What's With All The Bells?

There was trouble in paradise, today (more on that at the end of this post). We passed one bank thermometer that said it was 68°F along the way, and I doubt it was actually that warm, but it was close. Very nice day. It only got cloudy around 3:45, while we were at Montgomery Bell State Park.

Our ride started, as many do, west of the Parthenon, in Centennial Park. From here, we headed west on Charlotte Avenue, until we hit massive traffic a few miles from where I live. So, we took a detour -- a shot down Robertson to Annex, and onto Cabot. That dumped us just a few hundred yards from the new Thornton's gas station, where we fueled up before heading out on a near-90 mile trip up River Road, to TN 49 (to Charlotte, TN), then south down TN 48 to Dickson, TN, and east on U.S. 70 to Montgomery Bell State Park.

Here's Steve (behind his Vespa GT250ie) and Mike, They Who Accompanied Me.

The spillway at the lake in MBSP.

A rickety pedestrian bridge, not far from the spillway. We hung out at the midway point for a while before heading back.

This was what was worrying me the whole ride: About midway out River Road, I noticed that my temperature gauge was swinging from midpoint to full-pegged HOT. Throttle position nor grade seemed to have any discernible effect on the position of the needle, so right as we got to TN 49, I pulled off and told the guys I was gonna head back. Mike's a mechanic, and said if we didn't smell any antifreeze, it was probably okay. We didn't. So, I added some water to the reserve tank, and soldiered on, but the gauge kept doing this the rest of the day.
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