Today was a great first day. We left our house at 7:30 AM. The temperature was a brisk 42°. Pa rode a total of 51.1 miles, it took him 3:43:28. His average speed was 13.82 mph and his maximum speed was 34.57 mph. His total ascent was 2562.3 feet and his total descent was 2641.1 feet. Here are some photos from today!

Todays joke:

What did the bike say after a long drive...

I am wheelie tired! :)

Here is a word from Pa:

I had heard about the Natchez Trace Parkway many years ago and I hoped that one day I might get the chance to ride on it. I could not find much information about the topography and I am going into it without having a good sense of what I am in for. If today is any indication it will be fantastic. I prefered to start from the north and not because it would be all downhill from there, but because I thought I could get a good start on our arrival day. The road is not overwhelmed by traffic if today is any indication and signage states I can take up the lane if I deem it necessary. So far the quality of the road is excellent which matters a lot when riding a bike. I even had a tail wind for the last few miles. There is no doubt that this is a scenic roadway. It might have been more colorful a week or 10 days ago, so maybe when we get further south there will be more leaves on trees. The things I found interesting today was walking on the old trace, seeing a deer, and being approached by abou 10 classic GM pickups from the 60s. The most unusual thing though was there was a gentleman walking with two dogs. The larger dog was harnessed into a small trailer and it had some of his gear with a small dog on top. Fletcher asked that I keep track of how many bicyclists I saw and besides myself there were only four others. If today was windy tomorrow is going to be rather cold. My definition of a winter day is a day that does not reach the 40 degree mark and tomorrow promises to be one of those days. Wish me luck! I would also like to thank everyone for their support, not only the financial donations to Keep Punching, but knowing there are so many people who wish me well in this endeavor will help me get through the tough times.

Glenn