Back to Fast South       Meet the Riders      Bamacyclist Home

DAY 20

Mississippi...where Elvis is still alive!

ROUTE: Brinkley AR to Senatobia MS DISTANCE: 113 Miles WINDS: WSW-5-10 early, more westerly in the afternoon
WEATHER: Rain showers at departure, clearing and humid in late morning.  52 at departure and 78 at destination.  TERRAIN: First 70 pool table flat, rolling from there. TOTAL CLIMBING: 1200 feet

DAILY DOINGS: The weather forecast was for sunny skies and warm temperatures...plus strong tailwinds to push us into Senatobia.  About 4 this morning I was shocked out of a deep sleep by claps of thunder outside my door...sunshine?  At load time it had eased off to rain showers and it looked by the local Weather Channel radar that it was moving out pretty quickly.  So it was press on with the daily schedule of loading early and riding to breakfast at Gene's a local restaurant.  Gene's is a pretty good place to eat, but anytime we all come in together we overwhelm the wait staff...or in this case, the waitress.  35 meals isn't going to be fast by any stretch, but they did much better than last year.

When I got to the restaurant, the fast group had already left and there were several people who hadn't gotten their food yet...yikes...we are going to have a big spread today.  I gobbled down a quick bowl of cereal and jumped in the van and headed to the front of the group.  I finally caught Jeff and Scott and all behind them to put them under the "Yellow Flag" and advised them to slow down until we got everyone on the road.  They were already 11.5 miles down route and we still had people eating.  In the future I need to inform the wait staff not to bring out Scott's, Jeff's, Ed's, or Tom's breakfast until everyone else is finished eating.  That would make our day of support much easier, but I'm afraid Scott would have a nervous breakdown if someone left the restaurant before he was done eating.  You can just see him start to shake if he sees anyone trying to sneak out on the road before he is ready to start pedaling, but that doesn't happen too often...it's really tough to get ahead of him in the morning rush.  I even have trouble staying ahead of him...as soon as I open the doors to the luggage van in the mornings, his bag hits me in the back.  I'm sure you all know that I'm exaggerating a bit...but my bruises will heal with time.

Will was on a mission this morning...he was even ahead of Scott's group and never backed off.  I really didn't get to him to slow him down, but the fast boys wanted him penalized for attacking under the "Yellow" warning.  I looked in the rule book and found that it would be a 15 minute penalty...but I think he beat them by about 20 minutes so he still had time to spare.  Mark suggested we instill the 1 milk shake penalty.  That would teach him...he can't go an evening without his milk shake.  Anyway, he wanted to be the first across the Mississippi River...which he did, but because no one was there to record it, he didn't get the confirmation photo...oh well.  It's a good thing that Scott, Jeff, David, Ed, and Tom didn't know of his quest or they wouldn't have even thought about slowing down.  Ah, a shallow victory if no one else is aware of the competition.  The first we saw of him was at lunch when Barb barely chased him down for grub.  Maybe that's the ticket...if we don't feed him, we'll find him eventually lying on the side of the road sapped of all his energy.

We're starting to see more and more signs of being in the south.  About 25 mile out this morning, I spent a few minutes watching a crop duster spread insect spray on new cotton plants.  I took a few pictures until my speech started to slurrrrrr and thought I probably should get out of there.  This is really a beautiful portion of our ride and many are seeing things they haven't seen before.  Besides cotton country, we are also entering the Kudzu zone...Kudzu is a voracious plant that covers everything in its path.  It was brought here by the Japanese (I think) to help stop erosion.  Well, it's done that, but it's become more of a pest than something we should feel good about.  Some say you can see it growing and if you stop to take a picture and you stand in one place too long, you will become a prop for some of its beautiful artwork as it will cover you in no time.  This time of year it's not in full bloom, but it's starting to cover low lying areas.  In the summer though, everywhere you look Kudzu will be covering entire wooded areas, fence rows, and even telephone poles with wires...it's eerie.  You'll see shapes that resemble giraffes, elephants, dogs, human faces, and just about anything else you can imagine.  The plant has taken over, but it's beautiful to view (right).  Another phenomenon common in the south that I warned everyone about is fire ants...I warned everyone to be careful not to lay their bikes in a fire ant mound along the side of the road...fire ant bites are very painful and people have died from being swarmed by angry ants.

We entered our 7th state today as you can see from the first photo above...Mississippi.  The terrain was extremely flat until the last 20 miles where it began to roll all the way to town and the roads were smooth and mostly quiet...except for about 6 miles after crossing the river at the Helena bridge (left) and into Senatobia where we popped out in the country on a bone jarring road for a couple of miles.  The traffic was fast, but they gave us a wide berth most of the time.  Gone are the smooth shouldered roads of Arkansas...welcome chip seal back roads of Mississippi and Alabama.  It kinda goes with the territory, we ride highways that are pretty smooth but have traffic.  If we get to the back roads, they will be a little more bouncy and there will be a dog or two to contend with.  What ever, we'll deal with it and continue our trek to the ocean.  Only 7 more days of this riding...it won't be long until we are home wondering where the time went.  I can wait.  Tune in again tomorrow for another chapter in the Fast South 2006...we'll be here.

PS:  Hey kids at the Emerald Mt Christian School...we'll be coming through in a couple days...Wednesday to be exact.  We're looking forward to seeing you as we come through...thanks for the letters and keep us in your prayers...see you soon.

 

DAILY DISCERNING DIALOGUE:

I was having dinner with Team Alabama last night and they were talking about dogs and that Klaus was really afraid of them.  Bob gave Klaus a can of Dog repellent to carry in case he encountered a pooch that got just a little too close.  I just hope they explained to Klaus that you spray the dog with it...and not to use it like bug repellent.  We'll know soon enough.

"My mother told me, 'You tell that nice man who is doing the website that he's doing a wonderful job!'  And she doesn't even have a computer."  Fred relaying a message from his mom.

"What, you can't even come up with a quote?"  Another message from Fred's mom about him not having a quote in the "Meet the Riders" section.  Note to Fred's mom...my bad...he gave me one, but somehow I didn't get it recorded.  I'll fix it tonight.   

 

 DAILY DUH: Several days ago (seems like a month), someone stopped by our SAG and gave us a bunch of Team Discovery cycling hats.  We've been giving them to people who have done something out of the ordinary...usually a DUH.  Today's Discovery Hat goes to Sue.  Seems she stopped at the first SAG all in a tither about leaving her cell phone at the motel some 35 miles back.  She had been thinking for the last several miles what to do to get it back...will they send it to a future motel, should I have it sent to my house, will they even find it?  At the SAG, Barb phoned the motel and gave them her room number and asked if they would look to see if they could find it and send it along.  No luck...it wasn't there.  As Sue was shedding clothing due to the temperature going up, she discovered her phone tangled up in her arm warmers...oops...never mind...dope slap! 

Now that should be enough for Sue to get a hat all by itself, but she wasn't through yet.  This one negates the DUH...but she will still get a hat next rap.  I was just across the Mississippi line when I got a call from Barry.  He said, "I left my bike bag open and lost my cell phone!  I think I lost it when I hit a set of railroad tracks about 30 miles back."  WHAT IS IT WITH CELL PHONES TODAY?  After his call, I was on the lookout for a cell phone laying on the roadside, but no luck on my end.  When I got to the SAG, Barry said he had found his cell too...or rather Sue had found his cell laying on the ground and had given it to him.  I guess that shows if anyone misplaces their cell phone from here on in, call Sue.  She seems to be able to find it whether it was really lost or not. 

DAILY DIGITAL DELIGHTS

Last night Jim had left his door open while working outside.  When he came into the room, there was a squeak that was driving him crazy.  I asked him if he had a mouse..."if it is, it's a big mouse," He said.  "It sounds like a bird."  Sure enough, after further investigation, we found the source of the noise.  A small, young bird had made its way into his room and perched itself on his bag...conveniently placing his bottom over the opened zippered pocket.  There goes the Power Bars.

"Hmmmm, I wonder if he'll miss it?"

Stanley learned a valuable lesson this morning at breakfast.  Never leave bacon unattended on your plate when you get up to go to the bathroom...especially when Don is sitting nearby.  You guessed it, when Stan returned, the bacon had mysteriously disappeared.

Jeff, Doug, Tom, and Scott scored an 8.5 on the synchronized cookie eating event.  They had a 10.0 wired until the German judge noticed Doug used the wrong hand.

Some motels just go the extra mile.

Joe told Team Alabama that he felt like this ride was so tough that he seemed to be just slamming his head into a wall everyday...then Charles pointed out that what he really was doing.  "Oh good," He said, "I don't feel so bad now, I just thought I was imagining things."

 

Pick out the non-cyclist...Joe, Sue, Charlie, and Stan were joined by a local who wanted to be famous.  Clinton (second from the right) is a Journalism student at a Mississippi college.  Just another friend we made on the road.  We invited him to ride with us, but he said he'd rather write about it.

Bob said, "By golly I came on this ride to see cotton...and I'm not leaving this spot until it grows."

Someone else enjoying a lazy afternoon in the south.

Stan has finally found the solution to his problems.

Copyright © 2006 by Bamacyclist  
All rights reserved.