Update #27 - Aug 22nd, 2001
Jackson, Tennessee - 6264 miles

The ride from Lancaster, KY to Jackson, TN went okay. For the most part, the heat wasn't really bad this section. Most of the daily temperatures was in the mid to high-eighties but today it crept back into the nineties.

For lodging, I stayed either at churches or in donated motel rooms. These motel rooms were pretty good especially for the one in Bardstown, Kentucky where I got blessed with a room at the local Ramada Inn. The churches in Greenville, Kentucky and Jackson, TN had showers for me to use and I have the choice of four sofas to sleep on. Several churches even had internet access.

There was pretty neat scenery to see while riding through rolling hills of South Central Kentucky and Central and Western Tennessee. The only major problems were long stretches of road construction and high traffic in those sections. Today had to have been the worst riding between Lexington and Jackson, TN along U.S. 412. This is supposed to be the worst section of highway in West Tennessee and I can surely agree with that statement. Even with the road construction, traffic (especially trucks) zipped through this section going way above the speed limit. This morning in a stretch of maybe five minutes I had two very close calls with semi trucks hauling extra wide loads. I just had seconds to get off the road onto the grassy shoulder and pray that I was far away from the road as the trucks zipped on by. I had another close encounter with a car maybe fifteen minutes later. By the time that I got to Jackson, my nerves were really on edge.

Tomorrow because of projected high temperatures, I should be only be riding to Brownsville, Tennessee with a distance less than forty miles. This is okay since I've been invited to take part in a Habitat for Humanity house dedication tomorrow afternoon in Brownsville. Friday, I'll be cycling to Memphis.

After some prayer, I've decided that Memphis will be my turning point back to Americus, Georgia. It is getting time for me to end the trip. This has sort of been the hardest trip so far because of the high heat. My body is getting a little weary also and I've been experiencing some minor health problems. I hope to be in Americus, Georgia by the second week of September. This would be about two weeks early than planned.