In
many PACTour Transcontinental Cycling Expeditions, arriving in Amarillo, TX
usually marks the midpoint of the ride.
It also marks the beginning of a whole scenic, historic, interesting and
very challenging journey to Tybee Island, GA across the American Heartland and
South.
We
started by spending an evening and night at "The BIg Texan", complete
with "old west facade" on the motel, a State of Texas shaped swimming
pool and genuine 'old west' restaurant. Maybe some hungry future PACTour cyclist can accept
the 'Big Texan 72 oz Steak Dinner Challenge'. I was just proud of the fact that I ate a fried jalapeno,
and a 'Rocky Mountain Oyster'.
"The
Big Texan" is a world famous landmark on Historic US Route 66 and is the
perfect introduction to the next 200 or so miles of riding. One of the Rest Areas east of Amarillo
on I-40 has a five minute video feature on "Route 66" and tells
motorist something "you may not realize that you are traveling through one
of the legendary segments of Old Route 66". I feel sorry for all the motorist. We PACTour riders got see and experience much of the history
of Route 66 in the eastern half of the Texas Panhandle and southwestern
Oklahoma. We saw many of the old
tourist attractions, little towns, and long stretches of the original 'cement
slab' road. We rode those old
stretches of the original highway for miles. Even beyond the cool museums, we got see parks where
"The Okies" prepared for their trips to California during "The
Dust Bowl" of the 1930s, the courthouse used in one of the scenes form the
movie "The Grapes of Wrath", and even got to explore sections of
"The Mother Road" abandoned in the 1930's.
In
leaving Route 66 and heading southeast across Oklahoma towards the Ozark
Mountains we soon arrived at the Talamena Scenic Drive. The even the 60 mile ride to the
beginning of Talimena show that surroundings are changing and the Ozark
Mountains await. This road was
built in the 1930s by the CCC for no other reason than to give people a chance
to drive for over 50 miles along
the ridge of some of the mountains in the Ozarks. It is probably one of the
most beautiful and hilliest roads I have ever ridden on my bicycle or driven in
a car, and I am from Boulder, CO, at the foothills of the Colorado Rocky
Mountains. It is over 7,000' of
climbing in the last fifty miles of a 113 mile day of riding, and the grades
are 7% to 13% on Talimena.
The
first two miles of the road live up to their legend. It was probably a 13%
grade to actually get up on to the ridge of these mountains to get a scenic
drive. The Talimena
quickly made 'the climb worth the view'. I had to ask myself more than once
"THIS is Oklahoma?" The
end of the day's ride is a proper introduction to the State of Arkansas.
After
a couple of much needed 'recovery days' in riding across the beautiful country
of southern Arkansas, the ride crossed the Mississippi River into the historic
lands of the Delta Blues and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. In a day of great riding we passed
through the birth places, and past burial locations of many historic
people. Seeing the plaque
dedicated to blues musician Robert Johnson stands out in my mind.
Riding
through the city of Greenwood, MS with a group of fellow riders was a segment
of miles I will never forget.
While road cyclists are a much more common sight in the Western part of
the tour (like in Oregon, California, or even Colorado), in The South we
received looks of amazement and questions from the local residents as we rode
through their towns. I think
seeing us in person was more amazing to them than seeing an event like the Tour
de France on television.
From
central Mississippi through Alabama and into Georgia we did some serious
climbing as we traveled though rolling hills covered with forests of pine, and
hardwood trees. I did not know
what to expect in this part of the United States, but I was not expecting such
scenery or challenging riding. In southwestern
Alabama, in one of my favorite days of riding, we rode very near city of Monroeville,
and one of my all time favorite novels, "To Kill A Mockingbird", came
to life for me. We traveled
through places much like those described in the story. I half expected to see one of the main
characters come walking out of many of the buildings we saw.
Our
first day in Georgia was possibly one of my favorite mornings of riding in the
whole tour. We crossed huge
rolling hills all covered with pine forests cast in dramatic highlights and
shadows from the morning sun. Even
if I was pedaling well under 10 mph on the uphills, I got to scream down the
other sides at over 30 mph. I was
again riding my bike as with the joy I had as an eight year old.
The
final day of riding through the incredible beauty of Savannah, GA and out
toward "island time" across the tidal flats and to Tybee Island is a
fitting ending to a segment of the journey that starts back in the arid plains
of the Texas Panhandle.
I'm
sure many first time PACTour riders believe that much of the scenery, history,
interest and challenge of a Transcontinental Cycling Expedition are contained
in the Western US part of the tour.
They are incorrect in that assumption. The Eastern Half of the Transcontinental route from
Amarillo, TX to Tybee Island, GA has just as many and maybe a larger varieties
of scenery, points of interest and challenges to experience. In just a few miles of riding you will
see the whole character of the surrounding landscape change dramatically, and
it will happen several times on the route.
This "Eastern Half" of the PACTour Expedition is something all cyclists should see for themselves.