Seg #51 Clarksville TN Trails Tennabama Trip 10/1-2/14

Seg #51 Streets + Upland & River Walk Trails Clarksville 10/1-2/14 

Start	Charlotte St/Upland Trl	N 36.51461  W 87.35376	N-S miles 4.4
End	Streets to Kenwood,HS	N 3.57791  W 87.38557	Trl lgth 8.5 Ride 8.5mi

Ride hr 1:07

AVS 6.9

MXS  mph 18.6

DST 8.5mi

Tmp 88

Kcal 285

The last ride on the Tennabama Trip was for me to accumulate necessary latitudes in Clarksville, Tennessee, home of Austin Peay University. I pulled into town about four in the afternoon and headed for my planned start point just off Cumberland Drive. I parked at the Ledbetter Sign Company and went inside to ask to park my car there and to get a business card with an address for the cab driver. When I asked where the bike trail started near their business, one fellow that claimed to be a regular road biker, said he knew nothing of a trail near the shop. When I rode toward what appeared to be a trail, I realized I was only riding a driveway to some back-in the woods apartment complex. Using the GPS on "Smarty Pants" (aka my smart phone), I realized that Charlotte Street was just a few hundred yards up the hill on Cumberland Drive. Charlotte Street served as a great substitute. There were no cars on this narrow street so I made good time pedaling  up to the Upland Trail and then on to the River Walk Trail. Clarksville's River Walk is not up to speed with San Antonio's River Walk but that was just fine with me because there were only a small number of people milling about enjoying a perfect day. Some folks were lazing around on picnic tables or throwing a line in the water in hopes a fish would jump on their hook. The river that runs through Clarksville is wide. Wide enough to handle a number of boats and water skiers side by side. I thought I knew the name of this river but 

The Cumberland River flows past the River Walk near down-
town Clarksville, TN. A water skier can be seen on the water.

just for blog accuracy I asked a person who said they were a native of Clarksville. When this person said the river was "the Columbia---I think", I thought that couldn't be correct. "I think" should have been the give away. Any way, the river is the Cumberland River that bends at Clarksville from a northeasterly trajectory to a southerly route. The Upland Trail connects with the River Walk Trail which makes for a scenic ride along the river front. As a former Rotarian, I was intrigued with the international focus of McGregor park where I parked my car for the second part of the ride. Flags from many foreign countries were flapping in the breeze; a peaceful and unusually serene sight. A placard

Clarksville River Walk Park was supported by Rotary Inter-
national---explaining the number of flags of other countries. 

indicated that Clarksville Rotary Club was responsible for the international flavor of the River Walk recreational area. I am proud to have been a Rotarian for twenty-five or more years. Serving as president of the Ames club was especially gratifying. As president I was able to attend the 1987 Rotary International Convention in Munich, Germany. As a side trip, Connie, Geoff and I went to Berlin to see the wall that served as such a stark reminder of the difference between democracy and communism. Connie and I had been there before when I was in the US Air Force, Azores, Portugal.  But for Geoff, at sixteen years young, seeing the wall and reading the stories of suffering of the east Germans, seemed to have a profound life long effect on him. We were in Berlin the day before president Reagan made his famous speech---"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall". Twenty-nine months later, November 9, 1989, the wall did come down. What a great moment in history. 

Austin Peay State University sits atop hills over looking the
Cumberland River below. A pretty campus and pretty setting.
Maybe it is why it is the fastest growing college in Tennessee

I had no clue where Austin Peay State University or Fort Campbell were on the map, but now I know.  Austin Peay University grew from an all male academy of a few students in the 1840's to a state university of 10,000 students today. Austin Peay, the namesake, was a Tennessee governor from Clarksville. 

Fort Campbell was always thought by me to be in Kentucky but more than half of the area of the home of the 101st Airborne Division resides in Tennessee. There was little to see beyond the brick walls that surround the post but as many as 550,000 troops call this military installation home.

I digress; back to biking. The only way I could make it to the pre-planned latitude before it got too dark to ride, I rode like heck on city streets to reach Kenwood High School in north Clarksville. A taxi cab was summoned to get me back to the car at McGregor Park. It was nearly dark so I headed out of town toward Petersburg, Illinosis as fast as possible. I hate driving at night but I made it to Illinois before I had to stop for the night. The next day I picked up Connie at Linda's and we headed back to Coralville. It rained most of the way but nothing like the severe thunder storms Mark and I drove through coming home from the Little Miami Trail in Ohio.

I am becoming a professional driver of sorts doing these TAVRTO trails. For the last four trips, 7.116 miles have been put on the car with me driving 3,353 miles alone. I am now looking at doing an Amtrak trip for the New Mexico and Arizona trails. That would leave me with California. Maybe Chris and Geoff will help me get those trails done and celebrate at the Mexican Border.