After nearly a week the next update. Regarding (free) internet access, the USA is way more advanced than many other countries. But not always.
08.-10.08.
I spent another night in Chattanooga. It is a nice place. I drive a little bit around the area and visited the “Ruby Falls”. Ruby Falls is a 45 meter high waterfall in a cave about 350 meters underground. Worth seeing? Yes … but also a pretty expensive rip-off for what is offered.
The landscape changes, the mountains disappear, the land widens. On the way to Nashville there are several heavy rain showers. Even from a distance you can see how the water masses pour from the high dark clouds. The showers are usually very strong, accompanied by violent thunderstorms and lightning.
Just a few miles before Nashville I stopped at Johnny Cash and June Carter’s grave. Johnny Cash .. the only and only “Man in Black”.
Nashville, the city of music. What should I say? In the tourist center, one bar and pub is next to the other. In between cowboy boots shops and all sorts of other shops. In every bar / pub a band or single musician is playing. The pubs open before noon. A band plays two to three hours before the next one starts. Based on the number of pubs, there must be over hundred bands each day. Sometimes, it’s really good music .. Rock, country, folk. I can’t remember how many pubs I visited. The people here are friendly and open, it’s easy to get into contact with somebody.
Saturday I wanted to spend time sightseeing. Since days it is extremely warm and humid in the area. The humidity is between 80 and 90%. It is not necessary to do much activity to start sweating.
Saturday night Ryan, another guest in the hostel, asked me if he could join me. We visited the touristic center for a few beers, before we moved on to the entertainment area, where the local people go out. It was late again, when I got home.
Ryan has an interesting life. He works independently in the IT security field and has no fixed place where he stays. Some of his stuff is stowed in a storage room, the rest is in his car. He rents an apartment, where he gets work. If he feels like moving on, he does so.
11.-14.08.
Not much is going on these days … just, on the road. My next destination is Austin, Texas, about 1,500 km from Nashville. I drive through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, moving on highways and parkways. I sleep in motels on the outskirts of cities. At least once a day there are heavy thunderstorms crossing by. I’ve watched that on the weather channel. For a couple of days, and for a few more days, a vast amount of moisture is brought up from Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. In the northwest they fight against fires and here the land is drowning. But in Austin, I should be out of this constant rain and storms.
These days I perceive the landscape and people only passing by.
I’m close to Alexandria, Louisiana, where I will stay for a night. It’s early afternoon and I decide to take a trip through a national park. It is a gravel road. Some parts are sandy and soaked from the rain. The front wheel slipped away on a sandy area and I’m on the ground. My left foot is trapped under the bike. Damn, what now? The ground is soft, I just have to put some sand aside. Pulling up the fully loaded bike is not that easy.
Even if it was just a slight fall, it left bruises on the material. The screw that holds the left mirror broke. And the left pannier was a bit dented. Nothing bad. I should get a new screw in Austin.
It was just yesterday when I thought: Why did I actually buy aluminum panniers? My plastic boxes would have done it. Today I received the lesson. When plastic breaks, it’s broken. Aluminum does not break that easy and can mostly be brought back to its original shape again.
I wish I could tell you more funny and exciting stories. But at the moment .. No .. but I can invent some, if you want. 🙂
Today I was really frightened to get struck by lightning, when I walked back from the supermarket to the motel. This is not invented.
Thank you for reading, Jürgen.