Day 7: Off to Calvert City, KY We Go (06/27/08)

Dragged myself out of bed, getting ready to hit the road again :(

Jett had mentioned the night before that her and Colleen would be taking off early to get to Calvert City, KY because Colleen needed to get her bike in the shop. Not sure if Carol went with them.

John & Jessie were heading to the car rental to return their SUV and take a flight back home. Their portion of the trip was over. John would be working on the editing of the footage he took of our trek to Graceland and Presley Place.

Biby had a 10:30am flight back to San Diego and took a cab to the airport. Didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her.

Nancy & Debbie chose to go their own way from here. Their plan was to ride the Smokey Mountains, while the rest of us headed towards Kentucky. Our original plan was to ride out to Nashville but because some of the girlz were having issues with their bikes, they needed to take care of that instead.

Clouds were rolling in, and the only thing I had been watching on this trip was the Weather Channel. Colleen was so sick of seeing that dang Weather Channel but I wanted to be prepared.

It was about 9:30am.

Becky took Lilia to pick up her bike. We were planning to wait for them but Lilia's bike wasn't ready and they told us to take off without them. We left their bags with the front desk, since they wouldn't make it by checkout time.

Looks as if it were Anita, Lynette and myself heading to Calvert City.

Nancy & Debbie were just coming downstairs and getting ready to head out. Then the rains started coming down. I ran outside because my helmet was hanging on the handlebars and filling up quickly with water.

The parking lot started filling up with puddles of water, which makes it a bit tricky on the bike when you're trying to get your footing.

The 3 of us got on our bikes and off we went. Now, Anita just loves her GPS and I had heard enough of GPS on this trip so far. I also have one and it's still in the box...where it shall remain until I sell it.

We're thinking that it shouldn't take too long to get to Kentucky. Anita programs her GPS and I tell ya, it took a good 1½ hrs to get out of Memphis. Why you ask? Well, Anita's GPS kept telling her to go on this route and even though the sign was there as plain as day, she would keep going back over the dang bridge. Oh, it's beautiful and all but enough was enough already...especially dodging those dang semi trucks.

I kept shaking my head and saying to myself, "I hate that dang GPS!!!"

I told her to pull into a gas station and ask for directions. She was adamant about that damned GPS. Finally, we pull off the freeway, not too far from the hotel and we get to a pretty deserted street except for the taxi cab driver sitting there. She asks him for directions and he doesn't know. Are you EFFING kidding me???!!! He's a fricken cab driver. They're suppose to know the city in and out.

We get back on the freeway and when Anita thinks she's on the right path, we're lost once again. We finally get to a gas station and I just about had enough. This part of town was NOT the place to be lost in. I had to get into "ghetto mode" to deal with it. :)

I went inside and asked for directions to route 14 or 15. Don't really remember but it was a route Anita wanted to take instead of the freeway. Once we FINALLY got on the route, I only got grumpier. We were hitting stop light after stop light with the city traffic. I told Anita at one of the lights, "When I see a sign for the freeway, I'm taking off. I will not deal with this stop and go crap!"

We finally got out of the congested area and it was pretty much smooth sailing and a pretty good ride. I started to calm down. Guess the fact that we kept depending on that dang GPS and going in circles, just made me irritated because I just wanted to get on the right road and RIDE!

Anita wanted to make sure that we took the road that would lead us to the Land Between The Lakes. We crossed over the river (name?) and I was just in AWE!!!

We enter the Land Between The Lakes and OMG what a beautiful site. Twisting roads, trees abound and deer ready to jump out in front of you. I had never seen so many markers for graveyards in a 80 mile stretch of road.

Anita was leading and at one point, I could not let this beauty escape me. I tried feverishly to get her to pull over so we could get a pic. I sounded my horn (sounds like a car horn), flashed my lights and finally had to pull up along side her on the narrow road to get her attention. She apologized and said she was just concentrating on riding. *eyebrows are raised* Always check your mirrors!

We finally pull over to some check stop for the park workers and do some photo ops. Lynette blurted out, "Look, there's a deer and they're wagging their tails to let the others know it's safe to cross."

Photo: Left to Right: me (Renee), Lynette and Anita



Darkness was falling upon us. We were finally getting closer to Calvert City. We check into the hotel. Colleen comes over and tells us to go to the breakfast room. Jett, Kaye & Colleen had picked up dinner for us. We filled our plates and sat down to eat. I started talking about how long it took us to get out of Memphis and I was losing my cool. Who knew it would prompt me to be called "grumpy" the next morning.

So far on this trip, we've had more chiefs than Indians. I'm normally a chief but on this trip, I opted to be an Indian. I've expressed my dislikes and things I'd like to do but went with the flow for the majority of it. Hell, it was my vacation and I think I had a right to vent. I also expressed that even though I was irritated for our major usage of time trying to get out of Memphis, Anita more than made up for it when we hit the Land Between The Lakes.

Tomorrow, we'll heading to Rolla, MO (that's pronounced, "rawla") to meet with Lilia's high school "friend" Scott and his family. He planned a BBQ for our visit. Can't wait!