September 27, 2012

Tiptonville to Covington, TN.

Distance 65 miles; 32 miles on my bike and 33 miles I hitched a ride, ride averaged 7.2 mph, ride time 4:26, actual time on road 6 hours and 5 minutes.  Expenses $ 65.98

Have you donated to National Multiple Sclerosis Society yet? If not here is the direct link to my profile page where you can make a donation and end this world of MS:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=1782261&pg=personal&fr_id=17893&s_tafId=230714
your donation will make a difference, please help. Thank you. The Old Guy

Gail arrived to pick me up with her four adorable grandbabies in the car, the oldest Markus asked many questions all the way to town where we dropped him and number 2 brother off at school.  Markus impressed me with the good questions he asked.  I wouldn’t be surprised one day Markus will be creating his own bicycle adventure that would be a good thing.

I had barely walked into the church office when Evan the newspaper editor arrived.  After introducing ourselves I mentioned that Gail had told me he had roots in Nevada, Missouri.  Sure enough his dad was at one time the Editor of the Nevada Daily Mail and at the same time the youngest ever newspaper Editor, at the time in Missouri.  Evan then asked me if I knew of an automobile dealership in Nevada that one of his uncles, a Fargo Richardson had owned.  Unbelievable is the world small or not?  I told Evan I had purchased Richardson Motor Company from Fargo back in 1979.  Did real well the first couple years than the auto industry depression of the early 80s hit and finally went broke the end of 1983 trying to service a loan in excess of 20% for over two years.  I did close the dealership while I had enough money to pay my trade accounts.  Also found most of the employee’s jobs and even helped Chrysler Corporation bring a new dealer to Nevada.  All that was left was a debt with the Small Business Administration (SBA) which I settled up with over the following 9 years.  If I had it all to do over I would have declared bankruptcy on the SBA loan but then maybe not.

The rain continued, sometimes coming down in a heavy downpour, until 11:00 AM  This is not a good day to get a late start as my plan is to ride to Covington about 65 miles away.  Still the terrain is relatively flat and my mileage distance is doable so I mounted Spirit and we were once again on our way.  Whoa!  Once again the wind is ferocious slowing my progress to a snail’s pace.  It took me an hour and a half to make the 10 miles to Ridgley, my knees screaming from the effort, sweat pouring from my body in buckets and my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest I rolled into a convenience store where there were two trucks filling up their gas tanks.  I stopped next to the first driver and asked if he might be heading to Dyersburg figuring an 18 mile break would help my body recover.  The first driver was heading north but the driver of the other truck, Andrew, said he was going that way and he’d be glad to give me a ride.  I thanked him over and over for bailing me out of my misery.  Once inside Andrew’s truck I realized he had a passenger and this was a compact pick-up but thankfully both Andrew and his side kick are of small stature and all three of us manage to fit in.  I would have been willing to sit in the back of the truck to escape the torturous wind.   Andrew and I did most of the talking and loved listening to his southern accent and life in the south in general.  The 18 miles went by quick and I was once again on Spirit heading south into the wind and throw in a few hills.  I rode another 22 miles before once again needing a break.  While having a snack at yet another convenience store, a guy drove up in a pick-up truck and I introduced myself and asked if he was heading south to at least Ripley.  Jeff’s answer was heaven sent to my ears as he was going to Covington and he’d be glad to give me a ride.  In Jeff’s pick-up we covered the 15 miles to Covington in less than 20 minutes, it would have taken me another two hours of hard riding into the wind to cover the distance.  If I keep hitching a ride I’m going to have to change my “Old Guy on a Bicycle” to “Old Guy Hitchin’ a Ride”.

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