Lynchburg, Tn

I've come in from checking my irrigation wells to get some tea and cool for a spell. So I decided to say a little about our short Lynchburg ride.

I met up with Theresa, Fred and Eva Champion, and Todd and Laurie Champion at the Double Quick in Greenwood at 8:00am Friday June 20th. We fueled our bikes up and headed east on hwy 82 to the Natchez Trace. Taking the Trace you usually see a variety of wild game along the road. As usual we had the buzzards on each side of the road close to Tupelo, I think they roost there. Saw several turkeys, one hen with her young.

Up north of Tupelo we cross the Tenn-Tom Waterway and you can look to your left to see one of the locks on the river. Then a little further over in Alabama we cross the Tenn. River before entering Tennessee and where we turn on hwy 64 east to Fayetteville to check into our motel.

We make to the motel without any trouble, check in and decide to eat the buffet they have there. As always, I eat way too much when there's a buffet and I wasn't alone in that category. We decided to meet up at the pool to relax, drink a cold one, and plan for the next day. It was quiet enjoyable out there, cool and no mosquitos.

Morning comes and we leave out at 9:00 am to make the short 15 mile trek over to Lynchburg. Not many bikes out at this time of morning, There was some partying at the rally last night. We pull into town and park across the street from the Courthouse on the square. Walk down to the park where all the vendors are and I get me a t-shirt. More and more bikes are starting to pull into town. We mill around looking at the many different bikes and people there. All the walking finally wore the effects of the big buffet from last night off and we had worked up an appetite so we went into the Iron Kettle for a light lunch.

After the meal we went to the Jack Daniel's Distillery for the tour, Todd and Laurie had never been. Oh, I haven't mention that this was Laurie's first long road trip. I think she did real well and seemed to have a good time. When we came out from the tour the skies were looking like they could break loose raining at anytime, it had showered a little while we were touring the facilities. I had planned on taking hwy 129 out of Lynchburg to go to Lynnville. They have a lot of old stuff there I was hoping to see. I told Fred we would have to scratch that trip for another ride, I didn't want to ride those crooked roads in the rain.

Instead we went back to the motel, freshened up, and went to the steakhouse. We had a good time there, even if they put us in the bar, which worked out pretty good. Our waitress/ bartender was a good sport to have put up with us. She had a Harley Davidson shirt on and someone ask her if she had Harley Davidson bike. She said she didn't but she liked to ride Harley's Fatboy and I said, and it was just one of those times where you speak before you think of what your saying, well if it's a Fatboy you want to ride then here I am. Well it did seem to be the right thing to say at the time.

After leaving the steakhouse we sat around the pool and talked well past my bedtime. We made our plans for the next day and said goodnight.

Took hwy 64 back west passing under the Trace and going just past Savannah, Tn to hwy 22. We turned south and entered Shiloh National Military Park. We went to the visitor's center to get info and a map to tour the grounds. It is a beautiful park, this being the first time to visit. Fred said when he was in the boy scouts they came up on a school bus and camped out. The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6 & 7, 1862. The casualties for both sides combined was 23,746 men killed, wounded, or missing. It was at this point that the people from both the north and south realized that this was going to be a long and costly war. I would like to go back when I have more time to really see everything.

Leaving Shiloh we entered Corinth, going uptown following Theresa at dinner time. I didn't know where we were but figured we should run into hwy 72 somewhere if we kept going south. Well we stopped at a 4-way stop at Tate street and Eva and Fred spied a small out of the way cafe with a lot of people going in, the church crowd. It was a family run restaurant and boy did they have some good home style food. The patriarch of the family said she got up at 4:00 that morning to bake the pies for the day. It seems to be the norn where ever we go, ride for awhile, stop and eat, then ride some more.

Leaving Corinth with full stomachs we head west on hwy 72 to hwy 7 south to Oxford, hwy 6 to Batesville, I-55 to Grenada, hwy 8 to Holcomb where I parted ways with the group, they taking hwy 7 and I taking hwy 8 on home. I think it was around 5:00 when I parked my bike and was greeted as I open the door by Lodi who seemed to be very happy I had finally come home.

It was a trip you take when you get caught up with everything on the farm, nothing pressing at the time to do, and you can take a few days off to enjoy the other things in life that are out there.

Well, till later