It was our coldest leg yet. With the exception of one day, I left every morning wearing every layer I brought and some days, kept them on all day.

And our most miles by far of any previous leg. Brian and I planned it that way. I am anxious to click this ‘DONE’ on my bucket list. I don’t want something to happen to me, healthwise, that prevents me fom finishing this adventure.

Adventure Cycling maps had a warning about loose dogs in Louisiana. We encountered none. East Texas and Mississippi were another story. I will never understand why people leave their dogs loose and go off to work all day. The houses/trailers where the dogs charged/chased us, noone ever came out and called their dogs off.

Mississippi has hills, steep ones. I had to use my granny gear on several occasions. Never expected that after East Texas and Louisiana were flat.

Mark observed that every few miles you pass a church, mostly Baptist. Back home, you pass a bank and a drug store every few miles. I am not sure what the significance is.

Having my son Matt join us for the second half of L5 was such a blessing. He set the pace, planned the last day’s route into Mobile, pulled the draft line when we encountered stiff headwinds, and, most of all, knew what to do when Brian started breaking spokes. I don’t know what we would have done without you. I hope you can join us for L6. What do you think Steph?

No FINAL THOUGHTS would be complete without a shoutout for the “Sag Lady”. Another great job by Beth. Even tho you couldn’t post as much because of your work load, your constant attention to our needs was much appreciated. Hopefully we don’t encounter any ‘dry counties’ in Florida. I know you were more flustered that the bikers. Again, “Great Job”.

A cold start to a sunny day with the wind either at our backs or a cross wind. Got chased by dogs one last time in Mississippi, a fitting end to our time in that state. It continued to be hilly until we entered Alabama. No dogs chased us after we entered Alabama. Riding into Mobile turned out to be relatively easy. We are staying at a nice hotel in the historic district near the Mobile River.

I’ve never been to New Orleans but Mark and Brian both said it has the same type of feel but much more drivable. Since our ride today was only 47 miles we had plenty of time to do some sight seeing. Matt and I enjoyed the Museum of Mobile which traces its histiry since it was founded around 1703 by the French. It was later a Spanish colony, and a British colony until after the Revolutionary War. Of course, there is a lot of Civil War history and how badly it suffered during Reconstruction. Alot of the museum was devoted to the struggle for racial equality.

Well the bikes are all packed and we all have 6am flights from the Mobile Airport that we passed on the ride into the city. Can’t wait for that 4am wake up call. Total mileage for this leg was 638.

Truthfully, it just worked out that way. There wasn’t a safe road heading east, so we took to the back roads which headed southeast. The wind was out of the north so we had tail winds today from time to time.

The weather definitely changed during the night. Compared to yesterday’s morning temps in the 70’s when we started, today was 46, with temps falling into the 30’s (wind chill wise) when the ride finished. A longer day than expected, partly because we had to wait out the rain 3 miles into the ride, at a Hardees fast food place, for about 45 minutes. The people were very friendly, with lots of questions and concerns.

I have no idea why but the main roads in Mississippi have no paved shoulders. Our strategy to stick to the main roads to shorten the distance and avoid unchained and unfenced dogs went out the window today. The ride was longer than we wanted and we got chased by dogs. I’m sure someone else will recount a few of the more memorable dog episodes of the day. For some reason, I was never the primary target which was okay with me.

This is our last night in Mississippi. Tomorrow is our last day of riding and we enter Alabama, our seventh state and another one I’ve never visited. In honor of Mississippi, I ordered fried catfish for dinner tonight. Can;t say I’ll order it again. Done that.

We left the motel in short sleeve shirts, that’s how warm it was at 8am. And it got warmer as the day went on. By the end of the day, temps were in the 80’s. We finally got a huge influx of vitamin D and all of us got a little sunburn. It feels good after the winter we’ve been having back home. Speaking of which, I do feel bad Marcia’s been dealing with alot of winter wheather while I’ve been away. And there is more on the way, we hear.

We crossed the border into Mississippi and were surprized by no shoulders on main roads. Shifted back to Adventure Cycling maps after about four miles. It would have been impossible to stay on Rt. 26 with no shoulder, rumble strips on the white line and logging trucks every few minutes. One good thing about loaded logging trucks passing is you get a wiff of Christmas every time they pass you in the same direction.

Our accomodations were a couple of cabins at the edge of some woods, a little miles north of Poplarville, MS. Mark cooked a great pasta dinner following directions/recipe provided by Holly. Our entertainment was a herd of cows that were being herded by a four wheel ATV. Two of them kept inching their way over to the porch of our cabin to check us out. They stared at us, moved a few steps closer, stared some more, moved a few steps closer and stared some more. After about twenty minutes, they lost interest and moved on. If they had come all the way up to the fence, which was only 15 feet from the porch we were sitting on, today’s blogs would be filled with a couple of cow snouts. You’ll just have to use your imagination.

My biggest surprize concerning Mississippi, it is HILLY. Totally unexpected after flat east Texas and flat Louisiana. Whenever I have to spell Mississippi, I remember taking the kids on the ferry back from lower Manhatten to Staten Island. We were surrounded by standing businessmen totally engrossed in reading their Wall Street Journals. Mike was maybe 6 years old and he kept spelling M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-PP to Mary and saying “Get it Mary, PP, get it Mary”. It was hilarious with all these businessmen seemingly oblivious to these little kids yucking it up with potty humor. I guess you had to be there.

What a great day for cycling!!! The owner of the B&B gave us a send off, apologizing for Monday’s rain, as we started on the day’s ride. It was a foggy start but soon burned off. We were peeling layers at our first couple rest stops. Matt quickly got the hang of our riding schedule, we stop every ten to fifteen miles for a little break to take care of nature calls and eat and drink to stay fueled up. There is absolutely no concern about the intake of too many calories.

Don’t ask me why, but the singing bug got into us. We were each belting out songs, usually only one verse or so because that is about all we can remember of the lyrics. Mile after mile, we were singing away, usually with more than one joining in when we could figure out what the song was. We weren’t always in tune so sometimes it took a little longer than others, Brian. Oops I swore I wasn’t going to name names.

I saw my first couple historical markers in Jackson, LA. That’s a huge difference from Texas where there seems to be a historical marker every five miles or so. Maybe LA isn’t as proud of their history as Texans are. The marker I read described a revolution for independence (the second on American soil) where the local Anglo Saxon settlers revolted against the Spanish government and captured the local governor. They were an independant government, called the “Independant Free State of West Florida” for about 75 days. American troops arrived and they were annexed to the US, which is probably what they wanted all along.

By the end of the ride, we were all in shorts and short sleeve biking shirts for the first time this leg. Temps were in the 70’s. After hot showers to get the road grit off our legs from the early morning fog, we were ready for dinner and mapping out tomorrow’s route. Beth picked up some Breath Right so we’ll see if Matt can get some sleep tonight.

Monday,3/2 was a planned rest day and it turned out to be perfect timing. Our bodies needed a rest. My bike needed some maintenance, basically two new tires and some new tubes, to hopefully cut down on my propensity for flat tires on this leg. Most importantly it poured rain all day and it would have been impossible to ride.

Our accomodations were unique. It was a B&B in an old plantation that was in the same family for something like eight generations. It was a land grant from the Spanish government in 1798 when this part of our country was part of Spain. Mark and I shared a cottage and Matt joined us after his much delayed flight arrived. According to Matt, the Baton Rouge airport has the fastest luggage pickup of any place he has ever flown. Also went to a Lebanese restaurant in St. Francisville. First time for everything, I liked it. Neat little town. Reminds me of the Eastern Shore. According to Matt, I snored so much, he moved to te couch at about 2 am to try to get some sleep. He’s insisting I use Breath Right the rest of the trip.

Our first full day in Louisiana started out cold and warmed up nicely by afternoon. We covered 78 miles and finished a little before 4pm. Brian and I went to 4pm mass at Sacred Heart. We saw lots of rice paddies, smoke from fields being set on fire, wide load trailers on flat bed trucks and farm equipment that took up the whole road.

The extra wide trailers forced us off the road onto the grass at one point and the farm equipment had to pull off the road to let us by. The smoke from the deliberately set fires covered the road which caused Mark to start whistling “Smoke gets in your eyes” by the Platters. That tune stuck in my head for about 30 miles. Thanks a lot Mark.

Dogs were not an issue today. Brian got chased by one dog who didn’t bother with Mark and I. The wind was sometimes a challenge, depending on the direction we were heading and whether we were in the middle of rice paddies and totally exposed. All in all a good day.

Tomorrow may be a different story. 80% chance of rain starting in the middle of the night and lasting throughout the day and into the next. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s blog. This would be a first for us if we have rain all day.

Glad that ride is over. Just as demanding as yesterday even though a little shorter. The wind was consistently a headwind. We started out at 8am again and saw our breath for the first hour or so. We have every layer on that we brought and barely stay warm enough.

I thought I got my second flat but after we changed the tube, we figured out my valve stem was unscrewed and the air was leaking out every time I hit a bump. I will buy some extra tubes when we get to our first bike store which won’t be until Baton Rouge on Mon.

I guess it’s fair to say we gutted it out today. Lots of dogs again today. It got to the point everytime we came up on a mailbox, we start searching for the charging dog(s). Only one or two were aggressive to the point of trying to nip us. Not fun–it really gives me an adrenaline rush when I start peddling as fast as I can to outrun it.

All of us are going to bed by 8:30. We know we can cope with the long daily rides, if we have lots of sleep. That’s the plan plus a daily supply of Advil. Looking forward to Matt joining us. 83.5 miles today; another 70 plus tomorrow.

I wish I could remember how many nights we have spent in Texas. I have a tremendous appreciation for the state and its diversity. Today was like riding thru the Jersey Pine Barrens. Pine tree forests on both sides of the road. The terrain is now flat as a pancake and the roads are straight as an arrow for mile on end.
Not many photo ops today. We have been too cold to stop and even when we take a break, we keep moving around to maintain body heat. It finally warmed up around 3 this afternoon and we started peeling some of our layers.
Lots of dogs chased us today. We altered our route to stay off main roads but the drawback on the back roads is the dogs that chase us. Not too scary; we might be getting use to it but I admit I don’t enjoy having a dog charge me. Have to think about the trade off when we plan our route. Adventure cycling warns of lots of loose dogs in Louisianna, Swell!!
It was along day–our second longest this leg but good to get it out of the way. 89 miles didn’t feel too bad. Mostly a cross wind today. Sometimes a little assist and some times a little headwind. I am going to sleep well tonight. Good night.