After the storms passed, a cold front came through the Huntsville area. We decided to get an early start because the winds were supposed to increase throughout the day. We left our hotel by 8am and headed toward Fayetteville, Tennessee. The air felt bitterly cold. This is relatively speaking though. We are used to 80s and 90s and today it was in the high 40s/low 50s for our ride. Leaving Huntsville was pleasant; we went through some nice neighborhoods and stopped at a bike shop to bike up a couple of spare tubes. We also stocked up on groceries at Dollar General because we had a coupon to be used for today only ($5 off a $25 purchase). We never realized how hard it would be to spend $25 at Dollar General. We came out with 4 bags full of goodies and had to find room on our already-packed bikes. 

The first part of our route on Hwy 231/431 did not have any sort of shoulder or bike lane. Luckily, traffic was light and most drivers were very respectful about going around us. After 15 miles or so, we had a decent-sized bike lane for the rest of our 37 miles. At about mile 27, we crossed the state line into Tennessee. We were so excited to enter our 4th state of the trip! We tried to take photos of ourselves hanging from the state sign, but had some difficulties (see Picasa album: Week 2).

We arrived at our destination in Fayetteville, earlier than planned. We were rolling up our CouchSurfer's driveway by noon. Our hosts for the day/night were John and Marcia Ruffing. These two are an amazing and active couple. As we pulled into the driveway, we noticed 81-year-old John up on the roof. He was fixing the weathervane on top of his garage. If you think that is great, John also gardens, keeps bees, makes stained glass, plays pool, cooks, drives cross-country, builds furniture out of stones, and much, much more! His wife is just as spectacular; she had surgery to remove stomach cancer just a few weeks ago and she's already back on her feet living life to the fullest. 

After settling in to their house, we ate lunch together (beef & vegetable stew, rye bread from Europe, Swiss cheese, Greek yogurt, pudding). Then, Marcia suggested we do some sight-seeing since we had arrived earlier than planned. Little did we know, we were only 15 miles away from Lynchburg, TN: home of the Jack Daniel's Distillery. John drove us there and joined us for the free tour of the distillery complex. We learned so many things about Jasper (Jack) Daniel's and the way this particular whiskey is made. We also took a look around the tiny town of Lynchburg and munched on some free samples of fudge made with Jack Daniel's whiskey and some peach salsa. 

When we got back to John & Marcia's house, John gave us a tour of his backyard. We met his pheasant, saw his bee collection, admired his garden, checked out the deer feeding area, and saw the infamous outhouse! Marcia prepared a delicious dinner of spaghetti for us and we also had some cake and ice cream leftover from John's recent birthday. 
After dinner, we got a tour of John's office area. The main attraction was the pool table! We played three rounds of 9-ball and were pleasantly surprised by Emily's skills. She won the first two games and Michelle finally overtook her on the last one. We have a feeling that John was going easy on us. 

We had such a wonderful stay with John & Marcia. If anyone is ever going through the southern Tennessee area, be sure to contact them!