Prisons, rednecks, and rule nine.

Tuesday I got up and there was a chance of rain in the afternoon so I decided it was best to get my laundry done early. The ride I had planned left from the campsite and went around the base of Frozenhead state Parks namesake mountain. About half of my laundry wasn't dry enough to put up when I left so I just hoped the rain would hold off until I got back.

I'm camped near the state prison and it wasn't long until I passed another one. Then started a really nice climb.

Today was a day for pedaling and not picture taking. I passed coal mines lumber mills beautiful scenery and so many redneck shacks that I couldn't count them. This one was especially filthy as you can see right down through the open front door to the half inch layer of dust it seemed covered everything as I was passing the big Rottweiler came running out and I wasn't sure if he was serious or just playing. Apparently he was just playing.

There were long winding descents where braking was the order of the day and at one point I stopped at a redneck store to get water and got some interesting looks. Nobody commented about my pretty mouth, thank God! Soon the thunderclouds built and I realized I wasn't going to get home before it started to pour down rain. It wasn't too cold so I just Ziploc bag up all my electronic gear threw on my rain vest and pedaled through it. In "The rules of the velominati" rule nine states "if you ride in bad weather, you are a badass, period!"You can Google the rules of the velominati. I did take one last photo for Chris Wardlaw before I got back to my campsite. I'm glad this isn't the road grader that we use to keep our subdivision roads in shape.

When I got back to the campsite of course all the laundry was soaking wet so the first order of the day on Wednesday was at the laundromat to dry everything out. That morning I planned to go to Nashville to do a little sightseeing but at the last minute decided to heck with it. I've seen enough of Tennessee, let's get the hell out of here. I headed east on the interstate not knowing where I was headed but I knew when I got there. Kimberly called one of her cousins and found me a place to stay in Lynchburg Virginia with her cousin's in-laws. They're wonderful folks that I had met before when their son Scottie was receiving the meritorious service award for his part in capturing some bank robbers in Fort Bend County. He spotted the getaway vehicle and pursued them. During the chase and stop he was shot in the head and in the hand by automatic weapons fire. One of the bank robbers was eventually killed and the other captured and is now serving time in a federal penitentiary. It's a long and amazing story and there's no time to give you all the details here but Scottie is an amazing man and survived terrible ordeal. Now I'm just waiting for it to quit raining so I can get back on the bike. I'm not looking forward to the Memorial Day weekend with a crush of crowds clogging up the campgrounds and I'm not sure where I'm going to stay but it always seems to work out in the end.