Meandering Mississippi

Meandering Mississippi

via bicycle from New Orleans to Itasca, Minnesota

with WomanTours

May 10 - June 18, 2007

Week 2

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

Day 1 - May 18, 2007

Vicksburg to Indianola, Mississippi - 109.77 miles

(back to beginning of week 2)

Today was our longest mileage day for the entire trip. We had hills on the way out of Vicksburg and for about the first 17 miles, and we had strong head winds until we turned on to Hwy. 49W North. It had quite a bit of traffic, but was a 4-lane road with a good shoulder. There wasn't much on the route so WomanTours provided a picnic lunch for us at about the half way point. I didn't finish until about 7 o'clock, but WomanTours wasn't providing an evening meal since they knew some of us would be getting in late, so I stopped at a McDonalds in Belzoni for a quick meal. Ten cyclists were behind me, but 8 of them sagged in and only Judy and Dusty finished after I did. I went to bed early as I had to get up at 5 am and do 61.9 miles the next day. No pictures today as there wasn't really anything to see, and besides I was too busy riding.

Day 2 - May 19, 2007

Indianola to Clarksdale, Mississippi - 61.9 miles

(back to beginning of week 2)

Laura explained when she handed the route sheets out at breakfast that we were going on less traveled country roads but that the first road was rough. It turned out to be a chip and seal road and was very rough. Also we were riding into a slight head wind. At the 21.4 mile mark we turned on to the 49W highway, and I wish we had stayed on it all the way out of town as cit was smooth, and we had a cross wind instead of a head wind. My computer started acting very weird wile we wee still on the hip and seal road. It would quit, start again, give very erratic speeds, and stop again. I adjusted the position of the sensor, but that did no good. When we stopped in Drew at a deli, I noticed a drugstore on the corner and saw Michelle in front of the deli so I asked her if a bad battery could be the problem. She said that was a good possibility, and she removed the computer from its mount turned it over and showed me where it said what battery I needed. I went into the drugstore and asked if they had the special battery I needed--and they did. When I came out Michelle wasn't there ant longer so I asked Laura if she could help me put the battery in and clear the computer. However, she pushed the SET button instead of the CA (clear all) button, and the screen went haywire. I then called my niece in Terre Haute to get the phone number of the bike shop and called them to ask if they could diagnose the problem. Greg told me I needed to recalibrate the computer and could get directions on Cateye's web site. However, when I ran into Michelle at an afternoon sag stop, I asked if she knew how to calibrate a Cateye computer, and she did! So once again my computer is working, but I didn't have the correct number for my front tire, so we used the number for Dusty's small tire, but it isn't exactly correct and my mileage is off some. I will call the bike shop in St. Louis where I bought the bike on our off day in Memphis or see if I can find the correct tire number on Cateye's site.

Again there wasn't much to take pictures of, but I did get a couple of pictures.

we passed several catfish ponds yesterday and today and catfish used to be the chief food export from Mississippi, but Clark who grew up in Mississippi and now lives in Memphis wasn't sure about that any more as they are growing a lot of corn

this mural was on the side of the drugstore where I bought the computer battery in Drew

Day 3 - May 20, 2007

Clarksdale, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee - 91.1 miles

(back to beginning of week 2)

We had a LONG route today, but thanks to a cool morning and no head wind or hills, I did well. I started at 6:15 am and including rest stops for my feet and quick sag stops for snacks and two stops at a service station for a soda--Mountain Dew for the caffeine--I finished at 3:45. We are staying in downtown Memphis and were told to not ride alone in the areas that we would be riding through. So at the state and city limits sign I joined up with Kathy and Laura from California and we finished together.

I took these pictures along the road of a farmer's yard who is obviously very proud to be an American and a Christian

this marks the location of the Crossroads of the Blues

these trees were on the left and right side of the road at one point along the road

YEAH! we crossed into our 3rd state

interior views of the Marriott Memphis Downtown where we are staying for 2 nights

Day 4 - May 21, 2007

Memphis, Tennessee - rest day

(back to beginning of week 2)

Laurie left and will be rejoining us in St Louis and Jackie, the president of WomanTours took her place. Today Jackie drove 10 of us to Graceland for a tour of Elvis Presley's home--the rest didn't want to go. I found it very interesting, and it took the entire morning. Then she met us again and drove anyone who wanted to go to the bike shop. I need a new tube for my CamelBak, but they didn't have any so all I got was several packages of GU--an energy gel that contains caffeine as I sometimes get sleepy when I'm riding. We will have breakfast together at 7 o'clock in the morning and will get our route map for tomorrow then.

Graceland

music room

billiard room

dining room

jungle room

picture of Elvis and his mother and father

one of his performing outfits

the American eagle outfit & cape

the grave of Elvis

a replica of the entrance gates in the gift shop

bridge over the Mississippi from Memphis to Arkansas taken from my room

The Pyramid - This 32-story, 22,500-seat, multi-purpose arena is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River and hosts assorted entertainment and sporting events. A tribute to the city's Egyptian namesake in Egypt, it is the third largest pyramid in the world.

Day 5 - May 22, 2007

Memphis to Covington, Tennessee - 63.5 mile

(back to beginning of week 2)

Today we got a little later start because they didn't serve breakfast very early at the Marriott. We received our route directions at 7 am and after discussing them for a while were free to load our luggage, get our snacks, air our tires, and get on the road. Today for the first time the route directions extended to the 3rd page. The longest stretch of road without a turn was 6 miles, but most of the time we would be following the MRT (Mississippi River Trail) and their green directional signs are easy to spot. We had 15 turns in the first 15 miles, but I joined a group of 8 riders and followed them and didn't even look at my map. It was great!

It was very hot today, but the wind wasn't a problem until about the last 10 miles, and the 63 miles went by fairly quickly. I got into the Comfort Inn in Covington around 3 pm. We are now out of the Mississippi Delta and will have hills. Most of the hills today were rolling hills; i.e., the hills are close together and you can get enough speed coming down a hill to almost coast up all the next hill. However, 6 of the hills were bad, and I just went down into my lowest gear and kept grinding away. I went up at about 3.9 mph.

Michelle, the cook, has been fixing us great meals. We have a salad and fruit every night, and there is always a protein dish for the vegetarians and meat for the non-vegetarians. Tonight we had salad, salmon, lentils, pasta, cantaloupe, strawberries, and pecan pie for dessert.

an interesting view along the side of the road

Mississippi River rail sign

Day 6 - May 23, 2007

Covington to Dyersburg, Tennessee - 43.5 miles

(back to beginning of week 2)

We had a short day today and wanted to stop at the Alex Haley House Museum in Henning which was only 10 miles into the route and thought it opened at 9 so we left at 8 o'clock. However, when we got there we found out it didn't open until 10, but the yard was shady so all but 2 of us waited for the museum to open. Alex Haley, the author of Roots, lived in the house from 1921-1929 and for many summers afterwards with his grandparents. His grandfather, Will Palmer, owned a lumber mill in Henning and built the ten-room bungalow-style home which was called Palmer House until Alex became famous. The Palmer House became a gathering place where a young Alex heard many oral accounts of his family history. The stories of Kunta Kinte, who was sold into slavery at age 16 in West Africa, and "Chicken George" who led the family from North Carolina to Tennessee inspired Haley to research and write the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, ROOTS. Alex's parents and both of his brothers were college graduates but Alex joined the Merchant Marines. Alex is buried on the front yard of the home which is now owned by the state of Tennessee. Some members of the family have donated pictures and pieces of furniture that were in the house when Alex lived there.

The rest of the day was pleasant and uneventful. When we got to Dyersburg we followed Business Route 51 into town and spied a Dairy Queen. There were 8 of us in there eating ice cream while I was there. I had an Oreo Blizzard. Then we continued on through town and stopped for the night at a Best Western at the other end of town on 78 North.

Alex Haley's Boyhood Home

the grave of Alex Haley

headstone

picture of "Chicken George" - Alex's great-great-grandfather

Alex's parents - Bertha Palmer & Simon Haley

Alex as a baby

Dinner was meat & vegetarian lasagna, salad, fresh strawberries, and cake

Day 7 - May 24, 2007

Dyersburg, Tennessee to Charleston, Missouri - 76.8 miles

(back to beginning of week 2)

Today was a GREAT cycling day--not too hot, good roads, things to see, good company to ride with, hills for only the first 5 miles, and tailwinds most of the day. The winds were coming from the SSE and occasionally the road would turn and we would have some head winds as we would be going east, but we never went in that direction for very long at a time. I averaged 14.1 mph today which is a new personal best for me on a recumbent.

After 24 miles we came to Reelfoot Lake, and I stopped at the Visitor's Center. The lake was created by a series of severe earthquakes during the bitter cold winter of 1811-12. Landslides swept down bluffs, large areas of land were uplifted, and still larger areas sank. One of those sunken areas was filled with water, and 5 mile wide and 14 mile long Reelfoot Lake was born. The lake covers 18,000 acres and is between 4 and 20 feet deep. I would have liked to walk the cypress boardwalk nature trail behind the Visitor's Center, but I had my biking shoes with cleats on and we had 50 more miles to ride so I thought I better get going.

We crossed into Kentucky at the 41.8 mile mark. Then at 49.5 we boarded a car ferry for our first ferry ride of the trip and crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri. I got into the Comfort Inn about 2 o'clock so I could have spent more time at the Visitor's Center, but I didn't know we would continue to have mostly tailwinds.

On the last two days when the sun starts shining strong in the morning we have run into swarms of gnats. They are very large and are swarming near the edge of the road. There is one swarm after another for quite a while then we don't see them again. Today there wasn't any traffic on the road we were on and I rode over near the center line to avoid them.