We had a long drive back to the point where we left off and arrived there at 7:20 am. Today we would finish up TN and get started on MS.
We are using two Garmin GPS to help navigate. The main one is a Garmin 780 which we can export routes from Garmin Basecamp to the GPS. The other doesn’t allow for that so we use it for the trip computer and looking stuff up. We’ve noticed that the lady inside the GPS is getting bit of an attitude. From time to time when we load a route, the GPS will modify the route slightly taking us off the trail. So, we refer to the roll charts and the map to find our way back to the trail. This causes the GPS to have to recalculate the route and the lady says “recalculating”. But here lately it seems that she is saying it with a snotty tone in her voice. I’m going to give her another day and if she doesn’t straighten up and fly right, she will be dismissed.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch we were meandering around Tn wrapping up the final miles before we reach MS. We are quite excited about this as we will have been in TN for 770 miles. You can almost make it across Texas on I10 in that distance. We saw some Guineas out in the road, they weren’t in any rush to get out of the way so I had to slow down and make sure I didn’t run over any. They can be quite mean I’m told. Later in we ran into a strange crop that we’d never seen before. I thought it was Canola but wasn’t sure. There was a man sitting in his truck next to the field so I stopped next to him and asked him what the crop was. I could see the wheels turning in his head and after he figured it out, he said “milo”. We asked him what they used milo for and he could not answer that question. Feeling like we had exhausted our welcome, we moved on richer for the knowledge.
Pretty soon we crossed the Tennessee River at the Pickwick Dam and Locks. No pictures, we were way above them on a narrow bridge. Soon, we were almost to the state line. We could see the marker on the GPS indicating the end of the map. Excitement was building. Before we knew it we were there. It was anticlimactic. No high school marching bands. No colorful ribbons to drive through. No county beauty queens with magnums of champagne. Not even a welcome to Mississippi sign. Just this.
So, we loaded up the first MS route and were immediately lost. After resorting to the map we saw where we needed to go but had to listen to the GPS lady tell us she was yet again recalculating. You’d think we’d asked her to unload the dishwasher. So, we were headed in the right direction looking for a particular road which she said was several miles away. So I was running about 65 mph when we see the road sign pointing to the right. I threw out the anchor and made a U-turn causing her to have to recalculate once again. We got going down this road following her directions only to realize that we were supposed to turn right about a mile back. This caused another U-turn and another recalculating. Finally, we were heading in the right direction in the right road. So far, we weren’t to happy with MS. The scenery wasn’t anything to blog about either. The kudzu is doing well out here.
Later on the roads were clearly marked and we were making good time. We did have one spot where we thought we were lost, but we were wrong. Lots of nice roads both paved and gravel, and the scenery starting improving. Before we knew it we were done for the day. After reaching hwy 30, we turned away from the trail and headed for New Albany.
Back tomorrow.
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