April 16, 2011. Wiggins to Pascagoula, MS. 69.3 miles.

There were many tornadoes in Alabama and Mississippi yesterday, and we were under a tornado watch until 10 PM. So we had to have our "state line" margaritas in the breakfast room at the hotel before we walked next door for dinner at the local mexican restaurant. A good time was had by all....Today's ride was magnificent! We started out with 7 miles on highway 49, a 4-lane limited access highway, not such a great start... there was a shoulder for the first several miles, then no shoulder for a couple of miles, and then we had a wide shoulder again. One of our riders took a fall just after the shoulder came back--her seat came off! She could not find the bolt that holds the seat to the seatpost, so she was stuck waiting for Carol to come and get her back on the road, which she did. It was very fortunate that the fall was on the shoulder and not on the shoulder-less highway just a mile previous.... she was not hurt. Once we turned off higway 49 we had a beautiful ride on gently rolling hills through the DeSoto National Forest. We were in the forest for about 30 miles. There was little traffic, a mild tailwind, bright sunshine, and low humidity. What could be better than that!? We passed by this sign after the first sag. There was a POW camp here during World War 2, and the site is accessible from a hiking trail. No time to go hiking on a 69 mile day, but it would be interesting to see.

We did not go in the store to see if the cashier was pretty, but we thought the sign was pretty funny! During this day's ride we passed many horse farms and large estates--big fancy homes with electric gates. I am not sure where the money comes from around here; the area seems generally depressed, but there must be something going on!

Near the end of the ride we had to get on highway US 90, a freeway. It was the only way to get across the bridges to our motel. Below you can see the second bridge. There was a wide shoulder on the bridges and on most of the highway that we traveled for the last 6 miles, but there were a few spots where the shoulder mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately for us there was little traffic on this Saturday afternoon.

When we arrived I was way past hungry. A bunch of us walked to a little place next to the motel and had sandwiches and cold drinks. After that I showered and went walking to find postcards. I walked a mile, stopping in every store, and came up empty handed. Catherine was coming in with the sag car and gave me a ride back. That's the trouble with only spending 2 nights in a state--now what am I going to do? I always send the grandkids postcards from every state that I ride my bike through.