Day 42 - Ocean Springs, MS to Dauphin Island, AL

77.8 miles today
2,258.7 total trip miles
13.4 mph average
1,295’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - Cathy Mahaffey - a good friend & a true health insurance professional.  When a group of community organizers came to her with the idea for a health insurance cooperative, she shifted her career attention from being an agent to helping us create the Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative.  Creative, persistent & a true leader - I believe she is the best Health Insurance CEO anywhere.

We biked to the Gulf of Mexico today & it almost seemed like I could feel salt water in the air all day long.  We crossed a bunch of rivers & as we approached the Gulf the road leveled out.  We could see for miles down the road on a pancake flat surface.  That is something we have not experienced much on this trip so far.

Then we took a right turn & saw this in the distance.

That bridge leads to Dauphin Island where we are camping tonight.  The bridge hill to climb is a little imposing, but we have done longer & steeper.  The thing you need to know is that I am the person who won’t get in a hot air balloon because I am positive that I will fall out, even if the basket reaches up to my neck & I am connected in with multiple straps.  You can imagine what I was thinking when I got here.

Nothing but water on both sides & about a 4’ tall concrete wall to hold me in.  What to do?  I didn’t come this far to let some irrational fear stop me.  I pedaled to the top.  Unfortunately I had to do it with my eyes open.  And here I am at the Dauphin Island Campground to be able to tell the story. Tomorrow is a day off & I am happy to report that when we leave the island it will be on a ferry going east to the mainland so I don't have to climb this bridge again.

WDYLT - ILT in Germany when they serve raw beef & onions, it also includes a raw egg on top.  I’ve never had this feast, but adding the raw egg doesn’t make it any more appetizing to me.

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.

Day 40 - Franklinton, LA to Poplarville, MS

45 miles today
2,111.5 total trip miles
13.2 mph average
1,423’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - brother-in-law Larry & his family.  He explores & learns about more out-of-the-ordinary things than anyone I have ever met.  I usually don’t even understand some of the concepts he comes up with.  He’s the 1st person I know personally who had a recumbent bike.  I always admired him for working full time & going to school at the same time.  I didn’t have that discipline.

Today was the shortest scheduled ride since our 1st day.  That happened because of the location of places we stay can’t make every day a consistent 65 miles, which is our overall average.  It wasn’t quite like a day off however because we had lots of climbing for so short a day & some pretty rough roads that added to my knee pain.  I’m glad it was short.

We did cross over into our 6th state & unlike some other states, they had a nice sign that allowed for a picture.

One nice thing about the shorter day is that the group tended to stay more together.  There is usually a group that leaves earlier, spends little time in SAG stops, maybe even skips lunch & arrives at our destination hours before others.  There is then a middle group that maybe doesn’t leave as quickly, rides a little faster, takes their time at SAG stops & arrives after the 1st group is already showered & settled in. (That is my group).  The last group either rides slower or leaves later (or maybe both), takes full advantage of picture taking & exploring the country & arrives after the 4 PM snack has been served.  Today that all condensed & we actually had lunch in our destination city.  It allowed for a couple of pictures - a string of bikes a block long outside the cafe most people ate at & some riders sitting at an old fashioned ice cream counter in the back of a drug store across from the cafe.

WDYLT - ILT there was a global project that produced a picture of a black hole today, but there doesn’t seem to be any agreement if, or how, England is going to leave the EU.  This prompted one cynic to comment “we’re now more certain what a black hole looks like than what Brexit looks like”

Day 39 - St Francisville, LA to Franklinton,LA

86.7 miles today
2,066.5 total trip miles
13.7 mph average
2,913’ climbing
FF - 7
MP - Jerry Wick & family - he was my best man & I was his. We’ve been through many adventures together, both good & bad.  My best teacher on how to be a grandparent because he loves it so much.  I know I can always count on him to give me “the” answer to any question, dilemma or problem. (and I’m amazed at how often he is right!)

In some ways today’s ride was a bit of deja vu from Texas Hill Country.  We had a bunch of rolling hills like in Texas, but fortunately they weren’t as steep because my knee didn’t want that yet.  The knee gave me a little more trouble today because of the hills, but I never doubted that I would finish.  I have already done an initial dose of icing before dinner & will do another after I’m done here.

The weather was great today - 70’s & 80’s with sunshine & no oppressive winds.  This is timber country & the most common trucks we saw on the road were filled with logs.

This load would be of no interest to us as Kettle Moraine Hardwoods.  Too small diameter pine, but it is impressive to see the length they bring out of the woods.  I’m not sure exactly what they do with this stuff - maybe OSB or particle board.  I do know that when they are traveling down the road there is a regular cloud of wood dust & bark chips that flies off the load which adds an extra challenge to riding a bicycle near them.

We were mostly on 2 lane roads, sometimes with little or no shoulder & I have been impressed with how courteous the drivers have been to 43 bicycles taking the same route they are.  One of the staff got a nice picture of me riding.

Kind of a short post tonight because it’s starting to get late & I need to get ice on the knee.

WDYLT - ILT an apparent delicacy in Louisiana is “pickled pig lips”. It is exactly what the name says.  Someone in our group actually ate one.  It wasn’t me.

Day 38 - Off Day

First the good news - I had good internet earlier today, so I loaded some pictures from yesterday’s ride.  Check them out if you already have read the post.  I especially like the one in the swamp.

Now the bad news - the reason I had good internet is because I was in the local ER.  When I woke up this morning, my left ankle was swollen & bruised.

It didn’t hurt & I had full motion with no pain at all, but I decided to consult with my personal nurse practitioner (my daughter Linda).  She had me text a picture of it & based on that said I should probably get an ultrasound of it to be sure there was not a blood clot that could really cause problems.

And the really good news - no blood clot & I can keep riding.

Since I am writing a post even though it's a day off, there are a couple of things about this trip you might find interesting.  We have 43 riders & everyone has multiple electronic devices that need to be charged every night (I have 7 - front light, back light, bike computer, speaker for music, cell phone, iPad, battery pack that I use to charge up the phone during the day).  Bubba sets up a charging station every day to handle it all.  I estimate there is about $75,000 worth of stuff to charge.  Here is what it looks like.

One of the things that Bubba brags about a lot with his tour is that he provides DSL service.  DSL stands for "Dirty Stinking Laundry".  Going into the trip I thought "that's nice, but it can't be that big a deal".  Now I really appreciate it.  Every 4 days or so, some of the staff collects all the DSL and spends most of the day at the local laundromat.  In the evening, everyone has to pick up their stuff.  How do you know what is your stuff?  Everything should be labeled with your rider number.  I am #43.  One of last year's riders suggested taking a picture of what you put in the laundry so you know what to look for.  Anything that isn't picked up is brought to the rider meeting & Bubba has a "walk of shame".  He holds up the item, waiting for its owner to claim it.  This is really one of the more entertaining parts of the rider meeting, especially when the item is someone's designer underwear.  Here is what one of the pictures of my DSL was.

WDYLT - ILT it’s always a good idea to listen to your medical professional’s advice.  The doc in the ER agreed that based on how the ankle looked, it was smart to come in.

Day 37 - Opelousas, LA to St Francisville, LA

67.5 miles today
1,979.8 total trip miles
12.6 mph average
1,082’ climbing
FF - 6
MP - my sister Mary & her family.  Mary & I didn’t really spend much time together as kids since she was younger by 5 years.  As an adult she is very decisive & somewhat hard to convince she’s wrong about anything.  We get along great even though I am the same.  She now enjoys her accounting business, helping mom with a variety of things & most of all her children & grandchildren.

Today had an interesting start.  The tour has a chef that travels with us across the country & most days she provides us with breakfast & dinner.  Lunch we buy for ourselves on the road somewhere.  An exception to the rule is that usually when we are staying in a hotel we have the hotel breakfast.  Last night we stayed in a hotel that doesn’t provide breakfast, but somehow the message didn’t get to the chef.  So at 7 AM there was no breakfast.  Bubba is creative & today his solution was to have everyone go to a nearby Waffle House & he paid for everyone.  Some riders were worried it would take too long so they just got on the road & bought something when they could find it.  The Waffle House had little warning, but they kept their night time staff in & I had a full breakfast & was still on the road before 8 AM.  Part of the concern for some folks was because the weather forecast said heavy rain storms after noon, but I’m happy to report that I didn’t get wet at all.

My knee was even better than yesterday, but I’m not at full strength yet.  I really slept well last night after the 90 mile day & I had little doubt I could do 67.5 miles today.  The roads were in better condition, there still weren’t many hills & I had a good ride.  It was a little more effort than normal because I have to be aware of the knee, but without that issue my fatigue would have been negligible.  Tomorrow we have a day off & I’m hoping that will help my recovery even more.

We had an interesting ride through some swamp land on a private road that used to be the main highway through the swamp.  Didn’t see any alligators, but we were in the right neighborhood.

We also reached a true milestone - we crossed the Mississippi River.  Somehow I’ve always thought of that river being in the middle of the country, but we have about 2,000 miles done & “only” 1,000 miles to go.

You can see a couple of our riders climbing the bridge & the minivan with the bike on top is our mechanic.  Some days he is busy all day helping with flat tires, bike adjustments & other repairs, but lately he just drives from one SAG stop to another waiting for something to break.

Here is my Cruzbike at the top of the bridge over the mighty Mississippi.

Since I started with a food theme for this post, I will end with another food related item.  Our chef never repeats a meal in the 52 day ride & she works hard to include cuisine from the area where we are.  Tonight at dinner there were about 6 different types of sausage available including deer, rabbit, shrimp, chicken, pork, beef & alligator. See WDYLT for my review.

WDYLT - ILT alligator sausage is really quite good. (Yes, it tastes like chicken)

Day 36 - DeRidder, LA to Opelousas, LA

90.9 miles today
1912.3 total trip miles
11.3 mph average
1,450’ climbing
FF - 9
MP - 2nd oldest daughter Laurie & Her husband Keith.  Laurie was “the question girl” growing up.  She’s always been curious about everything & never afraid to explore new or interesting ideas.  That works well with Keith, who has similar interests & it will be really great for Luka, my 2nd grandson.

Well, I got up this morning about 5:30 AM & the knee felt much better, so I took the bike out in the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at.  I made 4 or 5 circles around the building & decided I would try riding today.  This was one of our longer days, with over 90 miles scheduled.  There were 3 opportunities for me to get a car ride in if I was having problems: at the 20, 40 & 60 mile marks.  Each time I evaluated the situation & decided to continue riding.

The hardest part of biking was getting started because the knee would tighten up a bit when I stopped.  I learned to do some deep knee bends before getting back on the bike after a rest.  I also avoided stopping for pictures since that would cause a restart, which was more difficult.  90 miles is a long way & although the profile was quite flat (that was good because climbing hills with the bad knee would have been hard), we did have some bad road conditions & some headwinds.  Toward the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted so I violated my no stopping plan to get a picture of our destination city sign.  Gave me a little rest & this picture.

I did get an unusual picture today at one of our rest stops.  I wonder why these wheel covers are even legal, but I saw them on a couple of cars.  Looks like a weapon to me.

I am currently icing the knee & hope that will allow me to ride again tomorrow.  I will decide in the morning.  It is a shorter day tomorrow & then we have a rest day.  

WDYLT - ILT walking on a sprained knee is much more difficult than riding a bike.