Outrunning a storm

August 13, 2016

It's an exercise in futility to listen to weather forecasts. Last night they told us to expect 2 inches of rain today. We woke to cloudy skies, but no rain. The Rose of the Lake B&B breakfast is superb, but does not start until 9:30. We decided to cook our own breakfast and hit the road at 7:30 in an effort to outrun the storm.

It was actually quite pleasant riding under cloudy skies. The temperature was moderate and there was a brisk wind to further cool us down. Oddly the wind at ground level was blowing from the left, but the clouds were moving rapidly to the right.

We reached the Tennessee line without getting soaked. Perhaps you have noticed that while the Kentucky Tennessee border is basically a straight line, there is a little notch a bit West of Nashville where a sliver of Tennessee sticks up into a matching indentation in Kentucky. This is part of the New Madrid seismic area. The notch is intended to prevent Kentucky and Tennessee from sliding past each other in the event of a catastrophic earthquake. That notch is where we crossed.

But there are still some clouds hanging about.

During the Civil War Kentucky was neutral, Tennessee was part of the Confederacy. So the state line was a significant frontier. Because the rivers were important transportation routes, the South built fort Henry to guard the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson to guard the Cumberland River. It was unlikely that Union gun boats would attack both simultaneously, so a single garrison manned both forts, using the land route across the land between the rivers to move quickly between the forts. Early in the war Ulysses S Grant captured both forts and won the nickname Unconditional Surrender Grant because the entire garrison surrendered.

The land between the rivers was both agricultural and industrial. There were quite a few iron making blast furnaces in the area. Some were submerged when the lakes were formed, the remains of others are still visible.

There is a recreation of an 1850 farm a bit South of the Tennessee state line. Team A decided that if it hadn't started raining by then, they would stop in for a visit. Team S decided that if it was raining, they would stop there to take shelter. We seemed destined to pay a visit.

The farm had some pigs. They had eaten every living thing in their enclosure.

We thought (correctly) that they would enjoy a salad.

The sheep were relaxing indoors chewing their cud.

This dung beetle very much appreciated the sheep dung.

No problem moving something several times it's body mass.

Our good luck in avoiding rain continued. We made it to our destination in Dover TN without getting wet. Sooner or later we are due for a real soaking.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0