Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Hello Y'all, ( must be picking up that southern talk)
We spent a quiet evening in the hotel after eating Colleen's delicious skillet lasagna. We finished off the sourdough bread from the French Camp as well. Watching the Cubs play and then hearing the entrance of the wedding party guests after 11 pm made for a quick night. But we were all up early and ready to ride. We packed the bags for the last time and drove the 45 minutes to the Trace entrance. We knew we could not ride the rest of the Trace and then still make an 8 hour drive home in a timely manner. So the group decided that we would drive the first miles on the Trace and then ride the last third. We picked up the Trace at mile marker 391. And we drove until marker 427.

Wynn drove, I was copilot and the kids were in the back.

Now ou must know that when I am SAG-ing by myself I pull off at almost every pullout and take pictures. But the first overlook I got about five seconds to jump out, take one pic and get back in before the van drove off without me. It's a pretty pic!

The next stop was Jackson Falls and everyone did get out and make the steep climb down to the bottom of the falls. There wasn't much water coming down as it has been so dry here, but I still found it beautiful and loved the cave.

We did see a deer bound across the road and we also saw several flocks of turkeys and a group of grouse. But the foliage is what caught my eye and I never tire of seeing the fields, the bridges and the trees.

The guys started their ride at mile marker 427. There was a group of gals riding the southern direction and they told us that the road was very hilly and steep so we girls kinda got scared off from riding all of today. We decided to meet the guys on the other side of the Birdsong Bridge.

The view from the bridge was beautiful. Somehow we all pictured the bridge being a bigger deal. But really the spectacular view of the bridge is from down below. The girls rode the last two miles to mile 440. It was nice to ride altogether one last time. When we reached the 440 mile marker, the guys surged ahead to the actual terminance of the Trace. The girls turned around and rode back to get the van. So we had four miles of very hilly road to ride. We looked good, if I do say so myself.

Once we got to Hwy 100 the guys were gracious enough to direct us into the Loveless Cafe.

The wait to eat was 1 hour and 40 minutes so the group decided to move on up the highway. We ate at a Wendy's instead...poor substitute for the breakfast we were all looking forward to! . But the trip has come to a successful end. 444 miles, 1flat tire and NO crashes!
Hope you enjoyed the ride from afar. Now we have the eight hour drive home from Nashville. I wonder what the next adventure will be for Wynn and Brenda. Time to start planning a new trip. My trip to Disney with Scott and Jenna and the girls next month will be a FB album, not in the blog because Wynn is staying home to work and take care of Sharia.

(Thanks, Janis, for finding us these shirts way back in Natchez on the first day of this journey!)
Farewell, From Brenda and the ponies