Dauphine Island, AL - rest day

It's been 10 days since our last rest day. Everyone was looking forward to this, especially after the long wet ride on the previous day.

I visited Fort Gaines in the morning. This was a strategic base for the Confederacy.  It is now a privately supported museum, and quite interesting. 

Spent the afternoon cleaning up the bike, taking a nap, getting a massage, and enjoying a couple beers. This morning, the skies had cleared, though we still had a very strong north wind.  By afternoon, things began to dry out from the storms of the prior 2 days.

I feel well rested and ready for tomorrow's 84 mile into Florida. 

Vancleave,MS to Dauphine Island,AL

A pretty good day considering all the elements.  Because we modified our itinerary to stay in a motel last night, we had a somewhat longer day today. 

Fortunately, the worst of the storm passed through while we were asleep. My group started riding around 7:30 this morning while there were still light showers. Showers continued as we rode for the first 40 miles. The remaining 40 miles were in overcast skies, though we had an hour of sunshine and blue sky.

In the early afternoon, we had yet another accident. Mike Gibson fell from his bike after his front wheel was caught in a storm grate.  Heddi was following close to Mike and was also caught up in the accident.  Mike broke his clavicle, and unfortunately will end his participation in the tour. Heddi now has complimentary abrasions to the ones she received several days ago. 

Another sad incident occurred to my group as we encountered a young Labrador dog.  He began chasing us from the left side of the road, while a car passed us, also on the left. The car struck the dog, and did not stop or slow down. We we able to contact a neighbor, though the dogs owner was not home. 

The property of the dogs owner was fenced. Why, or how, did the dog venture beyond the yard?  -- Why did the driver who struck the dog not stop to inform the dogs owner of the incident?

Poplarville, MS - April 17

I realize that I need to post a few pictures of the landscape in Louisiana and Mississippi.  One or two would suffice, since it has been very simillar mile aftrer mile.  It has been rolling hills, almost continuously borderd by pine forests.  Some are protected National Forests, but most are commerical, for wood pulp.  On weekdays, there is a constant line of logging trucks carrying the harvested lumber to the pulp mills.  Even when the trucks are not present, we see the residue of bark and small branches on the road shouders.  

The rains from earlier in the week have resulted in flooding throughout the region.  We first witnessed this on the Pearl River, as we crossed over this boundary into Mississippi.  Some of the peripheral bridges were almost at the river waterline.  

Today, as we were riding to Vancleave, we learned that our destination campground was flooded and not available.  Bubba and staff secured alternate accomodations at a Motel 6 in Ocean Springs.  As I am finishing this posting, another large storm system is moving from the Gulf toward our planned route for tomorrow.  We will wake up tomorrow, check the the weather conditions, and decide upon a plan for reaching Daulphin Island, AL.

Franklinton, LA to Poplarville, MS - April 16

Today we crossed into Mississippi!  Got off to a cold start, as overnight temperatures challenged the state records. the morning temp in Franklinton was 35. Once on the road, we quickly warmed up.  Temperatures were actually very pleasant around 10:00 when the sun was up. 

Bubba had mapped out a nice route, with the last half over country roads where we had little or no traffic.  The hills and the roads we reminded me of our earlier trip into Blanco, TX. 

It was a short day and we did our best to stretch out the day.  We stopped for donuts in Bogalousa, lunch at "Scooters" in Poplarville, and ice cream sundaes at the local Sonic. 

Clinton, LA -- Birth of Granddaughter!

This most notable event during my ride from New Roads to Clinton was the the arrival of my first grandchild, Eleanor Grace Myers!

Clinton to Franklinton, LA

We had a very nice 60 mile ride through rolling hills.  This was a refreshing change from several prior days of flat forested countryside.  We had a cold start, at 45 degrees, but the hill work quickly warmed us up. -- Note that tomorrow, the weather forecast is for record low temperatures, and may be as low as 35 degrees.  Consequently, my riding group has elected a later 8:15 start 😊

Rosedown Plantation

Traveling from New Roads to Clinton, we visited the Rosedown Plantation.  This is a restored mansion and gardens, now owned and maintained by the State of Louisiana. This is a magnificent restoration, where 90% of the furnishings are original to the property.