Zinnovent

It’s Saturday. Finally! The weekend. I can sleep in. But I don’t. I read the news and did Wordle etc before I made my oatmeal breakfast. Coffee with Baileys. Nothing much going on today. The pimped-up carts of golfers were pulling up to the forward tees all morning. No golf for me today, though.

I read for most of the day. Got interrupted a few times — Arlene booked one MORE golf game for us before they pack up the motorhome and head off to Phoenix on Friday. So the calendar now has Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday booked for golf.

I had a salad for lunch, then back to my book. I’ve got two big ‘new’ hardcover Trump books that I picked up at a thrift store in Bisbee when Naomi’s brother Wes and I were waiting for the tire shop to repair a flat tire for Wes’s camper. I don’t know if I even expected to read them, but here I am, twirling down into the sewer hole of Trump’s destruction of America. By early afternoon my arm was tired of holding the big tome, so I went online and found a Kindle version. Well, then I had to charge up my Kindle so I could continue on with my reading.

I’d bought a couple of gluten-free frozen pizzas, so for supper I unboxed one of them, added a layer of razor-thin pepperoni slices and another of shredded mozzarella, baked it on the rack in the oven, and washed the finish ‘product’ down with a glass of red wine. Not bad. Not great either.

Got a text from Naomi while I was baking the pizza — she needs a place to get some quiet time in between all her busy-ness with children and grandchildren. Well, there’s always MY house… I texted Alex who dispatched Tim to go over to my place and turn on the water and the heat. Actually, nothing is ever quite as easy as just turning something ‘on’ — but Tim managed to deal with a couple of leaky taps and even went back after his delayed supper to check on the place one more time before the end of the evening. My kids are so good to me!

I watched the local evening news on TV, wasted another hour skimming through all the uninteresting options on Netflix and Amazon Prime and anything else I could find — and finally settled on listening to some music while I quickly wrote this post before returning to my ‘book’. And that’ll be it for today. Looking forward to golfing back at Eagle Falls with Robert and Arlene tomorrow.

Tom, Dycks, and a ‘hairy’ start at Big Rock

Woke up early, just as I always do — I think it was about 5:30 — still dark outside. I lay there quietly, trying not to wake up Naomi. It took me a few minutes before I realized that she was gone. Oh yeah… Naomi flew home yesterday. She’d texted me late last night that she was back in her ‘Victor Street’ house, safe and sound.

I spent far too much time lying in bed, reading on my phone. When I finally got out of bed, it was time for me to ‘hurry up’ and get ready for the day. It was cold this night, and for a while I thought I might actually wear long pants for today’s golf game. But by the time I’d had my oatmeal and banana, the sun had warmed things up considerably, and I left the house at around 9:20 in shorts and a golf shirt and only a light sweater.

The drive to Big Rock Golf Course was about 20 minutes. I’d golfed it with Robert & Arlene twice before, two years ago. I arrived and checked in. Soon the Dycks were there as well. We explored the clubhouse and the attached pub — the place is decorated with autographed guitars and posters and even a couple of ‘stage outfits’ worn by some of the rock stars whose signed guitars hung on the walls and ceiling. The Eagles, B.B. King, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, etc. Fascinating! The guy behind the counter explained that one of the two owners was a big-time collector of the rock and roll instruments and signatures, and that all the items were for sale with the proceeds going to a cancer charity.

We putted a bit on the practice green and then headed off to the first tee. We were about to tee off when the started announced that we would have a fourth join our group. Tom, from Santa Monica, would be riding in the cart with me for the round.

My tee shot bounced through an iron fence and into the garden of one of the homes that lined the left side of the first fairway. Not an auspicious start. Meanwhile, Tom’s tee shot went straight and (very) far right down the middle of the fairway. We pulled up to where Tom said my ball had gone into the year; Tom stretched his arm in through the fence and managed to retrieve my ball. I set it on the fairway and with my next swing of the club, hit the ball across the fairway, into a big pond. I fished out the ball and took another whack at it. Sculled it right. The ball sailed across the pond, landed on the far shore — and then rolled down the hill and back into the pond. After a third swing I was finally on the green, lying seven!

Well, I won’t bore you with a play-by-play of all SIXTY strokes I took on those first nine holes.

The day turned out to be a very pleasant golfing day. Not hot, and not cold. And Tom was a fine golfer and a great cart partner — always positive and encouraging.

Before loading up the clubs and heading for home, Robert and Arlene invited me to join them for supper and a Jets game at the motorhome. I stopped in town to return a pair of shorts that Naomi had picked up for me to try on yesterday. Showered and changed and headed to the Dycks place for a 5 o’clock happy hour. The hockey game turned out about as good (Jets 3, Panthers 0) as the pork chops and Brussel sprouts Robert barbecued for dinner (i.e. superb).

When I got home I plunked myself down on the couch and watched a bit of TV until it was time to stumble off to bed.

And NOW you decided to take up golf?

It’s Naomi’s second last day here. She’s mostly packed and ready to go. Laundry’s done. So what should we do today?

Well, although the forecast was for less than warm and sunny, the day actually turned out quite nice! And although I had TALKED about going out to some ‘cheap’ golf course with Naomi so she could learn how to play the game, so far that hadn’t happened. So I googled ‘driving range’ and saw there was one just down the (bike path) road from our place. I selected three irons from my golf bag, bungeed them to my bike, and we were off. We shared a bucket of 100 balls for $12. And then the golf lesson began!

It turns out that Naomi is a quick learner. She’d already shown that with her guitar lessons. Now she was pitching the ball with enthusiasm. And we both had fun. We might even go back tomorrow and play the little 9-hole par 3 course next to the driving range.

Back at the ranch we had our now-standard lunch: tortillas filled with horse-radish cheese spread, mustard(s), mayo, tomato, ham, lettuce. And a Pilsner Urquell.

In the afternoon Naomi went to the pool across the way while I worked on catching up this ‘blog’. Slow going. By 4:30 it was dark. Naomi got the chicken and veggies into a marinade. We had happy hour and watched a bit of Shark Tank on TV. Then I barbecued the chicken while Naomi cooked the rice-a-roni. Delicious supper.

We had talked about going back to Lappert’s Ice Cream for one last delicious treat. So at around 8pm we hopped into the van and headed out. We parked in front of the Agave Fresh mexican restaurant. Too early for ice cream — why don’t we have a margarita on the patio. Well, the margarita did the trick. We DID take a short walk to the ice cream place but by that time they were closed. Oh well, we weren’t really that ‘hungry’ anymore anyway. Home and to bed.

Cool and wet in Palm Desert

Oh, oh! This is something unusual. A cloudy sky. And some scattered drops of rain! I ate my cereal and yogurt for breakfast. Just before 8am we were off to the university parking lot to get a (free) Covid test for Naomi. Drive-thru, get a ‘self-test’ bag, swab each nostril for 15 seconds, and deposit the kit in a big barrel. And then back home. After Naomi had had her breakfast we went for a LONG walk around the country club. Coolish, and just a smattering of drizzle.

Back at the house I watched some of the golfers and sat at my computer. Soon it was lunch. After lunch we drove to the Westfield Mall theatre for a ‘Tuesday Discount’ movie — “C’mon C’mon”. Not bad. Wasn’t sure if this was a ‘movie’ or a documentary. We checked out Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods in the mall after the movie. Stopped at Trader Joe’s to pick up a few groceries. Then home. Happy hour for me, while Naomi was on the phone with Augusta for an hour or two.

Supper was a jacked up frozen pizza. After supper Naomi and I started filling in this blog — using Naomi’s notes and my budget app. Naomi wrote the first day’s notes, then headed off to the pool for a swim while I continued working on entries.

Memphis and the ride home

October 21, New Orleans to the Motel 6 in Memphis, Tennessee
October 22, Super8, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
October 23, Home!


Beale Street, the famous strip of music venues, clubs, bars & shops known for Memphis blues-music history. We went for dinner at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken nearby.


The next morning we went to the National Civil Rights Museum, including the Lorraine Motel, the place where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968.


A quick stop for a photo outside Elvis Presley’s Graceland before setting off for home.

We stopped at the same Super8 in Cedar Rapids where we’d stopped on our first night of this trip. By the evening of October 23 we were home.

Home again, safe and sound. (at a dinner hosted by Tim and Alex)

The Big Easy

October 18-21, Saint Roch (VRBO house) in New Orleans, LA

We drove down to New Orleans and found our VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) house. We parked the van out in front and unloaded our gear. The bikes stayed in the van. There was a grocery store just across the street. It was a 10-15 minute walk to the French Quarter from our place. Sister Irmy had flown into New Orleans last night and checked into a hotel near the airport. She was exploring the downtown, having breakfast and waiting for us. She showed up before noon. We drove back to her hotel to retrieve her luggage. Our house had a couple of bathrooms and 4 bedrooms, a small kitchen out front, and a backyard which we shared with renters in the adjoining unit.

Beers in our backyard.
Beers in our backyard.

For the rest of the weekend we spent most of our time down in the French Quarter.

We discovered that there was a weekend music festival in one of several parks in the New Orleans downtown area. And it was a FREE festival, with lots of great music and assorted gift shops and big barbecues set up around the perimeter of the park.

Down at the riverfront we could enjoy people watching while listening to buskers play music.



Above: We moved most, if not all, of the perfumey sprays and candles from our house and stored them on the back steps until our departure. There had been an accident atop the Hard Rock Cafe construction site in New Orleans, which attracted some onlookers when workers (unsuccessfully) tried to move the cranes which were hanging precariously above a couple of streets below.


Above: Concerts, sisters, and a busker on the riverfront.

On the front porch of our house in New Orleans
On the front porch of our house in New Orleans

Cycling: Jackson to Natchez, Mississippi

October 15, Extended Stay America in Jackson, MS
October 16, Isabella Bed & Breakfast, in Port Gibson, MS
October 17, the Grand Hotel, in Natchez, MS 

Jackson to Natchez (milepost-1-113)
Jackson to Natchez (milepost 113 to 0)

The next morning the rain was gone and another perfect day of cycling awaited us. We opted to drive down to the south end of Jackson before taking our bikes out of the van and starting our cycle. The morning rush hour traffic had some drivers choosing to take the Natchez Trace road to avoid traffic, but drivers who are in a hurry to get to work and cyclists who are ‘dawdling’ along checking out the scenery don’t mix. As soon as we were at the south end of the city the road was once again ours for the day.

Our stop for the night would be at a B&B in Port Gibson. Along our route we stopped to climb up a small hill to visit an old, but still in use, church and yard near Rocky Springs.

When we got to Port Gibson our hostess at the Isabella Bed & Breakfast greeted us with glasses of refreshing local beer, made with pecans. Delicious.

Next morning was also our last morning of the cycling part of the adventure. Tonight we would arrive at Mile “0”, the beginning (and for us, the end) of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

And that’s it! We’re done. We stopped for a group photo, although there was no one there to take it for us. So we improvised. And then we packed the bikes into the van one last time and drove into the city of Natchez.

Done! 444 miles, from Nashville to Natchez.


We checked into the Grand Hotel in Natchez. The hotel really was “grand” — right on the big wide Mississippi River, with Louisiana on the other side. We showered and changed, then had a celebratory beer. We walked the boardwalk along the river. The sun was about to set, creating a beautiful red sky as a backdrop to the big bridge just south of our hotel. A few blocks down from our hotel we discovered Smoot’s Grocery, a lovely little bar with a couple of guys playing blues and southern rock. Great entertainment. Too bad we couldn’t order a meal there. We found a very busy big restaurant not far from there and had our last dinner as a foursome. Tomorrow we were driving down to New Orleans, a just-under 3 hour trip, where our sister Irmy would be joining us for the weekend.

Sunset on the Mississippi River

Cycling: Tupelo to Jackson, Mississippi

October 13, Surestay Hotel by Best Western in Tupelo, Mississippi
October 14, Oak Tree Inn in Eupora, Mississippi
October 15, Extended Stay America in Jackson, Mississippi

Just south of Tupelo to Jackson, Mississippi (milepost-230-341)
Just south of Tupelo to Jackson, Mississippi (milepost-230-341)

We stayed at the Oak Tree Inn in Eupora. We had supper at a small (but good) Mexican diner, Los Encinos, and did a few loads of laundry at the nearby laundromat. The next morning it was raining. The forecast was for steady rain all day. We decided NOT to get our freshly cleaned cycling gear all wet and dirty. Instead, we “cheated” and took a relaxing slow drive down to Jackson, Mississippi. A great stop just north of Jackson was the Cypress Swamp, with a short boardwalk that looped through and around it.

Our stop in Jackson was at the Extended Stay Hotel (not our best stop!). After unpacking our stuff we headed down to Hal & Mel’s restaurant where we enjoyed a pretty good dinner and some excellent live music.

Cycling: Alabama to Tupelo, Mississippi

October 12, the Red Roof Inn in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
October 13, Surestay Hotel by Best Western in Tupelo, Mississippi

Tennessee State Line to Tupelo, Mississippi map
Tennessee State Line to Tupelo, Mississippi (milepost-230-341)

Three miles south of the Tennessee-Alabama line, at milepost 338 on the Natchez Trace, is the Wichahpi Commemorative Stone Wall. It was constructed single-handedly by a man named Tom Hendrix. His great great grandmother was a 14-year old Euchee Indian girl who was forcibly moved along with thousands of others to an Oklahoma reservation during the early 1800s. She ran away from the reservation and traveled alone all the way back to her homeland in north Alabama. The stone wall is Hendrix’s tribute to her and to all Native American women. When we stopped here Mr Hendrix’s son showed us around and told us the story of the wall. It contains 8.5 million pounds of rocks, all individually placed by Tom, and if straight it would stretch 1.25 miles.

After a short visit to the wall we continued on our way. About 10 miles down the road we came to the Tennessee River. Before crossing the big bridge we decided to stop for lunch.

We crossed the big bridge and cycled about 20 more miles until we arrived at the Alabama-Mississippi state border. Our cycle through three states included only about 30 miles of Alabama!

Just barely across the border into Mississippi we stopped at Bear Creek Mound, near milepost 309 on the Natchez Trace Parkway. The mound marks the spot where a village site was occupied as early as 8,000 B.C. About a thousand years ago migratory people of this area practiced limited agriculture. The nearby fields and streams offered an abundance of nuts, fruits, game and fish. These people shaped this mound and built a crude temple on its summit to house their sacred images. Nearby was what appeared to be a ‘cave’ — time for a photo before continuing on.

 

We arrived in Tupelo and checked into the Surestay Hotel at the north end of the city. We had just enough time to park our bicycles and take a short drive to the birthplace home of Elvis Presley, now a museum.

 

Cycling: Nashville to the Alabama border

October 10, Fall Hollow Campground (garden shed!) in Fall Hollow, TN
October 11, the Collinwood 355 Motel in Collinwood, TN
October 12, the Red Roof Inn in Muscle Shoals, AL

Nashville to Alabama Map
Nashville to Alabama route

After several days and evenings enjoying the bars and bands in Nashville, on Thursday morning it was time to begin the bike ride. We drove the van down to the official start (or end, if you’re starting in Natchez) of the parkway. Mile 444 was near the “Loveless Motel”. We parked the van and went in for breakfast. A busy place! Then we took 3 of the bikes out of the van and ‘assembled’ them. We stopped for a photo beneath the motel sign and we were off.

Here we are at the Northern Terminus of the 444-mile parkway. All set and ready to go!

Walter would take the first shift driving the ‘sag wagon’. We arranged that one of us would drive the van for half the day, usually about 25 miles. That would be our lunch stop, and then another person would drive the second half of the day.

The weather was great! While it had been 34 degrees or even hotter the previous week, our cycling days were about 23 degrees. Great for cycling. And the roads were in excellent condition. Winds were light, and on a few days there was a gentle breeze at our back, helping us along.

We encountered several armadillos and turtles beside the road.

Along the road there were signs indicating points of interest along the way. We stopped to check out this small creek.

I had hoped that we might see the fall colours in October, but it appeared that this year fall would come in November. Nevertheless, the scenery along our route was great. There were regular roadside pull-outs, some with picnic tables, some with washrooms. And there were attractions along the way, usually not too off the main route.

At the end of our first day of cycling we arrived at the Fall Hollow Campground. This was the only lodging we had booked ahead of time for the entire cycling trip. It turned out to be quite a disappointment — our “bed and breakfast” turned out to be more like a large wooden ‘garden shed’. The bathrooms were in a nearby building, with codes that got us in, but no towels or shampoo or soap. And the tiny building had a small fridge, a microwave, a bunk bed and a “loft” bed squeezed in just above the entrance door.


The next day we continued down the road to the Alabama border. By now we had a bit of a routine: We would cycle for 4 or 5 miles and if there was a bridge with the standard concrete ‘rail’ we might stop, just to give our butts a rest and have a drink of water (or gatorade). After 25 miles or so it was time for lunch. On this day Angie took her turn driving the van after lunch. It fell to her to find us a place to stay for night, which turned out to be the exact opposite experience from what we’d had the night before. The 355 Motel in Collinwood was large and well appointed. It was more like an apartment on the second floor above a business, with a kitchen, a couple of bathrooms, and a large living and dining room. We were very happy, especially when moments after we had arrived and carried our bikes up to the big covered veranda in front of the apartment it started pouring rain. Serendipity!

We lucked into a great overnight stay in Collinwood, Tennessee — at the 355 Motel.


The next morning, after a hearty homemade breakfast and with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, we set off. It was only a few miles until we crossed the state line from Tennessee into Alabama. The Natchez Trace cuts through the northwest corner of Alabama so it didn’t take us long to ‘cross’ Alabama into Mississippi.

And that’s it for Tennessee! We crossed into Alabama.

Because there were no lodging options near our stopping point for the day (at Tishomingo State Park in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, just across the Alabama-Mississippi state line), we loaded up our bikes and drove the van back east into Alabama, to the city of Muscle Shoals where we checked in at the Red Roof Inn. We hoped we might tour one or both of the famous Muscle Shoals recording studios the next morning, but both were closed and so we had to settle for photos before heading back to the State Park and continuing our cycling journey.