Days 79 & 80: Montgomery Bell State Resort Park, TN

Before leaving the Buffalo KOA, we spied this restored teardrop that had sneaked in after dark.  For once we didn't have the smallest trailer in the park!

A trailer smaller than ours, and an antique no less!

It was 32 degrees when we finally ventured out of the camper, and it was fairly slow to warm up.  Once it got into the 50s we returned north to where we had ended the cycling portion of our trip the day before.  It was 57 degrees when I set off, though it felt much colder with a fairly brisk headwind or sidewind for most of the day.  I don't think we saw the temperature get above 61 degrees until after I had completed the 30+ miles that we had planned.

Earmuffs + tights do not = fun.  

Since the cold snap was going to be around for a couple more days, we opted to go off route to camp at Montgomery Bell State Resort Park ($20, power, water and showers).  It was reasonably close to a fair sized city (Dickson, TN), plus there was a restaurant within the park, so we figured it would be more pleasant staying put and doing some chores than to be riding in weather that was colder than we would like it to be.

A creek meanders along fissure line in the limestone.

We figured out pretty quickly after retiring that we've become fair weather cyclists.  Those "good old days" of commuting to work in 35 degree rain or the occasional bone-chilling 8 degree rides on rutted ice are long gone for us.  We've done that:  it's good to know that we can manage in those conditions, but now we'd prefer to chose our climate, at least to the extent that we can.  And it is clear that there are more pleasant riding days just ahead of us, so there's no need for us to suffer in the saddle while we wait for the warmer weather to return.

Now that we've been on the road for seven straight weeks, it seemed like a good time to figure out what we have been dragging along with us that is of no or very marginal benefit.  That includes a portion of the seat back organizer that we have in the van.  We use if for storing Lana's leashes, harnesses, balls and sweaters.  We decided we had one more sweater for her than we actually needed.  By getting rid of that we no longer needed the storage pocket behind the passenger seat.  So we cut that pocket off and sewed up the loose ends.  The result is that the passenger seat now goes back nearly 2" farther than before, so that I can now sit in the passenger seat without having my knees rub against the dash (Alea was wondering why I always seemed to want to drive the van when we are together).

Our modified seat back organizer.

After three years of owning our teardrop, and close to 30,000 miles of traveling with it, tonight was our first sighting of a Little Guy teardrop camper in the wild.  Little Guys probably sells more teardrops than any other manufacturer (probably at least as many as all other manufacturers combined), so we've often thought it odd that we haven't seen all that many on the road.