Day 11

Well, it was a pretty uneventful day today. We awoke to find a beautiful, cool & dry morning. Last night a cold front brought the humidity down to 37% and the temperature to 68. It was a very nice change from the previous day's rain. We loaded up on bagels, cereal & waffles and headed for Louisville, MS around 0930hrs via highway 14, which turned out to be a very scenic but also very hill laden road; hills were as much as 13% gradient and nearly half a mile long... and came back-to-back-to-back-etc. for 33 miles. We did not reach Louisville until nearly 1400hrs. It was 2 to 3 mph up the hills and over 30 mph on some of the backsides, which is very exciting on a trike with a trailer and a big ole sign catching crosswinds!

Along the way we stopped at a transmission shop and freeloaded some WD40 for Chuck's chain. It was squeaking like crazy and driving me nuts because he had forgotten to oil it after yesterday's rain. The fella was very nice and was happy to help out. Later on up the road we rescued a turtle from eminent demise from the crazy MS drivers. Chuck wrangled it up and returned it to the bar ditch where there was water and shelter. PETA would be very proud of Chuck! After a run of several really tough hills we stopped at the top of one to take a little break and the local mail lady stopped to say hello and ask what we were up to. We spoke for a while and ascertained that her son is Army and serving his second tour of duty in Iraq and her two daughters are both in College; one at MS State and one at MS State Women's College. She advised against our current route and instead suggested using the bypass straight to HWY25 because of the narrow, winding and hilly roads along with speeding motorists and logging trucks. We thanked her and we all wished each other well and went our separate ways. We made Louisville and had to drop it into granny just to get up the hill into the corner Chevron station. Here I finally found some Mellow Yellow, the Southern version of Mt. Dew! After a break and a snack Sharon & Chuck switched out and Sharon & I heeded the mail lady's advice and headed up the bypass to HWY25... it was a good choice.

Mississippi Highway 25 is a 4 lane divided with no shoulder and rumble strips for a goodly portion of it. It felt weird riding along in the lane of traffic but traffic was light and most drivers gave us plenty of room by changing lanes long before they got to us. Of course there were a couple that zoomed us but they were the minority. Somewhere along the way we saw a couple of folks on horseback but they turned off before we caught them. Then we saw a lady turn up and drive down the wrong way on the hwy for about a mile, cross the median and head the wrong way up the other side back to where we were, cross the median again and head down some side road! FREE... KEEE! It's a really good thing that traffic was pretty much nonexistent! These MS drivers must really take their own advice about the bloody mary's and drink-a-day-to-keep-reality-at-bay!

About this time a lady and a youngster in a john deer atv came down the median and, while smiling and waving, said they had to come see what we were because they couldn't tell from a distance. We introduced ourselves and met Nelda Metts and her niece Brailey Merchant of Louisville, MS. Really nice folks. They offered us a cold bottle of water and zoomed off to their residence to speed it back to us. We visited for a bit, took a picture and after wishing each other well parted company. My camera battery is charging so I will not be posting the pictures today.

Sharon and I continued up Old HWY25 into Starkville while Chuck went on into town and secured us rooms at the Days Inn on HWY12 near Mississippi State University. Again we have some really nice digs and I wish we had a few days to scout the University and the town; they have a collegiate cycling team and several bike shops here! We showered up and went next door to Chilli's for a light dinner. The staff was friendly and the place pretty busy. The food was OK but nothing to write home about.

Now I'm going to finish up this entry for the day and hit the rack. I'm really tired today and my back and knees hurt from the 30 miles of hills between Kosciusko and Louisville. I expect we'll see more of the same tomorrow as we head out of Mississippi through Columbus and on into Fayette, Alabama for a total of 67.5 miles. Upon our arrival in Starkville I noticed that it was after 1800hrs already and decided we should get going an hour earlier tomorrow for good measure. Chuck and Sharon agreed and so we'll be off by 0800hrs in the morning. Additionally, the time will change when we cross the Mississippi-Alabama border. Soooo, I'm off to bed and will catch you all up tomorrow. Good night!

Ride On!