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.  

Seg #49 & #50 Madison & Huntsville, AL Tennabama Trip 10/1-2/14

Seg #49 Bradford Ck Trail + streets of Madison AL 10/1/14 

Start	County Line Rd S	N 34.68261  W 86.78667	N-S miles 10.4
End	Bradford CK Trl	N 34.72157  W 86.78639	Trl lgth 4.1 Ride 7.9mi

Ride hr 1:07

AVS 6.9

MXS  mph 18.6

DST 7.9mi

Tmp 66

Kcal 335

Seg #50  Indian Ck Trail + streets of Huntsville AL 10/1/14 

Start	Indian Ck Grnway	N 34.70910  W 86.70136	N-S miles 10.4
End	Harvest, AL	N 34.85964  W 86.72233	Trl lgth 14.8 Ride 15.1 mi

Ride hr 3:19

AVS 8.6

MXS  mph 20.9

DST15.1 mi

Tmp 86

Kcal 440

This was the third time I bundled a trip to Petersburg, Illinois with pre-planned trail rides; this time, in Alabama and Tennessee---affectionately named the Tennabama trip as opposed to the HomaTex trip (see Segments 43-48). Petersburg was  nearly a third

Connie visited Linda and Don in Petersburg while 
I rode trails in Tennessee and Alabama. 

of the way to Huntsville, Alabama. I kept driving another six hundred miles, arriving in Huntsville as dark was closing in. I was too tired and night time trail riding was too risky. It was still dark in the morning when I headed for the first trailhead. The coordinates I had plugged into Trixie (car GPS), were spot on for the Bradford Creek Trail. It was rush hour so going slow enough to find the trail-head participated a bally of toots from irritated morning commuters. 

The Bradford Creek Trail presented a couple of 

firsts. The trail was marked differently than I have 

seen. It is common to have a painted line down 

the middle of a paved trail but not a more narrow 

walk path (left  36") versus a wider bike side (60"). 

Another first is the small white sign  (left) that 

says "BEWARE of  SNAKES". I think the

sign should have read "BEWARE of HUMANS"   

There were multiple cars parked at the trail-head so I knew I wasn't going to be the only soul on the trail. Even though there were plenty of people to slow for, I made good time riding  the trail and then extending on to the County Line Road to knock down latitude overlapping a trail in Santa Cruz, California. 

The next trail of the Tennabama trip was another Huntsville area ride. I found the Indian Creek Greenway Trail about 10 a.m. The farthest south this trail runs is Old Madison Pike Road in Madison, Alabama. There was a problem getting on the trail , the path was not accessible. In fact the whole bridge at trail-head, at Old Madison Pike Road, was gone. Work crews were in the process of building a new four lane bridge. It looks like it will be a long time before this project is done. This disruption necessitated me riding steep hills to find another trail access point. After a mile diversion, I was back on the Indian Creek Greenway. I could only ride about

This trail was very similar to the Bradford Creek  Greenway.
Once  these trails are connected, I imagine Madison and
Huntsville will become a destination for trail riders afar.

three miles to the end of the trail and then I needed to turn around. Fortunately I found a piece of the trail that led to a park full of play equipment, sort of a public-private park for those living at the end of the cul-de-sac. The only way out of this dead-end situation was to either go back to where I started or ride city streets and head-out for the north piece of the Indian Creek Greenway, north of Highway  72.  I was fortunate to hail down two road bikers to ask about how to find the north section of the trail. They suggested I forget going to the north section since it was less than a mile in length. They also warned me about the unfriendliness of Slaughter Road; the direct route to cross Highway 72. Despite their suggestions, I decided to push on. After riding through Potters Mill Development, I was on Slaughter Road, probably the most egregious breaking of my self imposed rules for riding trails only. Because the speed limit was 45 miles per hour and the traffic was light,  I was able to ride the white line at the very edge of the road hoping everyone would give me a break. They did. I rode farther north than necessary because I wasn't confident I would find the small section of Indian Creek Greenway just north of Highway 72. I called a cab and he gave me a lift to the remaining short segment of the trail. I rode the remaining latitudes mostly on city streets and sidewalks to an Exon station where I caught another cab back to the car. By two o'clock the bike was back on the car and I was on the road to Clarksville, Tennessee for the final segment of the Tennabama Trip.