Temp at departure: 62 degrees

Howdy all! Hope everything is good with everyone at home!

We've completed our second day within the State of Tennessee. We left this morning from Sparta, Tennessee, moving in general southwest direction. The terrain continued to be rolling hills, broken by narrow canyons. We'd be riding through hay meadows and suddenly we'd seemingly ride off the edge of the hay meadow tabletop into a ravine moist enough for ferns to take hold in the ditches. We'd never seen anything quite like it.

Mid-morning we dropped into a ravine and entered Rock Island State Park. We realized this ravine was leading to a river. We soon came to a dam across the Caney River, built by the Tennessee Valley Authority. A one lane road led across the top of the dam.

As we moved west, the Appalachain Mountains began to wane. The land stopped undulating from ravines to hay meadows and became mostly hay meadows.

At lunch we came to the world famous(at least that's what they say) town of Bell Buckle. I guess the reason it's world famous is because it holds the annual RC Cola and Moon Pie Festival. We stopped at the Bell Buckle Cafe, where they sold orange and strawberry moon pies, along with the standard flavors!

As we were walking into the Cafe, a man sitting on the porch stopped us, asking where we were going. As with others who have inquired, the look of amazement never left his face. I guess two twelve year olds don't seem like a likely duo to traverse the U.S. on motorcycles.

After a very good lunch, we kept heading west/southwest. The land is getting fairly flat and seems to be very close to scenery at home. Unlike home, rocks abound just under the surface of the ground. Many times the top layer of soil is gone, leaving slick rock.

People seem to be getting poorer. Houses are not as well kept. Roads aren't quite as good. I expect the closer we get to Mississippi, the worse all of the above will get.

Around 4:30 P.M. we came to the town of Columbia, TN. We're staying at the Richland Inn. Tomorrow should be our last full day in Tennessee. See you down the trail!

Daily Mileage: 187.2 miles

Total Mileage: 380.0 miles

Money Spent: $114.19

 Trail in Tennessee

  

 TVA dam at Rock Island State Park across the Caney River

 

 Dropping off from a hay meadow into a ravine

 

 Break time!

June 6