Crocker reaches halfway point

He's starting to feel it.

Today wasn't so easy, David Crocker says. He's getting a little saddle sore, says he's glad to be staying in a hotel with a Jacuzzi.

But, other than the fatigue, the trip couldn't be going any better.

Today Crocker traveled 91.65 miles in five hours and nine minutes, through Lincoln, Franklin, Grundy and Marion counties. He averaged 17.6 miles per hour and accrued 21,000 pedal strokes.

Best of all, he made it up the mountain.

"It wasn't terrible," he says. "It's not really what I would call a steep grade. But it was long, about three miles. But you just have to keep on truckin' and don't quit."

Once he reached the top, Crocker says the temperature cooled off and the trip was quite nice.

"From there, I just let it roll. I had been looking forward to this part of the ride. I didn't touch the brakes at all going down. It was a lot of fun."

Just before the trek up the mountain, Crocker rested in a little community called Cowan. It's a one red light town, he says, the kind of place where living is easy.

While there, he passed a guy riding down the sidewalk in an electric wheelchair, complete with its own sound system.

"He had a boom box mounted to the wheelchair and speakers. And blaring out of that thing was some fine country tune. He was enjoying himself and everybody else was too."

Crocker says he's enjoying seeing this part of the country for the first time.

"It's just beautiful. Really pretty territory."

Tonight he's resting in Jasper, Tenn., and says he feels like planting a big kiss on whomever invented the Jacuzzi.

"Man, it was nice," he says of his dip in the tub.

Tomorrow he'll cross over into Eastern time and will stop for the night in Athens.

"But, really," he says, "there have been no problems in any way, with directions, traffic or mechanics.

"It's all going according to plan."

Dr. David Crocker is riding his bicycle 600 miles in six days across the state of Tennessee to raise money for a Habitat for Humanity house in Knoxville. To pledge or make donations for his trip, all of which will go to Habitat, send contact info and a check made payable to Habitat for Humanity to David Crocker, 4815 Santa Monica Road, Knoxville, TN, 37918. Crocker is paying his personal expenses for the trip.