Day 41 - Poplarville, MS to Ocean Springs, MS

69.4 miles today
2,180.9 total trip miles
13.3 mph average
2,162’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - my brother Bill (RIP) - I was the typical “little brother”, always wanting to tag along with him & his friends.  Looking back, he was extremely tolerant of me at that time.  He left home for college in Platteville at 18 & made his own life in the SW Wisconsin/NW Illinois.  Great baseball fan, especially of the Milwaukee Braves.  Cancer took him far too young.

Today was a great day to go for a bike ride!  Sunshine & 80 degrees.  Lots of rolling hills, so it wasn’t like there was no work to do, but only 1 hill that was a challenge.  The roads were mostly smooth with very little car or truck traffic.  There was a headwind for a good part of the day, but we have come to expect that.

I had what I am calling a 3 brownie lunch.  Our lunch stop was at a church out in the country, provided by members of the congregation at no charge.  They do it every year.  All the riders put money together for a donation.  It was homemade & delicious.  There were 3 varieties of brownies, so of course I had to sample each.

It was the first day of the trip that I didn’t see any of those little green city signs.  Maybe Mississippi doesn’t do that?  This was a very rural area with many pine plantations.  Here is what it looked like for most of the day along the road.

Do you remember in Harry Potter where in order to take the train to Hogwart’s they needed to enter at gate 9 3/4?  That would take them into a totally different reality & they could get on the right train. Had that kind of change in reality as I came around a corner on the bike & saw a big horse farm.  Then I saw this.

I thought I had been transported to Africa!  What an adventure this is.

My knee is feeling better each day, but I continue to limp when walking, which is more difficult for me than riding the bike.  I’m hoping that goes away soon too.  One more riding day before our last day off of the trip.  

WDYLT - ILT I skipped dessert for the first time on the whole trip tonight.  Chocolate cake with coffee frosting!  Who would think that is a good idea? (I don't believe in coffee for those of you wondering what I'm talking about)  Good thing I had the 3 brownie lunch.