Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

Isn’t fall the best time of the year? Temperatures get cooler, trees change color and the sky is blue! 

We started our fall adventure in Tupelo, Mississippi. We’ve been here before but it’s a wonderful place to do a repeat visit. Once again we went searching for Elvis and visited his birth place.

There is a wonderful Elvis museum about his life prior to becoming famous and exemplifies his humble beginnings.

We explored downtown, a historic museum and a civil war battle ground hidden in an older neighborhood of Tupelo.

Of course we were able to do a ride on a part of The Natchez Trace that we had not done before. 

We then journeyed to Fayetteville, Arkansas. The countryside starts to change as you venture to western Arkansas and the Ozark Mountains. The interstates you take are rougher than we have normally encountered. I-40 is mainly a trucker route with an enormous amount of debris on the roadside and loads of trucks. Crazy!

Fayetteville is the second most populous city in Northwest Arkansas – it is home to the University of Arkansas…the Razorbacks and is known as the track capital of the world! In 2021 the city was the first city in America to be awarded the Bike City by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). There is an extensive bike trail system throughout Fayetteville, and in 2022 the world cycle cross race was held here.

This location is definitely ideal for a tandem rally. We joined 40 other tandem teams in Fayetteville for a 3 day rally hosted by the HOTTS (Houstonians On Tandems Together). We enjoyed catching up with some folks that we knew at the rally … Walt & Kathy Campbell (from Houston), Tim & Vicki Page (from Acworth, Georgia) and Ric & Marcia Becker (owners House of Tandems). 

We rode to the Sassafras Winery and experienced the fabulous bike trails, and oh yes the hills in Fayetteville! Nothing that we couldn’t do!!

Our second ride took us to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. This park is known as one of the most intact Civil War battlefields in America and is 900 acres. The quiet country roads were wonderful. Car and truck drivers in this area are very courteous and held back on hills for cyclists. Amazing!

The hosts of the event did a wonderful job! Rumor has it that there might be a second Fayetteville Tandem Rally in 2024 (let’s hope so)! 

Next up is Missouri and The Katy Trail!