Completed the Trace!

Day 7    Franklin to Nashville, TN    32 miles.    576 total miles for past 8 days

The highlight of today's short ride was this double-arch bridge, at Mile Marker 438. It's an icon for the Trace Parkway, completed in 1995 and winner of that year's Presidential Award for Design Excellence. If you look up close, you can see some of our group riding on it.

Today's planned route changed several times this morning due to the weather. The previous prediction was for afternoon storms, but rain began at 8:30. What we finally did was unload the van at Mile Marker 440, and we rode south. Right off the bat we got to the famous bridge. If you are ON the bridge, here's what you see looking west:

You can see how high over the valley we were! But you cannot marvel at the beauty of the archway unless you depart the Parkway and take a short walkway off to the side. That's what I did to get the top photo and this next one below.

This is merely a 2nd photo after the top one where I zoomed in so you can see our riders a little better.

In the rain, we continued south to where we ended yesterday, at Mile 429. Some riders stopped there. Others turned around and rode back so they could reach the very very end, presumably at Mile 444 (the advertised total length). Two of us, Myron and I, continued just three miles farther south to return to an historical turnout we'd skipped the day before -- A War of 1812 Memorial.

The inscription is dedicated to the U.S. soldiers who died in that war, and who were buried in unmarked graves along the Trace. It also noted that soldiers marched to battles on the Trace. This war was fought during the heyday of the Trace being an active transportation route (greatest from 1780 to 1830). Just to prove I didn't steal the above photo from the Internet, here's a selfie! hahaha

You can see my fogged-up glasses, and my little cap to shield my glasses from the rain.

I turned back north and rode to the end of the Trace Parkway. But you know what? After every single reference saying it was 444 miles long, it ended at Mile Marker 442. I WAS planning to get a photo of me at Marker 444, but suddenly I didn't want a photo at 442. I was so puzzled, I did an Internet search and here is something I found: "But I came upon a shocking revelation: The parkway is only actually 442 miles long, with the final marker at the exit of the Trace near downtown Nashville, proof that my brochure is full of government sponsored lies. It's a parkway conspiracy!"

Well, at least that helps to answer this puzzle. The map of the Parkway has a continuous dotted line showing where the original Trace was, and once it gets close to Nashville, it goes directly there. Whereas, the Parkway diverts a bit westward and ends about 20 miles to the southwest of downtown.

The very famous Loveless Cafe is what was actually at the end of the Parkway. That's where we ate lunch. It's so popular, we had to wait 45 min for our tables. I took a nap on the rocking chairs outside (it had stopped raining). Janet and ate here in Nov 2012 when we stayed in Nashville for a week. It started in 1951 and now serves 450,000 guests per year, and 7000 of their famous biscuits each DAY. I had their excellent fried catfish and of course their biscuits with a choice of their famous jams. Janet and I had had their pork BBQ, which is served on a corncake pancake. Janet has adopted that when she's served pulled pork at home.

A funny thing happened during lunch. The boys played a trick on Thurman (the jokester himself). He's in the green shirt just to the left of center, as they were ordering. A bit later, the waitress announced loudly that everyone had to sing Happy Birthday to Thurman. We all knew it wasn't really his birthday, but he played it up royally and danced around and took bows. He didn't miss a beat even though it was a complete surprise.

We then drove in traffic to our Sheraton Hotel in the downtown. Actually, we stopped first so the group could see up close the full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Centennial Park. When I made it to my 11th-floor room, I could not believe my view:

That's the state capitol! Incredible view.

Now tonight we will all go out to our celebratory dinner, and then I plan to visit some honky tonks. Actually, I should go down to Broadway right now and see some, since dinner isn't for another three hours. I just wish Janet were here again with me to enjoy Nashville the way we did in 2012.

We had a great ride, a super vacation, wonderful new friends, and I learned lots of history and geography.