Jeremiah Watt

I am up early enough in Allardt, but fog once again impedes my progress down the road. Until it lifts, I am staying put rather thatn ride and staying flat under some rig. I head to the one and only quick stop, get some coffee and sit with the locals who are all doing the same.

There are about 4 at my table, a horse-shoer and a retired Lawyer. Jason , the lawyer, tells me that kids today are spoiled. When he was young, he had to spud tobacah to earn money for School. KIds today, why they want it all handed to them, and quick like right out'a school. I call em "sers and spenders"..........whre'as in the old days we had folks who was "arners and adders". Used to be that when folks made alot of money, they would add to the communities they lived in, a different sense of civic pride was apparent back then.

These young folks today, they appreciate little, and use up every thing they have never adding to a community. I think that is one of the greatest loses that America has today, is that lack of civic pride that at one time made all of America proud. I can't add much, and the horse shoer for the most part agrees with Jason. SO I leave with some things to think about while I ride to the east.

As I am mounting my Irich Rocket, Jason tells me to be sure to take a little time to walk around Rugby, its just maybe 15 miles on up the road from here.............and my wife and I will Pray for your safe trip.

I do just that, Rugby, is a secnd home to the wealthiest that England had to offer to its second sons from the isles. They turned the area into a retreat for the younger aristocrat's to languish during the summer months rather than the Lake District of England which had become much to crowded . And so out of that grew the tiny town of Rugby, with Opera House, and a full Library with hundreds of volumes, a full stained glass Episcopal Church, a Linen Shop, and a Commissary, along with many other fine establishments.

I talked to Josie, at one of the stores that makes up the Rugby community of buildings that greets all comers. Josie, like me, is enamoured with the beauty of the Tennesse countryside. She has a love for the abundant waterfalls that speckle the river-scapes of the Tennessee river ways, and went into a long description of so many that I have lost count of them all. I came away saddened to know that almost non of them lay along the route that I had riddent, most are in the central or southern routes of the State.

We have a great visit, and I leave with a much wider knowledge of the local history now that I had met Josie. I then take in the Spring Hill WIlderness Gift Shop next door, and I find out that many folks who had been local artists dojnf many of the rural appilachian crafts have now passed away and sadly there skills have not been taken up by a younger generation of folks whom hail from Appilachians.

A little further on, and over many hills under a canopy of tree branches I arrive in Elgin.I get something to drink and check out a road I intend to take. Of course taking it is a big mistake, becasue it is a coal mine hauling route, and common sense tells you to avoid it if possible. That choice sends me north onto 27 then 63 east, and not more than 5 miles or so I see a sign that makes my brakes screech to a halt , the sign reads " Fried Dried Apple Pies, for sale" and I just gotta go in to this house which sits right beside the road and see what is up.

After all, and please do remember that all things are now measured against Frannies Pies..............and don't forget to send your pie in as well. I knock on the door and meet Sara Beth at the stove, she just hollers me in, since she has both hands busy right there in her kitchen to which she is busy tending to fried chicken and the smell of corn bread wafts through the house.................I know and love corn bread. Come to think of it, I guess I am a little like a goat, there just ain't much that I don't like to eat..............but good corn bread can get a women married off. Sara Beth, fills me in on all the secrest of making good pie, why to dry and why to fry.........................all of which will be for sale in a later but coming cook book. Hold on there, I was just kidding. I buy two of Sara Beths pies, and have great but quick visit and head on doen the road for Hartsville.

The old saying of it never rains but it pours makes me think of the 20 mile or so ride to Hartsville. I had 4 flats in that distance, and can only attribute it to the sharp crushed rock that dotted the narrow shoulders ???? I nevcer have liked the whole flat scene, and have done my best to avoid it. PS, Chuck, I am sure glad I didn't pull my tire liners. I had told you I would do something a little different with my tent and I have.

NOw, I pack it last, and loose, on top of my trailer, with a cargo net over top. Each time I stop, I gicve it a turn, aor maybe a new fold so the sun and wind hit it all and dry it while I ride. It has worked good now for 2 days, and saves me sdome time in the later afternoon working on drying my tent. It is while I am ridingh, and my continual strugle to work with a Library, that I come on the thought of stopping a a Business for Conputers, and see if I can doen load from there.

I tried this in Huntsville, I meet Sam Phillips and he allows me on to download some pics. Problem is the software used to hadle pics is slow for me becasue I am having to learn my way around the software as I go, and so I only get 4 pics done in maybe 2 hours time. During part of this time we also had to download some new drivers so it would read my CF card. SO, it didn;t really pan out to good iether. I did have a good long visit with Sam, who is an un-abashed Orthodox Jew. We visited about living in what is often called the BIble Belt of America and being a Jew, and how that goes over with the Chritian folks that make up much of the Community.

Then we goty onto teaching in Schools today, and how we are often leaving the brighter kids behind all becasue we cannot pidgeon hole there education with that particular child. And we closed with a discussion on what should and maybe will come of the Iraq confrontation. Sam, as you may guess, is no lover of Buch nor Iraq, and would wipe them out completely..........but understands the reason for going with some degree of trepidation also..since this whole exposure to freedom is brand new to the middle east and its Arabic people.

It is 5:10 and I am out of money, and food and water. SO I tear of down the road to find that Hunstville has nothing for a grocery store nor ATM. SO, about 8 milesz and 3 very large hills later I pull inot a tiny MArket and get some cold food, for some reason, I am looking at how dark it is and just don't feel like cooking at all. So cold chicken it is, along with some fruit. I camp on top of a ridge, between the road and a water ditch..................the dew is already very heavy. My legs are very tired, but I dont want to sit and take a chance ion getting full of Chiggers which I will then aklso bring into my tent. So I stand wishing that I had a small folding lawn chair right now.

Good Night and God Bless
PS- folks, my daily mileage has fallen off badly, so I need to stop talking to folks or maybe just throw the camera away.............but this is my tird day with less than 50 miles per day.?????