Knowing where we were going made all the difference this morning. And we left at 6:15.
The Memphis River Walk has the potential to be a good trail. It’s a series of individual parks, starting with this one:
We went through some nice neighborhoods with great views of the river:
But the third park and trail was closed. Yesterday we had to find a detour, today we knew what to do. We rode past Beale Street and found some construction happening. In the background, the local riverboats that offer tours, Mud Island, and the closed I-40 bridge:
A right turn on Monroe Ave took us to Main St with an empty trolley going by:
Main St in Memphis at 7:15 am, looking north:
South:
On the corner:
This is the detour we had to take around one of the closed parks. The left lane on S Riverside Dr was blocked to vehicle traffic. In the right lane, the correct place to ride, there was no bike lane or shoulder (or sidewalk). But there was plenty of partially protected space in the blocked left lane so that’s where we rode.
Approaching the bridge from the east side of the river:
A better view of the park underneath the three bridges:
At the W Memphis end of the Big River Crossing, we turned left on S Loop Rd for about 3 miles to get back to the turn off for the campground. Industrial sections on the right, the levee and river on the left. It had a great shoulder most of the way and very little traffic.
21 miles. Hurray! We got to ride two days in a row which also meant Starbucks both days. And we were back in the air conditioned RV by 8:45 am!
arletelouise 