Rough Riding Road Report

Woke this morning in beautiful Natchez MS.  Terry started out this morning as the lone rider as Dave's knees finally said NOOOO MORE!   On the road by  6:30 am.  He rode down canal street to get on the bridge to cross over the Mississippi into Louisiana without the posse.  

  Dave and I lagged behind a bit to drive around the scenic city to look at architecture.  I would love to show you some pictures of  Natchez but the battery in the camera died. Wouldn't you know it.  Then we too crossed over the bridge and did our morning chores of gas and ice.etc.......

Down the road we went for the morning chase to find Terry.   We traveled on some back roads with mediocre blacktop.  Then the road  turned to brand new blacktop smooth as glass.  I thought wow Terry must have really made some time here and I was a bit jealous.   Then it quickly turned to rugged terrain. The fairy tale had ended. The road was patched, cracked, split, bumpy, pot holes, you name it. Hang on to your teeth.   And I am driving this.  I couldn't imagine what it must have been like on the bike.

We finally caught up to him about 36 miles out.  I decided to join him before it got to hot.  Today's route was out in the open with no protection from the sun.  We rode on levee roads that are considered hwy's but it is a stretch.  We were to be on this stretch of hwy for quite some time.  We then turned onto another road and that was just as bad if not worse.  We decided it was best to ride on the shoulder.  It was a smoother surface but it was full of debris, gravel, retread chunks, sticks, glass, etc... 

We once again saw lots of farm land. Today we saw some tall stalks and couldn't figure out what it was.  It was definitely a crop of some kind as there was fields of it.  We saw some workers in a field next to it so we stopped and asked.  It was sugar cane. They first plant the field with soybeans and then when that is harvested they plant sugar cane. There was a plant down the road further which we did not go see.  

The church you see in the photos was built with hand made bricks, The stained glass windows had come from Europe.  It first started out as a mission in 1848.  

Today we rode on a bridge over Old River.  It had a huge long lock for barges to pass through.  The bridge was a draw bridge and we were standing right in the middle of it trying to take a picture when an alarm went off.  We quickly scurried to the get off the lift section of the bridge.  We then proceeded to try to take the photo from another angle when a man came scurrying up to tell us we could not take a picture of the lock.  It was a government order.  Your homeland security at work.  It was a huge structure and there just happened to be a barge coming through too although we did not stop and wait to see it pass.

The huge tree in the photo with the long reaching arm we do not know the name of yet.  We will however know it before this trip is over.  It was magnificent!

Still looking for a Dairy Queen.

The picture you see of Terry's backside is to show you what I really see as I am riding everyday.  He is doing all of the heavy lifting.  Breaking the wind and pointing out the obstacles in the road so I don't hit them.  It was amazing that we did not have a flat tire today.

Coming down the home stretch now!

Dave, Terry & Julie