May 12, 2012. Indianola to Clarksdale, MS. 64 miles.

Last night at dinner Bernadette and Yolande sang us a song--it was partly in English and partly in Dutch and totally funny! It detailed a lot of the funny and maybe not so funny things that have happened thus far on this tour.

The weather prediction for today said RAIN, starting around 10:30, getting heavy by noon... we all left the hotel pretty early--I left at 7:08 behind a whole string of bikes. It was my goal to beat the rain, and my secondary goal, if I could not beat the rain, to be in by noon.  About 3 miles into the ride I decided if I wanted to meet my goals that I needed to kick it up, so I passed the rest of the group I was with and set my own pace. Valerie came in behind me and in no time we were out there all alone. There was quite a head wind so we took turns pulling, switching off every 2 miles. Once we turned the corner at 22 miles, we lost the headwind, and stopped at the sag where Mary D fixed us up with water and snacks.

We saw fields full of water and it took me a few minutes to realize that these must be the catfish farms this area is known for. Right after the sag stop the road got really rough for about 4 miles--it was scarified across the whole width, and the striations were about as wide as our skinny tires. Not a good ride. Below you can see Valerie on the scarified road.  This was almost the last I saw of her, as she dropped out of sight at around 30 miles into the ride.  I carried on alone past packs of dogs and flat farmland for the rest of the ride. Why is it that people don't keep their dogs confined to their property?



The last 14 miles of the ride I battled a headwind again, but arrived at the hotel at 11:45 and my room was ready! We were not supposed to be able to check in until 3:00. And to make things even better, the trailer was unloaded and our luggage was all inside. It started raining just as I was arriving at the hotel. Life is good!  I took a shower and then walked to lunch at a nearby Kroger with Teresa, who rode in the van due to injury and Valerie, who arrived just when Teresa and I were walking out. We found out later that Dianne and Marni found a really great Italian Lebanese restaurant nearby. Oh well, at least I did not get wet.... we live with the choices we make every day....