GMRR Day 11 - Ripley, TN to Union City, TN

The link to the route and ride statistics is here.

The day started out with a bunch of worried riders.  It had rained overnight, and was still raining when I got up.  By the time we loaded, the rain had stopped, but I still figured the bike would be a mess from all the water on the road.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it reasonably clean when I got in.  I did my duty and cleaned it up before taking it to the room anyway.
As it turned out, it was a lovely day for a ride.  The sky stayed overcast, and the temperatures stayed moderate.  I would be delighted to ride in today's conditions the rest of the way.  Even the headwind which has plagued us the last several days was, while still a headwind, less than it has been.
Once again, we made our way on lovely rural roads.  We were in a lot of farmland, with some wheat fields and a fair amount of corn.  Here is a field to give you an idea of what it was like out there.

We went through a couple of small towns along the way, the largest of which was Dyersburg.  It had a lovely courthouse building, as you can see here.



At the left edge of the picture is a statue, seen in full below.  It was erected to honor the Confederate soldiers of Dyer county.

While the courthouse looks pretty good, directly across the street is the following scene, which is more typical of these small towns.

As you can see, prosperity has long since gone.
The last little town before Union City was Troy.  As you may note, either the nice people they were trying to feature, or the idiots such as modified the sign, live in Troy.  I suspect they have both.

I will close with a picture my roommate Ken took of me on the road.