I’m here in Mobile awaiting the official beginning of L6. The boys are all up in the air right now. When I logged in to brothersbikeride.com I found a draft of a post I never finished from L5. The photos had already been captioned, so I figure I might as well publish it to get everyone back in the BBR spirit.
Here’s what I remember about this day:
- It rained a ton, which you’ll see in some of the later photos, and Silvester and I performed a rescue.
- There were about fifty ladybugs on the ceiling of my bedroom at the plantation.
- I worked really hard on a project to meet a deadline imposed as a power play by a client who knew I was on vacation. I fall into this trap again and again (though most clients aren’t as mean-spirited). It is never worth it. People can almost always wait a week.
I regret that work got in the way of my enjoyment of Leg 5, and I apologize for not entertaining you with my affable wit for the last half of that trip. There’s so much I wanted to tell you, so many song references I never got to use. I’ll be better this time. For now, let’s rewind to March 1, 2015, which started in a smelly Best Western in Ville Platte, Louisiana and ended at the Butler Plantation in Poplarville, Mississippi:
I love that someone manufactured this sign; I find the ETC. both humorous and poignant
Messing around on the grounds of the Best Western while I waited for the guys
They’re ready for the open road. And the sky is ready to open up on them.
This bridge kept going and going, and then it went some more. I think it was four miles long. I said, “Oh, my god” out loud a few times, thinking about what it must have been like to be on this on a bike.
View from Silvester’s pit stop
Crossing the Mississippi on the lovely John James Audubon bridge
Silvester among the majestic trees at Butler Plantation
’70s-style kitchen in Tim, Matt, and Mark’s building
Heavy rain from right before I went out to pick up the guys