Days 39 & 40: Franklinton, Poplarville and VanCleave, MIssissippi

"I want to ride this road forever and I'm dying to go home..."

A line in a song by Eliza  Gilkeyson that perfectly encompasses the paradox of being out here-- on a daily level I begin by loving the ride and end anxious to finish.  In the greater scheme of things I know I have finally rediscovered the joy of the bicycle at the same time as wishing we were back in Maine.

Mississippi has been a big surprise.  My last blog post described our soaking wet ride from St. Francisville to Franklinton, Louisiana.  The next morning dawned crisp and clear.  In 20 miles we were out of Louisiana and over the Pearl River into Mississippi.  The road was awful-- heavy traffic with a rumble strip and no shoulder, so we were forced to ride in the vehicle lane.  Bubba came through for us, however, getting us off that road in less than four miles and the rest of the day was pure delight.  Back roads with almost no traffic and a wonderful short (48 mile) ride to a really nice R.V. park.

A nice R.V. park?  Yes, it is possible-- although this one appears to be in the last stages of dying.  Three (!) toilets with showers, no interstate highway roaring past, no trains hooting by in the night, not even many R.V. tenants.  The buildings are deteriorating and it is clear that the proprietor is about to call it quits but it was a pretty spot with lots of room for tents. We had a lovely afternoon in the "Pamper Zone",  a good dinner, and a lovely cool evening for sleeping

Today's ride was 70 miles.  The entire thing was on great roads.   Bird song instead of truck noise, perfect temperatures, insignificant wind and lovely scenery.  Both Louisiana and Mississippi have important timber industry (who knew?), so the ride alternated between beautiful pine forests and pastoral grazing lands.  In 70 miles we went through no towns-- the only line markers were for counties-- Pearl River, Stone and Jackson.  The place we have ended up is a town called VanCleave but it is pretty much just a dot on the map.  In fact, that is our only complaint for the day-- as the woman said, "I doan bleeve there's ennyplace in VanCleave ta git ice cream".

Now we are in yet another nice R.V. park.  Will wonders never cease?

Day 41: VanCleave MS to Dauphin Island, Alabama

River in Mississippi with Cypress trees

Bait crickets for sale at a country store in Mississippi

Bridge to Dauphin Island

An eventful day during which we rode 70ish miles to Dauphin Island.  Everything on this ride is becoming "ish".  Coffee at 6ish, miles at 70ish.  I started out with a flat at precisely 2.64 miles but fortunately John was right behind me to change it.  The process took long enough, however, that for the first time ever on this ride we were dead last.  We were able to catch up before long-- happily for me because I stress about being last.  John is calm and serene wherever he is.

The roads were rural at first but became busier as we went on and eventually we were on a reasonably bad road-- smooth but with no shoulder and lots of traffic.  John and I have been negligent about wearing our blaze yellow vests but decided it was a good time to put them on.  This showed some foresight because at about mile 35 we heard that one of our riders had been hit by a truck.

Needless to say there were feelings of distress through the group so we were relieved to learn that he was not badly hurt.   He was actually hit by the mirror of a bakery delivery truck and rode off the road before spilling over into the weeds.  The truck driver stopped and was full of remorse and an off duty policeman was next on the scene and called 911.  He ended up with a bruised but not broken shoulder, a small ding on his forehead from where his own mirror hit him and overall soreness.Whether a couple of days will see him back on his bike is not yet known.

I found the last thirty miles somewhat tedious because the terrain was very flat and straight.  Also slightly surreal because we were riding next to some kind of wide ditch or canal in which were several half sunken small boats-- along with the many closed, abandoned and dilapidated buildings we have passed, these strengthened our general sense that rural America is in decay.

Dauphin Island is charming, however, and this campground is lovely with lots of big twisty trees, plenty of room for tents and a nice enclosed rec hall where we will undoubtedly spend the upcoming rainy afternoon.

Day 42: Rest Day on Dauphin Island

Ambassadors for the City of Mobile with John and Terry.

The ten hole latrine at Fort Gaines, Dauphin Island

This looked like an improvement to the toilets we have been getting but then I learned that it served 400 men so I guess our ratio of 2 to 45 is actually better!  It was a clever design, opening onto the beach so that it was cleaned out twice a day at high tide.  

Our rest day was great and very restful.  We toured the fort and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and went for a walk on the beach and tried to get ourselves psyched up for the last few days of riding.  

Day 43: Dauphine Island to Milton, Florida

Palm trees in the wind by the ferry

This promised to be a long and very hard day.  Severe winds were forecast and we had to begin the day with a ferry ride across Mobile Bay.  There was much head scratching and pondering on the part of the ferry crew before they decided that it wouldn't do to leave thirty some bicyclists in the lurch.  So on we got and off we went with the wind blowing like crazy.  (It is hard to take a picture of wind but you can see the waving of the palm fronds in the top picture.)

Much to our amazement, as soon as we left the shelter of the harbor, the waves began to crash up on the edges of the ferry, so much so that the people standing up on the observation deck in the picture got wet.  The ferry dipped and lurched and the waves came right up onto the floor.  It was certainly the most thrilling ferry ride of my lifetime... and although I was not afraid, I was at the margins of my comfort level and there were others on the boat who found the experience quite stressful.

The ferry trip meant that we didn't begin an 85 mile ride until close to nine and with the wind gusting capriciously at up to 30 knots we knew there was a challenge ahead.  On the other hand, the riding was lovely along the shoreline through Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores and there were some trees to shelter us from the wind.  At about mile 32 we crossed the line into our eighth and final state, Florida.  Our route took us along Perdido Key, lined for many miles with huge resort hotels and condos--  like a linear Las Vegas.  Next was a bit of fiddling around as we took a southern route around Pensacola and then a very scenic ride along the Pensacola  Bluffs.  Finally we joined our old "frenemy" Route 90 and headed north to Milton.  Route 90 in Florida is a great improvement over the same road in Texas.  The shoulder was great, the traffic and speed limit reasonable.  Nevertheless, it was after six when I finally arrived at the campground-- more than nine hours on the road.  Temperatures in the last few days have been cool and the nights wonderful for sleeping.  Any bugs that might think about feasting on us are being blown away by the winds.

Days 44 & 45: Milton to DeFuniak Springs to Marianna, Florida

Bubba Barron

Writing this a day later, I find I can remember nothing about yesterday's ride.  It was only about 53 miles, the weather was nice, the road was fine.  Perhaps the most memorable thing was John's lunch...barbecued pork on top of tater tops with cheese melted over the whole thing.  We ended up at a very nice R.V. park, certainly the nicest of our trip, although they seem to get better the further east we ride.  The park ladies catered dinner for us-- or I should say for the others-- since my vegetarian meal was the usual enchiladas and spanish rice (good ones, I must say).  I did eat their speciality-- sweet potatoes wrapped in dough with a caramel sauce and pecans-- no it wasn't dessert, just part of the meal.

Looked better in real life.

So here we are in Florida and we froze to death in the night.  The internet said that it was 37 degrees in DeFuniak Springs and 46 in Belfast, Maine at about 7:00 this morning.  The ladies made a breakfast that was as good as dinner the night before and we headed off on a 67 mile ride.

The highlight of the ride was the town of DeFuniak Springs.  It is said to be one of only two natural and perfectly round springs in the WORLD!  It looked like a pond to me-- quite large and very beautiful.  Located on this body of water is the oldest functioning library in Florida-- that is to say built as a library and still being used as such.

The part of the building that shows is the original part but they have added on very cleverly to the back and down the bank toward the water so that the library is much bigger than it appears.  The library director came along just as we arrived and showed us around-- a very nice library and one of which the town is very proud.

Otherwise, not much to say about the ride...again good road, good shoulder, nice unexciting scenery.  We were promised a tailwind but it didn't really materialize.  I saw for the first time in the whole ride a "Romney for President" sign.

Day 46: Marianna to somewhere west of Tallahassee

This picture was actually taken a couple of days ago but there wasn't much to take a picture of today.  Florida has finally turned the heat on but it was an okay ride with enough breeze to keep us from overheating.  The ride was only 57 miles and there is not much to say about it.  It was amazingly hilly, in fact, the supposed flat ride we were supposed to have after California has never materialized for more than a half day or so.  My Garmin records the number of feet ascended every day and it has never been less than 1000...today was more than 2000.  We are just west of Tallahassee and apparently the ride tomorrow is right through the city and bad enough that  Bubba says we need to ride as a group.  I don't know how he will restrain the early starters...I got up to go to the bathroom this morning at 5:45 and one couple was already heading out.  They almost always leave first and are rarely seen on the road by the other riders.  There is another rider who is so anxious to leave early that she sleeps in her bike clothes.  I guess none of them are desperate for coffee and breakfast.

The high point of today's ride for me was that I managed to get my chain back on without asking John to ride west to help me.  I did have to call him and ask for instructions but with the help of fellow rider Connie, I was on the road again in a few minutes.  Now we have arrived at perhaps the dumpiest, shabbiest R.V. park of the whole trip-- and that after having written recently that the R.V. parks were getting nicer.  This one is not one bit nice-- no picnic tables, no electric outlets, no nice place to get out of the sun.  I am sitting in a stuffy laundry room where there are plugs and a place to put the computer.  Such are the uncertainties of life on the road.

Day 47: Tallahassee to Madison, Florida

This is what happens when you leave your Florida house unattended for too long!

We had an exciting start to the day because Bubba decided to route us through the heart of Tallahassee (thereby saving 22 miles of riding).  This was on Route 90 starting at 7:30 in the morning.  For safety reasons we were convoyed--- a faster group of riders with a lead car and a follow car went first and the slower riders, also between two vehicles, left second.  John went with the faster ones, of whom there were only nine, and they got through quickly.  The slower group was much larger and it didn't go particularly smoothly.  Tallahassee has lots of hills and lots of traffic signals and lots of traffic, particularly during morning rush hour.  The riders got spread out, especially on the hills, and we got separated by traffic lights and it was altogether a nerve wracking experience for 13.5 miles.  I imagine it was even worse for the commuters whose trip was slowed down by our group.  I was really happy when it was over.

Most of the rest of the ride was tedious but smooth riding except when the shoulder did this (i.e. disappeared) and we had to ride the white line for several miles.  We had lunch in Greenville, the home of Ray Charles.  Fortunately, after being deprived of fried food yesterday (bad choice of restaurants) I was able to get the ever popular fried shrimp "po boy" with french fries today and very good it was.  One of the other riders thought she saw a dead leopard by the side of the road and it turns out that there is an expanding leopard population in this area...who knew?  (Others since have suggested it was a panther, not a leopard or a bobcat).   John and I both missed it, in my case perhaps because I was focusing on listening to Dickens ("Our Mutual Friend") while simultaneously avoiding being kicked into the hereafter by a car or truck.

When we reached Madison we were routed onto a very nice bicycle path (unfortunately going north which means that we need to retrace our steps, something we all hate) and after five miles ended up in perhaps the absolutely worst "camping" site of the whole trip.  It is a church camp (again just one shower) and the tents are set up in a hot, dry and dusty field in the scorching sun.   Bubba  has "pampered" us by renting two porta potties.  Yet worse, there is nothing to do here, lots of gnats and fire ants and "absolutely no adult beverages".  Even worse, tomorrow is a rest day so we have two nights here.  Yet again worse, the following riding day will be extremely hot and more than 80 miles long.

 John and I are hatching a plot to leave in the morning, taking what little we can carry on our bikes, ride as far as Live Oak (thereby cutting the next riding day in half), stay in a hotel and generally leave this place behind.