The 2007 POP Bicycle Tour: FINITO! BIKING FOR A CLEAN, GREEN TENNESSEE In October 2007, POP coordinator Marge Davis rode her bicycle a total of 855 miles around Tennessee in an effort to raise visibility for the bottle bill and explain its many benefits and innovations to citizens, officials and media along the way. The effort resulted in 4 television segments, 5 radio interviews, at least 2 dozen newspaper stories (some of them front page), 1 glowing editorial, 4 presentations and photographs of more than 150 people from all walks of life--young, old, rich, poor, black, white, urban, rural, professional, working class--who support a return to returnables. These photos (some of which are included in the trip log below) will be mounted on panels to be carried before legislators when the bill comes up for hearings in 2008. We'd like to add yours! PLEASE SEND US YOUR "ORDINARY TENNESSEANS" PHOTOS! Take pictures of yourself, your neighbors, your students, your Little-League team, your businesses associates, your Rotary Club colleagues, your Sunday School Class--every Tennessee resident you know (voting age or not) who supports a RETURN TO RETURNABLES. Please e-mail digital files to margedavis@comcast.net or mail printed copies to Marge Davis, Pride of Place, 45 Burris Court, Mt. Juliet, TN 37122. MARGE'S RUNNING TRIP LOG DAY 26: The Last Day: Wednesday, October 31, 2007: Wrap-up in Bristol (7 miles).
At 9:30 I headed off for downtown Bristol. It was brilliantly sunny, but still so chilly that I wore every layer of clothing in my duffel bag, including a size XL Pearl Izumi shirt that was, of course, absurdly tight. I was just crossing State Street at 10 am when Joanna Simmons phoned to remind me to call the Marc Bernier show, which I had completely forgotten about. Vinnie was right: Marc was a delightful, enthusiastic interviewer, very supportive of the bill, and he let me chatter on about it for a full ten minutes. My next stop was the Bristol Herald-Courier offices on Bob Morrison Boulevard. The exterior of this modern brick building looks more like a museum, with extensive, gorgeous landscaping interspersed with delightful bronze sculptures of turn-of-the-century newsboys--including one (my favorite, of course) of a fellow delivering papers from his bicycle. Inside, I bought a copy of the day's edition, which had a nice write-up by Mac McLean on page 1 of the Region section, along with two photos. Mac had taken the initiative to contact Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute in Glastonbury, Conn. I wish every journalist who writes about this bill would interview people in other parts of the country--in particular, people who live and work in states that already have container deposits. Most of them will have no stake in Tennessee's campaign, yet I'm confident that they will overwhelmingly confirm everything we've been saying. That's why, when I met for the next hour with publisher Carl Esposito, managing editor J. Todd Foster and opinion editor Andrea Hopkins, I relied mainly on the "Bottle Bills Mean Business" DVD. This is one of the two DVDs that we've compiled from various video clips shot in Maine over the last two years--totally unscripted interviews with citizens, redemption center owners, recyclers, administrators, store owners, legislators and even bottlers. Nothing I can say about the merits of a container deposit is as convincing as this sort of first-person testimony, and I think it made an impression on the editors. When I got out of the meeting, Bob Mueller was waiting for me with his folding bicycle, and together we rode the short distance to KP Duty cafe, on the Tennessee side of State Street, in the heart of the wonderful and historic Bristol downtown. Margaret Feireabend was among the folks who joined us, along with Bob's wife Ellen Mueller; Sue King-Marschalk, president of Steele Creek Nature Center and Park (the third largest municipal park in the state); Jim Elliott, a Bristol attorney and avid cyclist; Fred Testa, another member of the Bristol City Council; and Bristol businessman Edd Hill, one of the early supporters of a Tennessee bottle bill.
After getting Bob and Ellen to take my my picture under the famous BRISTOL VA-BRISTOL TN arch (see top of page), I walked over to Java J's, a cool coffee shop with free wifi, located a few steps from KP Duty's but on the Virginia side of State Street. I ordered a cup of Cowboy blend coffee, a slice of Godiva chocolate cheesecake, opened my Apple iBook and sat down in unspeakable contentment to check e-mail, read the newspaper and await my ride back to Nashville with Richard Martin and David McKinney, who had spent the day mountain-biking the Virginia Creeper Trail near Abingdon. It was past midnight when Paul met us at the interstate exit, and by1 am I was reunited with the Twinkster. Mission--for now, anyway--accomplished. DAY 25: Tuesday, October 30, 2007: Johnson City to Bristol: 17 miles. Owing to a flat tire--Joanna's, not mine--and numerous incoming phone calls--all mine--we stayed together only as far as Winged Deer Park on Boone Lake. However, those few miles made for a pleasant send-off on what was the final leg of my tour.
As I rode these last miles up 11E, the weather and scenery couldn't have been more perfect: deep blue skies, temps in the 70s, no wind to speak of, no fugitive farm animals, cloudless views of the Smokies and fall colors that were surprisingly pretty, considering the drought. I was met halfway to Bristol by a reporter (Mac McLean) and photographer (Earl Neikirk) from the Bristol Herald-Courier; not long after that I arrived at the home of my hosts for the evening, Margaret and Robin Feierabend. I had never known of them until now, but they are friends of Bob Mueller, a Bristol physician and bottle-bill supporter, and apparently they routinely volunteer to host wayfarers like me. Margaret is a member of the Bristol City Council, with a special interest in issues of children and youth. Robin is on the faculty of ETSU's Family Practice Residency Program in Bristol and still sees patients a few days a week. They have a terrific, rambling older house on the south side of Bristol, full of interesting angles, books I'd like to read, and posters celebrating Bristol's cultural and music heritage (did you know that Bristol--not Nashville--is the birthplace of country music?) Margaret and Robin had to attend a reception, but I got to stay home and hang out with Ginger and Daisy (the dogs), plus three cats whose names I didn't get. I'm quite homesick for Twinkle. DAY 24: Monday, October 29, 2007: Greeneville to Johnson City: 30 miles. Weird highlight of the day: As I was coming up a hill on Highway 11E at Rheatown, I encountered a horse, of all things, in the middle of the road. Obviously he'd gotten out of an adjacent pasture, which was next to a large, noisy construction site. (I suspect that all the truck-and-backhoe traffic had knocked down a section of fence, but in fairness, it wouldn't have taken much knocking, as the fence was little more than two strands of barbed wire between cockeyed posts.) Though he (she?) was clearly nervous, the horse came right up to me and seemed eager to be taken care of. He was not wearing a halter, but he let me sort of guide him with my hands over to a gate in the fence, which was locked by a flimsy chain and latch. I undid the latch and worked the gate open, and the moment he was through, Old Paint lifted his head and tail and lit off down the the hill toward his buddies. Over at the construction site, I couldn't find any supervisors to warn, so I called the Greene County sheriff's office, who said they would "send someone out." Finally a construction vehicle drove up, and the fellows inside said that that farmer's animals were constantly getting out of their enclosures. In fact, one horse had already been struck and killed. Ouch. Unable to think of anything more I could do, I turned the subject, naturally, to the bottle bill. They both like the idea, and Vic thinks he or his mother, who owns a cafe/market in Rheatown, might want to open a redemption center:
By the time I reached Johnson City I was famished (having had nothing since the oatmeal breakfast), so I splurged on a salmon-and-grilled-shrimp dinner at Red Lobster--thence to the Days Inn on the north side of town. DAY 23: Sunday, October 28, 2007: Morristown to Greeneville: 31 miles. I didn't get back on the road until almost 1 pm, so I didn't have much time for chatting on the road to Greeneville. Not that there was much opportunity. Other than a lunch stop at Sandy's Cafe in Bulls Gap, I encounted very few live humans along Highway 11E. Plenty of cars, yes; but almost no business owners or customers (this being Sunday); nobody in their front yards; and in fact, almost no front yards, period. (Like most of my route, 11E is largely commercial or agricultural.) At Sandy's, the only other party eating lunch at this late hour was a large family on its way home from church--I think it may have been the pastor himself--and it would have been rude to interrupt them; so the only person I managed to engage on the issue of a bottle bill was the cafe owner. He was interested in having more accessible recycling, and he agrees that we need to do more about litter. However, when I asked him to call his legislators, he said he was disgusted with the whole lot of them, since they just voted to ban smoking in restaurants. I don't think he was likely to help push for more government regulation, so I left Bulls Gap without any new photos to add to the gallery. The home of Mark and Martie Benko was a perfect stopping place, and not just because it's on the east side of Greeneville, just seconds off Highway 11E. It was perfect because it was SO relaxing and warm. Mark and Martie met me in the driveway, and we entered through the garage into an enormous, wood-panelled, thickly carpeted rec room (at least that's what we used to call such rooms), with a huge, lovely bar in one corner, reclining sofas and entertainment area in another, and everywhere the mementos of Mark's lifelong passion for the outdoors in general and duck-hunting in particular. The walls, shelves and bookcases are covered with gorgeously framed wildlife prints, mounted waterfowl, photos of Mark with various hunting dogs and a bevy of plaques and awards for service in the Tennessee Conservation League, now the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. This is how I know Mark and Martie: through TCL/TWF. When I wrote TCL's 50th-anniversary history in the mid-1990s, Mark was one of the longtime board members who served as a resource and interviewee. Mark has also been a good advocate for our bottle bill and would like to see Tennessee's sportsmen get behind this one. (TCL tried to pass its own version in the 1970s.)
After a fabulous dinner of pot roast, vegetables, mashed potatoes, cheesy biscuits and cherry cobbler with ice cream, we all sprawled on the reclining sofas in the downstairs den and ended the night watching a Robin Williams movie about a family who takes an RV vacation. It was goofy and suspiciously derivative of Chevy Chase's summer-vacation movies, but I laughed till I cried. DAY 22: Saturday, October 27, 2007: Knoxville to Morristown: 35 miles. I have to say that, win or lose this legislative campaign, I wouldn't have missed for anything the chance this journey has given me to spend time with people like the Schmierbachs--and their friends (that's their neighbor Janet, who brought over the morning's News Sentinel)--and all the others I've met along the way: folks like longtime Knoxville supporter Tom Wachster, who drove up and down Highway 11E looking for me; new supporter Joyce Sayers (and her Lab/Great Dane mix Lucy) of Knoxville; and Willis Williams, who was recycling newspapers at a church in New Market. My photo files are full of many more, just like them.
I arrived at Morristown around 4 pm to see lots of vintage (1940s and 50s, I think) automobiles on the streets, then to find that most of the hotels were full or nearly so. Obviously there was a connection somewhere. I considered myself lucky to find a first-floor room in the Days Inn on the east side of town. (Second-floor rooms are okay, but they mean dragging the DoggyRide up the stairs.) DAY 21: Friday, October 26, 2007: Loudon to Knoxville: 32 miles.
As I passed through Farragut I stopped in at West Bicycles to thank Kelly Hamm for his service the evening before and take his picture. When I returned to my bicycle, I found a fellow waiting: Bob Hill, chair of Farrugut's planning commission and a member of the Tennessee Sierra Club's executive committee. He'd seen my sign as I pulled into the shopping center, he said, and wanted to wish me well, especially since he had been involved in earlier efforts to pass a container deposit. I assured him that the Sierra Club was--is--one of our top allies.
I had another surprise encounter as I headed for a brief detour onto one of Farragut's greenways. Up ahead, a dark-haired woman had pulled over and was gesturing excitedly. It was Tami Coleman, my local mentor in The Climate Project and also the state's director of Project CENTS (Conservation Education Now for Tennessee Students). She had just been at a workshop with Farragut teachers, she said, and none of them had any idea that the bottle bill was still alive. Which, we both agreed, is one reason this bike ride--and local press coverage--are so important. Kingston Pike wasn't as bad a ride as some had said it would be--but when it turned into Cumberland Avenue near the university, it was worse. No offense, but I can't believe that a major university town, especially one as congested as Knoxville, would have so little accommodation for cyclists. With absolutely no shoulder or bike lane to ride on, I was forced onto the sidewalks, sections of which seemed more torn up than the ruins of Pompeii, and were obstructed by power poles and fire hydrants and various other fixtures. I know it's a major undertaking to redesign roadscapes, but it has to start somewhere, and why not in the hometown of Tennessee's flagship university? The rough terrain slowed me down, but by 3:20 I had reached the TVA Towers, where my husband Paul and numerous colleagues were just leaving a meeting on a watershed issue. After a most welcome, very cold Diet Pepsi, followed by a round of photos, one of those colleagues, Paul Schmierbach, loaded me up in his pickup and took me to spend the night with him and Jeanine in Strawberry Plains. We joined several of their nice friends for dinner at Cozymels, after which I fell into a heavenly bed.
DAY 20: Thursday, October 25, 2007: Athens to Loudon: 32 miles.
Highway 11 to Loudon proved to be a nice ride, much flatter than I'd expected, and I arrived at the Astec Underground plant in Loudon well ahead of my scheduled 3 pm tour. Astec Underground, a subsidiary of Chattanooga-based Astec Industries, manufactures earth-moving equipment, from walk-behind trenchers to horizontal directional drills, and sells to clients as far away as Russia and the Middle East. The plant is located in a beautiful, hilly area just north of I-75, but the roads leading to it are, like so many in the state, heavily littered. Concerned that the litter left a poor impression on international customers, potential clients and visiting executives, Astec, led by credit manager Bert Burgett, created an employee cleanup program that now does regular patrols of the grounds and Corporate Park Drive. In fact, on the day I arrived for a tour of the plant with State Rep. Jimmy Matlock, crew member Tim Barber was out on the Gator, picking up what he said were mostly bottles and cans.
After the tour, Bert drove me and my gear to West Bicycles in Farragut for a checkup. I'd been hearing what I thought were some strange noises coming from the front wheel--or the crank?--or the rear wheel?--or the trailer hookup? Manager Kelly Hamm could find nothing amiss, though he did think the chain was worn out. Despite being almost closing time, Kelly put on a new chain, adjusted cables and pronounced my bike ready to ride. My confidence restored, Bert and I went to dinner at the Calhoun's overlooking Fort Loudoun Lake, thence to his nice home on Watts Bar Lake. DAY 19: Wednesday, October 24, 2007: Cleveland to Athens: 26 miles.
Note the red waterwheel in the photos. That's part of Gerald's brilliantly self-designed, self-constructed recirculating irrigation system--complete with fountain, stonework, and a network of sprinklers--that has allowed the greenhouse to reduce its city water bill from $500 a month to $0! Gerald lined the pond with native red clay (no plastic liner), and introduced 100 koi (Japanese goldfish) to help keep the water moving and oxygenated. Talk about sustainability! Of course, a fellow like this is all in favor of a bottle bill. From the greenhouse I took Rt. 39 into Athens--six roller-coaster miles that felt ten times harder than all of Monteagle Mountain. I finally arrived into Athens, where I met Anthony Dake, a charming young photographer/reporter with the Daily Post Athenian. After taking some photos, he followed me to the utterly gorgeous Majestic Mansion Bed & Breakfast (www.themansionbnb.com), just off the courthouse square, where we sat on the sunny porch for an interview. Innkeepers Elaine and Richard Newman have restored this cottage-style, white frame home to its 1909 splendor (with the added splendors of wireless internet, heated towel racks and those beds with adjustable softness control. My room, full of antiques and with its own little porch and private bath, was called (appropriately, I like to think) "The Ambassador." When I described my cause and the reason for the bicycle ride, Elaine Newman graciously gave me a huge discount on this fabulous room.
I learned of the Majestic from several local supporters, including Austin Fesmire, director of Athens' parks and recreation program, and Helen Stagnaro, a leader in the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs' District IV. Austin and I serve on the Tennessee Recreation Advisory Committee (a group charged with updating Tennessee's 5-year recreation plan); and Helen has recently emerged as a local leader in the quest to pass container-deposit legislation for Tennessee. Tonight, she and her husband Charlie took me to dinner at Gondolier's. When I returned to the B&B, another couple had arrived, and the Newmans were serving pound cake with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce. DAY 18: Tuesday, October 23, 2007: Chattanooga to Cleveland: 32 miles. Back at the Aquarium, Pam, Jim and George Bartnik, an Aquarium educator, came out to see Carol Farmer and me off. Carol rode out the Amnicola Highway with me as far as Chickamauga Dam, about 10 miles; by the time we parted, we could actually see patches of blue sky. It was not to last, however, as the rains returned while I was having breakfast near the intersection with Highway 11. At this point I made an uncomfortable discovery: Highway 11 briefly merges with Interstate 75 at this point. After looking at my map, I decided that my only alternative was to go many miles out of my way. Forget that! So I went ahead and rode up onto I-75, praying that no state trooper would pull me over before I got to the Ooltewah exit. It was only a mile or two, and I exited unscathed, but the traffic noise was absolutely deafening, the speed of the passing cars was harrowing, and I felt almost as vulnerable as those road-kill armadillos I'd seen in West Tennessee.
Once in Cleveland, I rode directly to the very nice Cleveland Daily Banner building on 25th Street. Managing editor David Davis (his people, like Paul's, come from Oklahoma) introduced me to city reporter William Wright. All the newspeople I've talked with during this trip have been interested in my venture and concerned for my welfare, but William was downright solicitous--especially since the rains had now developed into a monsoon. (Cleveland got 2.2 inches of rain in a matter of hours; one town further north reportedly got 6 inches!) Luckily, the Banner building is surrounded by motels; I chose the Knight's Inn, where I immediately shed my soaked gear and took a long, hot shower. Then I treated myself to a fabulous chimichanga and 2-for-1 frozen margaritas at Las Margaritas. DAY 17: Monday, October 22, 2007: Jasper to Chattanooga: 30 miles.
I reached Chattanooga in a steady rain around 4 pm, and went straight to the plaza in front of the fantastic Tennessee Aquarium. I'd told local supporters and media that I would be here at 5, so I had time to run inside the visitors' center, dry myself off as best I could, and change into long cycling pants and my fleece jacket, after which I felt like a new woman. There were no media this evening, but supporters Carol Farmer and Christine Bock, both Aquarium staff, soon showed up, followed by my host for the evening, Pam Glaser; Steve Fry of the Appalachian Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Jim Johnson, president of the Chattanooga Bicycle Club and founder of Bike Tours Direct (www.biketoursdirect.com), which contracts with European tour operators to offer more than 200 guided and self-guided cycling tours in 30 European countries.
We had considered going out for drinks, but nobody felt like it in this weather. In fact, I didn't even want to get on my bike for the last mile to Pam's house. So Steve loaded my gear into his truck and drove Pam and me across the bridge into the trendy, funky neighborhood where Pam lives--all cool shops, nice restaurants, charmingly restored bungalows and plenty of sidewalks. (Pam's an urban designer and appreciates such amenities.) While I lounged on the sofa with Emily the dog, Pam poured some Shiraz, made a delicious chicken Caesar salad, and for dessert, served apples, Montana caramels and goat cheese with cranberries. DAY 16: Sunday, October 21, 2007: Hillsboro to Jasper: 37 miles.
The mountain rises abruptly from the valley: one moment you're on level ground, the next you're climbing. I stopped at the bottom to share the moment with Paul--and I never got back in the saddle until I'd reached the top. I walked the whole way, filling the hour or so by phoning various relatives. Rebecca and Rachel got so far ahead that I only saw them again when they were riding back down. I didn't mind the solitude in the least; US 41 was so quiet, and the road so thickly shaded by trees, that it felt like hiking in a park, with an oocasional view to the valley below.
I reached the hundred-plus-year-old Dutch Maid Bakery & Cafe in Tracy City just before noon, where I was met by Wanda Bell, environmental studies teacher at Grundy County High School, and two of her students, Jordan Esparza and Jaycee Hill. Wanda's class took part in our 2005 separated litter cleanups; her students have since been following the progress of the bottle bill ever since, and now they are following the progress of this bicycle ride. Greg and Marcia Denton of Murfreesboro also showed up at the bakery, en route from a fiddle championship in Georgia, where 8th-grade daughter Maddie took second place. (Maddie has played at the Grand Ole Opry.) Tracy City was supposed to be my stopover town, but as it was so early when I got there, I continued on to Jasper, where I lucked out to find a great room at the excellent Acuff Inn--once owned by country music legend Roy Acuff (his photos are all over the lobby).
DAY 15: Saturday, October 20, 2007: Murfreesboro to Hillsboro: 48 miles.
A front-page article in the Daily News Journal earned us lots of thumbs-ups as we headed out of town, and long-time activist Frank Fly, who remembers many an earlier bottle-bill battle, pulled over to wish us well with this one. US 41 proved to be the most beautiful road of my trip so far. Gorgeous farmland valleys, lots of trees, easy terrain and virtually no 18-wheelers, thanks to the nearness of I-24. I've decided (during the many hours when I have plenty of time to think about such things) that Tennessee absolutely needs to become a bicycle-touring state, like Vermont is now. We've got the scenery, the small towns, the friendly little hotels, the local cafes and charming local attractions. Once we've passed a bottle bill to clean up litter and eliminate most of the broken glass, all we need is a plan, some funding, and a commitment on the part of the counties and TDOT to make some of our roads more bicycle friendly. This means shoulders that are at least 2 feet wide, swept routinely, and with NO RUMBLE STRIPS to shake the teeth out of a cyclist's head. I've been talking to Vermont Bicycle Tours (the one my sister used in France; www.vbt.com) and I know such green tourism would be a boon to Tennessee's economy, image and tourism. I got to the Home Depot in Manchester at 3, where I had an interview with Bob Kyer, a veteran reporter now with the Tullahoma News; and Rebecca McElvey, daughter of my hosts for the night, James and Elaine McKelvey. Rebecca is an attorney in Nashville, active with Team Green; in fact, she and her friend Rachel Hampton had gone sky-diving with Team Green earlier that morning. When she learned of my bike ride, she made sure she would be back from the airport in time to meet me for the 11-mile ride to the McKelvey farm in Hillsboro. I had met Elaine at the Tennessee Federation of Garden Club's 2007 Conservation Camp in September; her husband, James, is active in the Tennessee Farm Bureau. They are kind, generous and unaffected, and their life on their farm seemed straight out of the movie Babe (Mr. McKelvey even looks a little like Farmer Hoggett): a yard full of dogs and cats, a landscape of fields, farm buildings and distant mountains; and the warmest homelife you can imagine. On Saturday evening, Elaine prepared a feast of chuck roast, vegetables, home-canned green beans, home-grown tomatoes, salt-rise bread from the Dutch Maid Bakery and homemade pumpkin cookies; on Sunday morning, Farmer James got out his 50-year-old Montgomery Ward bicycle and rode with Rebecca, Rachel and me to the main road. Lucky trotted along beside.
DAY 14: Friday, October 19, 2007: Home in Mt. Juliet: 0 miles. DAY 13: Thursday, October 18, 2007: Clarksville to Nashville: 48 miles. Amazingly, the predicted thunderstorms held off, but the winds were brutal--we learned later that a series of tornados were brewing in the region. Pulling the DoggyRide, with its big yellow sign aloft, was like dragging an anchor through heavy seas. We finally took the darn sign off its posts and stuck it inside the cart. Nonetheless, my gracious escorts insisted on taking turns pulling the DoggyRide with their own bicycles. Kim wound up pulling it almost all the way to Nashville. She's a powerhouse. Even with the trailer swap, I found myself struggling to keep up with her. We met up with Richard Connors, popular nature photographer and a longtime friend from the Cumberland-Harpeth Audubon Society, at the clubhouse at the municipal Ted Rhodes Golf Course, just north of town. Sherry showed up with more t-shirts--and a reporter from Channel 4 captured the five of us pedaling up Metro Center Boulevard with the Nashville skyline (and tornado-ish skies) looming.
DAY 12: Wednesday, October 17, 2007: Dover to Clarksville: 35 miles. I had to make good time in order to be in Clarksville by 3, so I didn't stop as often as I normally would. Nonetheless, the stops I did make--at JT's Bait Shop in Indian Mound and the Kangaroo Exxon in Clarksville--yielded more supporters and more photographs for the display boards. WKAG TV out of Hopkinsville, Ky., sent a reporter out to get a brief interview, and I had a long chat with Matt Rennels of the Leaf-Chronicle. Got to Clarksville in good time to meet Dottie Mann, my overnight host. Together we delivered my bike and trailer for safekeeping at the police offices at Austin Peay State University. Since I'll be speaking to the Sunshine Rotary Club at APSU at 7 in the morning, then leaving for Nashville immediately afterwards, we decided it was easiest to leave my transport in the safest place on campus. Thanks, Lt. Elliston!
DAY 11: Tuesday, October 16, 2007: Paris to Dover: 27 miles. Route 79 is a great road--lovely scenery, wide shoulders (though they need sweeping, big time) and of course a fabulous view from the bridge over the Tennessee River (Kentucky Lake). This time I was able to photograph the crossing with my new camera.
I bought toothpase and Gatorade at the neat little Paris Landing General Store, just west of the river. Store owners Harlan and Jo Olson listened very attentively as I described the role of a redemption center; they are both willing to look further at this possibility for their store. I was lucky to get a room at the almost-full Dover Inn, a wonderful, locally owned place that obviously has a big following among the fishermen. Owner Brenda Lord agrees that we need a container deposit--"We have to do something about the trash."
DAY 10: Monday, October 15, 2007: Martin to Paris: 34 miles. Sandy Davis, bundle of energy that she is, accompanied me the 12 miles from Martin to the town square in Dresden, where she dropped me off in front of the law office of Sen. Roy Herron. Sen. Herron, a member of the Senate Environment Committee, is one of the most interesting legislators in the General Assembly. An author and ordained minister, he recently completed an Ironman triathlon (26.2-mile run, 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bicycle ride). Sen. Herron seemed appreciative of my effort and the cause behind it. I hope he votes for the bill. Since my bike was parked in front of the Weakley County Courthouse, I stopped in to the office of County Mayor Houston Patrick. He wasn't in, but as I chatted with his assistant, Beverly Oliver, it turned out she knows my next-door neighbors in Mt. Juliet (the Rowletts, not the Sizemores)! Small world. Just before I left Dresden, reporter David Fisher of the Dresden Enterprise met me at TJ's Market for a photo and quick interview. (Small newspapers have been terrific in their coverage of this ride.) My lunch stop was Meme's in Como--a charming little cafe on Rt. 54. The family who owns the store were salt-of-the-earth types, generous and friendly, but the highlight of that stop was a regular customer named Richard Collins. Richard remembers recycling "everything" back in the '50s, and he said he would welcome a bottle bill. As he was leaving, he placed a $10 bill beside my plate--"buy yourself a steak dinner tonight"--and told me he had taken care of my lunch tab! I'm almost in tears just writing about it. How kind he was. Really, everyone should go on an 800-mile bicycle tour for a good cause.
Speaking of kind--the drivers of Tennessee have been amazingly patient and thoughtful. Today's road, for instance, SR 54, was pretty hairy--no shoulders to speak of, and the many hills made for dangerouly limited sight distances. I found myself pulling off onto the grass constantly. But as they have been from the start, the drivers lined up behind me were exceedingly patient, any many gave me a thumbs-up as they passed. Nary an angry horn nor yelled admonition to be heard. Tonight I'm in the newly renovated Sunrise Motel on Rt. 79 in Paris. Lots of good lodging choices on this ride. DAY 9: Sunday, October 14, 2007: Union City to Martin: 15 miles.
DAY 8: Saturday, October 13, 2007: Dyersburg to Union City: 37 miles.
DAY 7: Friday, October 12, 2007: Covington to Dyersburg—42 miles. When I got to Ripley around lunchtime, I turned onto Cleveland Street just behind the Walmart, and into the gracious, garden-rich home of Bille Anne Hendren, one of Lauderdale County's aldermen. Here I had a lovely lunch with a group of Lauderdale Countians who are determined to do something about the county's litter. In addition to Billie Anne, these included Lynn Herron and Anne Tate of the county's litter committee, Pamela Cherry-Kerby, coordinator of Keep Lauderdale County Beautiful, her husband Ronnie Kerby, a cotton merchant, Trent McManus, mayor of nearby Halls, and Libba Shoaf Burns, who has lived in Maine and so knows firsthand the wonders a bottle bill can work. Though he could not be there, County Mayor Rod Schuh is to thank for putting this meeting in motion.
Pamela told me that there would be barbecue and bluegrass at the square in Dyersburg that evening, so that's where I headed after leaving Ripley. Dyersburg's Mainstreet Program is doing fabulous things in this historic city and for the square, which apparently is used frequently for community events. I got to talk briefly with Dyer County Mayor Richard Hill, and county clerk Diane Moore invited me to have some barbecue in what I think was the Firemen's tent. Pamela and Ronnie joined me, and it was almost dark by the time I got to the Best Western on the north edge of town. DAY 6: Thursday, October 11, 2007: Memphis to Covington—43 miles.
Spent tonight in the very nice Deerfield Inn in Covingt DAY 5: Wednesday, October 10, 2007: Somerville to Memphis: 45 miles.
The ride into Memphis wasn't really hairy, but it was loud! Car engines and alarms and ambulances and radios--it was a joy to finally reach green, serene Overton Park and the home of Diana and John Threadgill. Diana is executive director of the Mississippi River Corridor (a natural, recreational and economic development project involving all six river counties); John is on the corridor board and is director of the Bartlett Area Chamber of Commerce. James Baker and Nancy Ream of the Chickasaw Group of the Sierra Club took me out to Bosco's to meet other Sierra Clubbers for drinks and appetizers. (My tab was picked up by chapter president Tom Lawrence and his wife Janet Partridge.) Despite a half-dozen mini-egg rolls, I still had plenty of appetite left for John's fabulous pot roast at the Threadgills. DAY 4: Tuesday, October 9, 2007: Jackson to Somerville—52 miles. DAY 3: Monday, October 8, 2007: Camden to Jackson—38 miles.
The sun was already setting when I still had 8 miles to go to the home of Pat and Russ Patrick, just northeast of Jackson. Pat, head of the water pollution unit in TDEC's Jackson field office, came and got me in Russ's truck, then treated me to a home-cooked meal and did my laundry. (Most nights I wash one of my two cycling outfits in the bathroom sink.) DAY 2: Sunday, October 7, 2007: Dickson to Camden—42 miles. DAY 1: Saturday, October 6, 2007: Nashville to Dickson—40 miles. After being escorted out of town by Richard Cochran, Twyla Lambert and her boyfiend Mike, Richard and I stopped for lunch at the legendary Alpha Bakery in Bellevue. Sherry Wang met us there, and she and Sue (owner of Alpha Bakery) presented me a beautiful salad and some equally beautiful fruit. After saying goodbye to everyone, I made it to Dickson by 6 pm, and was powerfully glad to see the Highland Motel. So far this trip has taught me a great deal--for instance, there are lots of armadillos in Tennessee (dead ones, anyway). But the most important thing I'll take away from this trip is that Tennesseans, especially the ordinary citizens, are READY for this bill and want it to pass, and now just for the litter-busting aspects. They really GET that we need to conserve resources, save energy and reduce waste. I've started taking photos of everyone I talk to who is in favor of the bill, so that when the 2008 legislative session gets underway, I can mount these pictures (with names and towns) to large panels and have supporters carry them into the hearing rooms when our bill comes up. When legislators see hundreds of their constituents--black, white, wealthy, poor, professional, working class, Tennessee-born and from away--watching their proceedings, I feel sure they will vote in their interests! Questions? Call me on my cell at (615) 294-2651, or e-mail margedavis@comcast.net. I'm carrying a little iBook and check e-mail every other day at least.
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