Day 25 - Kosciusko to Livingston, AL

Another day of rain in the morning. Another new state, Alabama, and one more flat tire. That makes 4 now.

You could tell we were moving away from the Mississippi river as the roads today were constantly rolling as opposed to the flatness of the last two days.

The last couple of days have been pretty similar. With the rain, I've been trying to rush through the day to get to the hotel. At the same time, I don't want this trip to end. Obviously I can't quite reconcile the two things.

Despite having to get up early in the morning, ride in the rain or heat or humidity, I am getting sadder about the tour winding down. We have built a good camaraderie between the riders and the crew. There are only 20 riders and 10 support crew. We eat breakfast together, ride parts of the day with each other and then eat dinner together. Over the last 25 days I've had the chance to ride (or drink beer or eat dinner) with everyone. It's been great to hear all the different life stories, the different reasons for doing this tour and to get to know everyone. I think I have made some good friends that will be in my life for a long time.

It's going to be tough to roll back into 'normal' life again. The current norm says it's normal to eat your oatmeal in a hotel parking lot just after sunrise. It's also normal to wash your bike clothes in the shower at the same time as you clean yourself. Going to bed at 9pm is normal. I never thought I'd see myself doing that. It's normal to ride 100 miles and not sure where you are or where you are going. It's also normal to drink a beer as soon as you get off your bike for the day.

Pictures are here

Forecast is for more rain tomorrow. Can I swap some of Portland's 100+ degree weather for some of the South's rain please?

Day 24 - Clarksdale to Kosciusko

In my ignorance, when I saw today's finish town, I thought we were travelling to Poland. I didn't realize that this town (formerly called Red Bud Springs) was renamed for the Polish General who assisted the military efforts of the colonies during the Revolutionary war.

The town is also on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Oh and Oprah Winfrey was born here too.

OK, history and pop culture references over.

To say it rained today would be a slight understatement. If I had swum across the Tallahatchee river, I would probably have been drier than I was cycling. I could go on for hours about how wet it was but a few examples will probably suffice. At one point I was riding up a hill while a river of water was flowing towards me. I felt like a salmon swimming up stream to spawn. When Lori finished today, she cleaned the mud off of the bottom of her bike and cleared the drain hole in her frame. Water drained out of her frame for a couple of minutes.

The day started off not too bad. As the weather channel (my new favourite channel) predicted temperature in the mid 70's, I didn't take a raincoat with me. Big mistake. We rolled out of town on a quiet road. After about 10 miles, we had to get onto Hwy 49. This turned out to be a serious chicken run. The 'bike lane' was about 9 inches wide and to add insult to injury, there was a rumble strip right through it so we had to ride on the main part of the road. Looking up the road and you'd see the other cyclists disappear in the spray as a car or truck passed by. Fortunately we were only on this road for about 12 miles and then we got back to quieter, safer roads.

We also got to see the two sides of Mississippi today. Our lunch stop was in the town of Greenwood. You could easily tell which side of the tracks was the wrong side. Lunch was in amongst the mansions with the lovely manicured lawns. On the other side of town, we saw the wood shacks that a lot of the African American families have to live in. Definitely a land of the "haves" and "have nots".

I don't want to jinx myself but it seems like I was pretty lucky today. At dinner, everyone had their flat tire horror stories. Most people got one, my roommate Greg got 3 and poor Jonathon got 7. Yuck.

Most drivers have been pretty nice to us recently. This morning I was riding along on this quiet road while the rain was bouncing off of me and the road. A car drew up next to me and the passenger window rolled down. I was expecting to get some abuse but 2 young African American girls just wanted to know what I was doing, where I was going and why I was riding in the heavy rain.

We had a couple more injuries today. My roomie Greg can hardly walk. When his feet got wet they started to hurt him. It now looks like he's walking round barefoot on broken glass. Melissa crashed in the rain too. She landed badly on her hip and went to hospital. The x-rays proved inconclusive but she can't walk, has crutches and is on the Disabled List now. That's 3 hip injuries now. Hopefully we are done with them as it hurts to see good friends not be able to ride any more.

With all the rain today, it seemed like tonight was the night to bring out the Highland Park malt whisky. As each of the riders came in, I started handing out shots of Scotch. Mark, thank you for the bottle. Everyone in Pac Tour thanks you too.

Pictures are here

Day 23 - Pine Bluff to Clarksdale, MS

One of my favourite films is the Blues Brothers. There is a scene where they say something like we are 24 hours form Chicago, it's dark and we are wearing sunglasses. Today, we had breakfast at 6am just after the sun came up. We were on the road at 6:30 and I worked it out that I had 135 miles between me and the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS. So, I decided today I would be on a mission to get there in time to go tot the museum.

Normally my roomie Greg and I are the last to leave in the morning. I'm not sure how we manage it but, by the time we pack our bags everyone has left. Not today. I started off fast(ish) with Jeanine today. We got the hell out of Pine Bluff, crossed the Arkansas river (which is a lot bigger than I thought) and then headed off into eastern Arkansas. Passing one of the many soy bean fields, or maybe it was a corn field and Jeanine got a flat tire. By the time we got it fixed, it seemed like the whole world rode passed us by. This pissed me off so I decided it was time to get into time trial mode. Riding at 27mph for about 1/2 an hour and we'd caught up to everybody again.

After this, we started riding in 10 man paceline which was pretty exciting. The highlight of this was we we got to watch a crop duster and then saw him buzz us. Thanks to young Greg for the video

By the afternoon, our paceline had whittled down to just 5 of us. Young Greg, Jeanine, Lori, myself and Steve (the part time guy). We tacked the only hill of the day which turned out to be the bridge across the Mississippi. Everyone told me that it was narrow and dangerous. Obviously none of these people have ever ridden across the Long view bridge on Seattle to Portland weekend...

The last 30 odd miles into Clarksdale were like the rest of the ride. Flat, hot and humid. Fortunately we'd gone fast enough for me to get to the Blues Museum. After a quick shower, it was out the door to get my fill of the blues. Pretty cool museum if you happen to be in the Delta.

I went for a short bike ride round town afterwards. Like most of our hotels, it's at the edge of town so it felt like a luxury to wander round town. After shooting a few pics, I looked up at the sky and saw that it was turning black. One last quick time trial back towards the hotel, with a quick pit stop to buy beer and I manage to get back home before the rain dumped.

Photos are here.

Tomorrow we are off to Oprah Winfrey's home town. It's also a long day (140 miles) and unfortunately rain is expected too. Oh well.

Life is good. I'm not looking forward to coming back to reality.

Day 22 - Arkadelphia to Pine Bluff

We got our first flecks of rain today. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it kept the temperature down. The rain reminded me of the weather when I lived in Tallahassee. More like a hot shower than the Oregon / Scotland rain which is always cold. I have a picture of me standing in the warm rain.

We passed a lot of churches today. Actually, it seemed like second building that wasn't a house was a baptist church. I was wondering about the size of their congregations as it doesn't seem like there are enough people to support them all. I guess it must work out. We also passed a lot of houses that looked run down or derelict but, I'm sad to say they weren't. Living in Portland, I'm obviously living in an ivory tower as to how some other people have to live in this country.

We did do one good deed today. We spotted a turtle half way across the road this afternoon. Instead of letting him go the way of most of the animals we've seen on the tour, Jeanine picked him up and put him on the side of the road in the direction he was facing. Hopefully he got to where he wanted to go.

Today we had another slight accident today. We were all goofing off sprinting for city limits signs when older Greg had a bit of a spill. The end result was some road rash on his hip, leg and arm and a bruised ego. He did win the bad ass award fro the day by riding covered in blood. Get well soon Greg.

The other exciting activity today was when we were riding towards lunchtime. Lori and Jeanine were leading the group and they spied Russell up ahead. They took off at a great rate of knots and I managed to get on their wheel. I felt a bit like Ben Hur on a chariot with my two trusty steeds. As they caught and passed Russell, they mooned him. I'm still snow blind from the whole escapade.

Currently there is a big storm outside. I just looked at the weather channel and there are tornado warnings for the area we just rode through. Fortunately it wasn't that bad for us at the time. Here's hoping tomorrow isn't too bad.

PS. I forgot to say, we had to deal with a ton of athletic dogs today. None of them were vicious but they took great delight in running alongside us for a maybe 100 yards at a time to get their morning exercise. This happened about 15 times today. I guess they don't see many cyclists round here?

Day 21 - Queen Wilhelmina Lodge to Arkadelphia

Arkadelphia, city of brotherly arks? Actually it stands for the arc of brotherly love... apparently.

I pressed the reset button again this morning. Instead of riding with the fast Hofstra's I decided to take it a bit easier today. Cue many photo stops and even a stop for ice cream and soda in between our usual sag stops.

Looking at the weather channel this morning, it predicted weather in the mid 90's with 98% humidity. Lovely. At least the weather man didn't disappoint us. It was really humid. 15 seconds after leaving the lodge, I was soaked through.

Mid morning and my wee band of slackers (young Greg, Lori and Tom who wasn't feeling well) passed by somebody's house who had a big inflatable type pool. We weer all tempted to jump in.

Most of today was spent lallygagging and taking pictures of random stuff. The Looney family reunion, Our Way street sign, vintage cars and bird houses. On the road into lunch, I rode on my own for a while and listening to some music. Playing the blues seemed the most appropriate for the South. John Lee Hooker and R.L. Burnside weer cued up. I know songs about Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia but, if anyone knows any about Arkansas, please let me know.

After lunch we got off of State Hwy 8 and get onto to some really quiet country roads. We rolled along some tree lined (and shaded) roads before descending down towards Arkadelphia. Just before the final turn off towards town, we crossed over the DeGray Lake / dam. That was when I realised that I'd actually been here earlier on this year already. When I ran the Little Rock marathon in March, I drove out to Hot Springs, AR afterwards and did some touring before picking up I-30 just outside Arkadelphia. Little did I know I'd be back a few months later.

Upon arriving at the hotel, I found that I had a care package. The vultures usually start to swoop in at this point as it usually means food. Fortunately most people were inside because of the heat and humidity. Saying that, I still had to share. Ann, thank you for the dessert bars, brownies and chocolate. I will share everything except the white chocolate.

As it was a short day today (101 miles), I had the opportunity to burn my forehead and back by sitting in the pool. Deep joy.

Tonight we had the option of Waffle House or Fat Boys BBQ for dinner. I chose the ribs. Greg couldn't decide so he went for 2 dinners. He's excited that Waffle House is open all night so I expect to hear him sneak out during the night.

Tomorrow is the last of our short days (90 miles). We're off to Pine Bluff which is famous for being rated the 'most dangerous metro area in the US' as well as being the 'worst place to live' and one of the US Army's major sites for demolition of chemical weapons. After Queen Wilhelmina Lodge.. oh how the mighty have fallen.

Pictures are here.

Day 20 - McAlester to Queen Wilhelmina lodge (AR)

While yesterday was the worst meal of the trip. Today was the best hotel. We are staying in the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge on the Talimena Parkway just across the border into Arkansas. We feel like we are in a ski resort in Aspen. Definitely a step up from the usual budget motels along the road.

I forgot to add yesterday that the tour leader bought some scales last night and we all did a big weigh in. I've managed to lose 9 pounds in 3 weeks. Not bad eh?

I think today is my new favourite riding day. Lots of rollers, beautiful scenery and several things to sidetrack us. We even got to practice our cyclocross. The signs said that the road was closed but we decided to keep going.. until we hit the construction zone and had to try and ride / walk across the dirt and dust. The pictures look pretty cool.

We also found an animal on the road that wasn't actually dead. I got to see my first live tarantula... from a safe distance.

I also found an inflatable rubber seat. The kind that you sit on in a pool. I tried to mount it on my saddle but it wouldn't stay on. Anything for a joke eh?

The cycling today was fabulous. The Talimena Parkway is possibly one of the best places to ride a bike in the US. It's a lot like the Blue Ridge Parkway but with no cars. Plenty of steep climbs, super fast descents and breathtaking views. None of the climbs are long but they are brutal. You'd go from 5mph to 50mph back to 5mph all in the space of a couple of minutes. My shoulders are sorer than my legs from all the standing / brute force climbing I had to do.

not sure whether it's because the days are slightly shorter, or that I'm riding a bit slower but, tour life is definitely easier these days.. apart from getting out of bed. We have 2 more 'easy' days of about 100 miles each before back to back 135 mile days in Mississippi. I should savour the moment eh?

One of original guys on our tour (Brian Stockbridge) was riding for charity. Http://www.nevus.org. He lost his son to a rare cancer several years ago. Brian unfortunately had to go back home half way into our trip. The charity organizer came out to meet us at dinnertime. We decided that it would only be fitting that we would help Brian and his charity out by carrying on his mantle. If anyone would like donate, please check out their website. Thank you.

Time to go outside to check out the fantastic views from the lodge.

Day 19 - Purcell to McAlester

It seems like the longer his tour goes on, the harder it is to get out bed. I've asked around and everyone is feeling the same. It's not that I don't want to ride, it's just that I like my bed. Once I'm out of bed and have some coffee in my blood, everything is great.

Talking about great. Today was one of the best riding days so far. Smooth road surface, rolling countryside, friendly car drivers, (relatively) moderate temperatures and riding with good friends. I spent most of today smiling as I rode along. For a while, I was riding on my own and got to listen to some music on my ipod. Very surreal listening to Belle and Sebastian while riding across the southern edge of Oklahoma.

It feels like we are already in the South now. There are a lot more "Jesus Saves" type billboards. The road kill has changed from deer to armadillo. The cicadas were chirping all day. At times, I felt like I must be in the jungle. Even when we rode by hay bales, I half expected to see parrots instead of cows because of all the chirping.

We finished up our 112 mile too early to go to the hotel so it was time for some a/c and a shake at McDonalds. Luckily I spied a Conway tractor with a 53 foot trailer. Unfortunately I missed the perfect photo opportunity by not having my Conway jersey on. Next time...

I have to admit that I'm not too impressed with McAlester. The downtown part looked pretty cool but the rest of the town isn't that great. I just looked on wikipedia and the town is famous for the army ammunition plant and the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Hmmm. I also had my worst meal of the trip here. Oh well, no need to dwell on the bad stuff.

The people here are really friendly. When I was paying for my crappiest meal of the trip, the man behind me asked if I was part of the bike tour passing through. When I said yes, he shook my hand and asked lots of questions. I even got called 'sir' for the first time since I lived in Tallahassee.

Photos are here

We have been banned from buying more beer for the beer cooler in the van. Not because we're not allowed any beer. It's actually because there is too much. The cooler won't close now. The Bank of Beer is no longer accepting any more deposits until the withdrawals can catch up. Good times.

Tomorrow we ride on the Talimena Parkway. It's supposed to be the toughest 50 miles of the whole tour. There are several climbs of > 13%. This should be interesting.

Oh and since my mum will probably read this in the morning. "Happy Birthday Mum".