I slept soundly for about 7 hours last night. I awoke at 5:30 to the sounds of an argument amongst a murder of crows who were unhappy about something, perhaps my presence. Or maybe they were just trying to alert me that a truck was parked at the church. From what I could see, it appeared to be a small box truck with the back door open. I was sure they were there to cut the grass. So I tried to hurry and gather my things and leave. "Tried". An effort was made. I was quick about it at first but then I kept misplacing things and after 45 minutes or so I was almost ready to go except I couldn't find a crucial bungee cord. I looked everywhere. I usually stash it in a bag so don't lose it, I looked through everything and it wasn't there. Looked all over the grass where I was and didn't see it. Checked the bike again, nothing. Just when I was going to give up my eyes ran across it in the grass. Got to be more careful. By now it sounded like there was a trash truck near where the first box truck was. First I was going to go out the side to the road but there was an SUV there. So just threw caution to the wind and rode behind the church to the main road. I passed within sight of all the commotion. It was a trash truck all along with a couple of guys just standing there chatting. Don't know if they saw me leave but if they did they didn't care. Probably thought they were seeing things if they noticed. After a couple miles I stopped at Piney Grove church which had water, to cook a meal for breakfast. I had a decent 40 more miles to the Tennessee river where there might be a store. I was in good spirits on this next section. I saw a fox squirrel and a turkey. Just after I started a downhill I spotted two baby skunks beside the road. First thought I had was to turn around and take a picture. On second thought, bad idea. Didn't want to get sprayed. They were extra cute though. And young, not much bigger than chipmunks. I don't think momma got hit as I didn't smell anything but I never saw her. Just before I got to the river I encountered a road closed sign. Didn't think much of it, usually it's a bridge out or something easy to get by on a bike. First obstacle was a cool old wooden, half broken bridge. Perfectly safe for a bike. I emerged into vast cornfields. Road turned to gravel. Eventually the road stopped at a big culvert in the middle of the field they were working on, it was all dug out. Never did see any signs other than the initial road closed one. I walked across and carried my bike back up to the other side which led to some houses by the river and an RV campground. Then a TVA campground which was really nice but pretty full of RVs and it was only morning still. Also, can you really call it camping if you bring a leaf blower with you? Going over one of their speed bumps I dislodged my seat bag from my saddle rails. I awkwardly tightened it back up in the sun right in front of some campers. Got going and not 100 yards away were some nice day use picnic tables. Doh. I sat here for a bit because it was shaded and nice by the river. Next I rode by the hydroelectric generators at Pickwick dam. It was pretty dramatic with the tall and long vehicle bridge spanning the river at the same place. There wasn't much room on the actual road, and lots of log trucks. So I hopped up on the sidewalk which had enough room for me and was raised enough that I didn't think a truck could run up on me. There was an interesting little dry goods grocery store on the other side, in which I grabbed a soda and some snacks. One of which I found out later was out of date by a year, which explains why stuff was so cheap in there. Soon after a few more miles I was in Mississippi. I had a decent climb not long after crossing over and the road turned to gravel. It was here I began my battle with a horde of horseflies. They wouldn't leave me alone. Constantly buzzing around and I never could shake them on the downhills. They followed me for MILES. It was also pretty hot by this point. Thankfully I was feeling ok otherwise. At one point one flew almost into my eyes underneath my sunglasses and in the process of freaking out and swatting at it I knocked my glasses 20 feet away in the ditch. Horseflies. Shouldn't. Exist. Eventually after far too long I arrived at Kossuth, which had a DG. I intended to stop at a cemetery right after but I missed it somehow. I continued on to another church I had marked. The pavement I was riding to get there was typical of the back roads lately. What they do is spray lots of hot tar and then lay down pea gravel and the pressure of car tires plus the sun day after day is supposed to fuse the whole deal. It works surprisingly well in most instances. But it was so hot in the day today it was melting. I ran over some and it actually stuck to the plug in my rear tire from the other day and pulled it out of position. So I had to put another in and make sure to cut it off even with the tread this time. Sheesh. I passed two other churches and decided on one a few miles more. But I got confused and stopped at the first one flanking the north side of the water tower. But the one I had marked was on the south side. This one was abandoned. But I had already sat down and gotten half situated and didn't want to move all my stuff again. So random abandoned church it is.