am riding it later. Centerville also sports the only accommodations in the area, and since thunderstorms had been around me for most of the day and are expected to move through the area tonight, I thought it wise to spend the night in a motel again.

A sign of things to come

Centerville is a small town of about 4,000 residents and I have not much to report from here. The stores close at 8pm, the fast food places at 9pm, and the sidewalks are rolled up around 10pm. Then everybody goes to sleep.

America's favorite pastime
If you are still wondering what America's favorite pastime is (smashing mailboxes with baseball bats being the second-favorite), then here it is: shooting road signs, of course.

America's favorite pastime: Tennessee prefers shotguns

This is an activity popular in all states I have visited, which is most, but especially here. As you can see from the picture above, shotguns are more popular here than elsewhere I have seen. As a result, signs get beaten up so badly that some of them are almost illegible. The picture above is not of the worst sign I could find, just one that was easy to photograph, there are plenty like this, and many worse. But it is not all shotguns, rifles are also used. In fact, I have seen some signs that had holes in them, within city limits no less. What kind of a caliber rifle do you need to shoot through a road sign, which I suspect is 1/8 inch mild steel. And would it be a good idea to use such a rifle within city limits? Peter?

Road Kill Tally
I continue to be amazed by the lack of road kill on these southern roads. It should be said that I spot many smudges that might have been road kill, but could also be spilled soda. In any case, it would be impossible to identify the animal. I can also often smell the kill and am able to distinguish, say, deer from raccoon by smell alone, but if I do not see it, it does not count. Those are the rules. So I suspect that there is something funny going on here, probably much more active scavengers, but I am not sure.

Another guy you do not want to run over

1. Raccoon: 84
2. Opossum: 48
3. Frog: 31
4. Skunk: 26
5. Snake: 20
6. Deer: 18
7. Cat: 17
8. Squirrel: 16
9. Groundhog: 13
10. Turtle: 13
11. Bunnywabbit: 10
12. Mouse: 7
13. Armadillo: 4
14. Fox: 3
15. Lizard: 3
16. Dog: 3
17. Mole: 2
18. Porcupine: 1
19. Chipmunk: 1

• Bird: 113

P.S.: I just realized that I had been misspelling raccoons all this time, depriving them of their second 'c.' I've just been copying and pasting the list so that I did not notice, but my apologies to all raccoons out there. That should not have happened.