132: Keeping track of time

The Little Tennessee River

We mark time in our lives by noting events and experiences.  School starts - another year has passed! The seasons change and we pull out the Christmas decorations; we tick off weeks by the regular meetings, like choir practice, that govern our weekday evenings - is it Thursday night already?  So as September begins, and I see the ads for Labor Day sales and celebrations, I think, "Wow! Another holiday come and gone while we are out riding our bike!"

We left home a week or so before Mother's Day, and enjoyed sharing that day with our daughter Dana and her family when we arrived at Lake Tahoe. Memorial Day, we fashioned a picnic supper from the grocer's deli counter and ate it at the campground on Whidbey Island, en route to our friends Jeff and Gail's home in Friday Harbor. July 4th - where were we? - oh, yes! In Hutchinson, Minnesota, which had its celebration before we got there. And now, as summer comes to an end, we'll celebrate Labor Day somewhere in Tennessee.

While others make plans for fireworks and grill hot dogs and soak up sun on a beach or put the boat in the water one last time, we spin our legs and move from one place to another. And thus a whole summer has gone by while we were riding our bicyle! I can't decide how I feel about that.

Kudzu to the left of us

Kudzu to the right

The kudzu out here is pretty spectacular. From time to time, we have rolled through a corridor of kudzu - the vines covering everything on either side of the road. It's a bit creepy looking, to tell the truth. I get the sense if I stopped moving for an hour or so, it would grow right over me!

We crossed the Tennessee River near the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. Now, I am not afraid of nuclear power generation and believe it to be a reasonable part of supplying our nation's power needs. But I have to admit, the cooling towers just look ominous. Hard not to react as well when you see signs like these.

Good to know

The nuclear plant has been in operation for a couple of decades. Also in place is an electric plant, at the dam, and there used to be a goal generation plant also, which made this a triple threat once upon a time.

The day's report:  Maryville to Spring City, 65.1 miles/6374 to date

Here's the route for the day

Watts Bar Nuclear Plant