03/19 Crossed my first entire state by bicycle today. 1 down and like 10 more to go I think. Chilly out this morning (43 F) so I donned my flashy, tight fitting, long sleeve, red wool jersey and set off. By 2pm I’d officially started to not like my FTFLSRWJ. It was just too flashy for me. I’d rather depend on the huge safety triangle that faces traffic coming up behind me. Wool is also a little brutal on certain areas of my chest. Sure there are things like bandaids or moleskin (tried both) you can use to cover them up so they don’t rub against the shirt all day but try tearing off that bandaid at the end of the day. That just plain hurts. So I was really happy to see Scott’s bicycle shop in Cleveland. Walked out of there with a new synthetic wool jersey that’s not as tight, not as red (it’s grey) and was 60% off. We’ll see how it does tomorrow. If anyone needs a red, size XL merino wool jersey let me know and I’ll mail it to you from Cookesville.
I could have ridden much longer but I’ll rest up today and get ready for a big climbing day through the mountains tomorrow. The manager here (Day’s Inn) gave me a good deal on a room for $40. He also mentioned a guy riding his bike from Mexico to Michigan stayed here yesterday. I’ll have to try and track him down on CGOAB or bikeforums.net.
411 was a great road to ride on but there were lot’s of logging trucks. The best road of the day was the 313 that’s turns into the 74 in Cleveland. Great road with only a little traffic. The funniest thing happened too. I was riding right up against the white line when a pickup passed me. Then a car and then another beige (junky) pickup. Well these guys in the last pickup, 3 twenty-something year olds, decided it would be cool to honk when they passed and then flip me off. The funny part was 5 seconds later when I flipped them off and they almost went into the ditch from over-correcting because they were too busy watching me in the rearview mirror. I’m sure they heard me laughing too which was even better. Like the typical cowards that do stuff like this they kept on going though.
Saw my first sheep today. And my first sheep dog too. Goats in Georgia and sheep in Tennessee–who would have thought. So I’m looking into this shed and a huge, white thing comes running at me barking. The problem was it ran out of the same shed I could see half a dozen sheep hanging out in. For at least a couple seconds all my years of schooling went out the window and I thought sheep barked. 
This dog was huge and had just as much hair as a sheep so it could have happened to anyone.
UPDATE: quick update before I take off this morning. I was looking at my motel bill and it was $57 instead of the $40 the manager and I agreed upon. That’s what I get for not paying attention. When I asked him about it he said we’d agreed on $48 and the rest was tax. Funny how I said $40 twice and he repeated it back to me. Another lesson learned.
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that big white dog must be the one that tried to eat you.
I hope you didn’t try anything weird with the sheep..Ya know they say they feel similar to humans.. Bah, Bah. lol
Tennessee….Where the men are men and the sheep are afraid.
Ok I was going to make some sheep comments, but I see my trashy brother and sister already have. So I’ll spare you more sheep comments. I hope you rest well tonight. Tomorrow you will begin ascending up the mountains. Look at the bright side though………What goes up, must come down! Just be careful on the way down. In our phone conversation this afternoon you mentioned possibly staying at Fall Creeks Falls. I am anxious to know if you did.
What is wrong with all this talk about sex and sheep. I’m more concerned about you in the mountains, in spandex, in tight fitting wool and lonely mountain men.
Those sheep would make a nice blanket.
I’de be glad to take the jersey off your hands
I wear wool all year long here in NC.