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DAY 19

If it got any better than this, it would have to be illegal!

RIDE OVERVIEW: 

Early start to a longish day.  We expected light tailwinds today...something we weren't used to but somehow we figured we'd just have to deal with it.  Since Barbara left in Memphis, I've been having trouble sleeping mostly from worry about missing something that was in her job description like paying bills, setting up motels, and confirming meals, etc.  Aside from that, it may be that I've been in "non aligned" bathrooms for the last few days.  I've been doing a study and I've come to the unsubstantiated realization that when the toilet, tub, and bed are all oriented the same way, I get a good night's sleep.  I find it most disturbing when the tub and bed are aligned and the toilet is a different orientation.  I've even fallen off a toilet that was turned 90 degrees from the bed orientation...don't know why.  Maybe this is something I should keep to myself, but I wonder if anyone else has any experience in this area?  May take further study...until then, I'll continue to be very careful when they are not all aligned the same way.  Speaking of bathrooms on the road...I was speaking of that wasn't I?  Finding a different bathroom every night is also disconcerting at times.  It really is embarrassing when you end up in a closet when you are half asleep and can't seem to find the commode or the sink...panic! 

The light tailwinds today allowed everyone to get in fairly early today...last in by 3ish.  It's amazing what a lack of hills and a little favorable wind will do.  Plus the temperatures are really on the mild side so we are happy campers.  We are watching the gulf with great interest as Ivan churns it's way toward the coast, but for now, we will enjoy all the nice weather we can.  It looks like we should be in a good pattern all the way until Ivan starts to affect us...hope we can skate, but it don't look too good at the moment. 

Today we entered prime cotton country.  We didn't see much in the way of harvest, but I'm sure we should start seeing harvest in the next couple of days.  We also saw our first rice field today.  Another interesting feature of today's route, Clarksdale is known for it's Blues Music.  A couple of riders went exploring when they got to town and found a Blues Bar (Ground Zero) for lunch.  The first year I led this ride, riders found a huge dead rat laying outside the door (I think the owners were miffed because they didn't get it up to use in the gumbo before someone saw it), but aside from that, they enjoyed music all afternoon...that's what it's all about.  Just a perfect ending to a great day of cycling...it could only have been better if we could of had the rat for lunch.

After rap, we had a steak buffet at the Western Sizzlin across the street...a hearty dinner for hungry riders.  Tomorrow we'll tackle another 80 miles on severe flat terrain into Greenville.  Tune in and see if we can handle the stress. 

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY: 

"Craig, why are you wearing that jacket?  It's 85 degrees out here"
"I haven't thawed out from Keith's air conditioning setting in the room."

"Does anyone know of any time when Mike has changed the route that it made it shorter?"

"I can't wait to see some cotton."

"There's bears around here???"

"You said you were going to pull the pace line at 20 MPH but you speeded up and dropped me!"
"I'm sorry that I accelerated to 20.3 during my pull...but it felt so good.

"If it were any better today, it would have to be illegal."

AH HA MOMENT OF THE DAY:  Jack realized when the 50th truck passed him on highway 61 that he'd made a wrong turn somewhere.  He was thinking that I had said in rap that we may only see 2 or 3 vehicles all afternoon when we got on "Old 61" because they had built a "New 61" that paralleled it.  Oops...luckily all roads led to Clarksdale, but the only traffic on our road was us.

DUH OF THE DAY:  Buzz and Dick H. after Karen told them that she wasn't sure if they were on the right road, they spun around and went back to the last cue before she could stop them to figure out they were actually on the right road in the first place.  She couldn't go chase them since she had the trailer on a narrow road.  When they got to the previous cue, they went the opposite way they had originally gone thinking that the "R" on the cue sheet probably really meant "Left."  NOPE.  Six bonus miles before they figured they should have spent a little more time with Karen discussing the options.