(December 27)
Day 2 - Port Gibson, MS to Vidalia, LA

 Racing the Rain
 

 

My first rest stop of the day. You can tell its the first because I'm still smiling.

 

Bridge over the Mississippi. A near death trap for cyclists given the narrow lanes, complete lack of any shoulder or sidewalk and bloodthirsty motorists driving at wildly high speeds.

 

 

My first campsite. Pretty cozy :)

 

The view outside the window of the same McDonald's I ate dinner at last night. Port Gibson was not well-endowed with dining options. And it was an effort of will to get out in my rain gear and get going this morning!

 

 

This is officially an actual bicycle tour because I've now checked most of the boxes:X - Riding through a rainstorm X - Washing my riding clothes in the shower...while wearing them X - A couple of massive hills that pretty much convinced me I'm not at all ready for this X - Leaving a puddle of water under my seat at lunch because I was soaked when I went in...and freezing when I left because wet clothes and air conditioning do NOT mix.

I was up before dawn, but packing up the trailer takes time given that packing it up is more difficult than getting all the colors on a Rubic's Cube to match up. The weather forecast said rain so I donned all my wet weather gear...only to realize that riding with rain gear on is like going into a really hot sauna. I was glad when I rode out of the rain only a few miles later. I swore then and there that it had better be freezing rain next time or I'd just let it soak me.

So, yeah, the weather gods were listening because four miles out from Natchez I promptly got thoroughly soaked. Not bad really...as long as I was riding. Thank goodness the rain came through and was gone by 2pm or so, because if it had stayed any longer I'd have bailed out of camping; again.  But NOT THIS TIME!! I got here in good order, set up my tent (which I've never actually slept in), took a shower, washed and dried my clothes and found that WiFi is, thank goodness, almost a universal constant these days. With any luck I'll be able to recover from what were some very difficult hill climbs on the Trace. Well, difficult for me while pulling all my gear. At one point (on the big, LONG hill up to Emerald Mound on the Trace) I thought I might actually have to get out and walk. Thankfully I had enough in the tank to avoid that ignominy today. I'll undoubtedly end up caving at some point, but NOT THIS TIME!

P.S. The Natchez Trace is beautiful...but boring. Once you've seen one 100 yard stretch of the Trace, as far as I can tell you've seen it all. Once I rolled into Nathez I saw plenty of eyecandy: "Hey, that place sells plumbing supplies...cool!" or "Mexican restaurant to the left...bright yellow!"P.P.S. Yesterday I listened to an audiobook called "Pirate Hunters," a true story about two guys who find the world's second confirmed pirate ship wreck of the ship "The Golden Fleece." One of the main protagonists is named John Chatterton and is widely known as the greatest wreck diver in the world. One of the statements he makes when it looks like trying to find this ship is the very last thing he or his partner should be doing at that moment is this: "Do it now. The future is promised to no one."

And I thought...yeah, he had a window. I know all about windows :)