1996 Cross-Country Tour. Day 48, July 4, Cornersville to Winchester TN

Thursday July 4, Cornersville to Winchester TN

57 miles

Day 48 map

"An Athiest at Church"

It was actually cool enough this morning that I wore my windbreaker when I started out. That's certainly a change from a couple days ago!

Statue of Jack Daniels on the distillery grounds

In Lynchburg I stopped and took the free tour of the Jack Daniel's distillery. I felt a little like an atheist at church since I almost never drink (an occasional glass of wine), but the tour was well worth the time. Those enormous room-sized fermenting tanks are a "sobering" sight.

Jack's original office building is still there. You know, the one you see in the ads with guys in coveralls sitting on the steps. Inside are old typewriters and adding machines and messy piles of old ledger books scattered over the desks. For the first time in weeks, I thought of my cubicle at work.

Wood-sided building amongst the trees

Deserted country road with sign 'Metropolitan Lynchburg'

Lynchburg really is as rural as the ads make it out to be. I've seen lots of scenic Tennessee back country in the last few days. It seems more prosperous than Arkansas -- You still see lots of mobile homes, but they are in better repair. By the way, why do people keep old junk cars on their property? Don't junk yards haul them away for free for scrap? Or do people figure they might fix them up and use them someday? Just a few of the idle questions that come to mind while riding for hours with nothing else to think about...

Here's another: Why are the waitresses in small-town diners and cafes almost always thinner than their patrons? I guess the waitresses must not eat where they work. For breakfast this morning I had my usual omelette, pre-buttered toast, and two pancakes that came with a plastic cup holding a scoop of about 1/2 cup of butter. Half a cup of butter for two pancakes!

Adam had given up asking for Egg Beaters in his scrambled eggs. (What's Egg Beaters?) Instead he would ask that they be made with only one yolk. I about died laughing the time they did just as he asked: He got a little silver-dollar-sized serving consisting of one egg yolk and nothing else!

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