Chotard Lake Resort

We had an interesting 77 mile ride today. We started a little late because we waited for a bike shop to open. They were really only a locksmith with a few bike supplies but we wanted to get an extra tube. We found one that will probably work if we need it. The first 50 miles today were pretty much through large farms and we only found one place to get food and drinks. The next 20 were prettier because we went through some trees and onto the levee. The pavement was all choppy and the going was slow. Then the road was closed and they were busy working on it. We  didn't want to find a detour and we were getting thirsty. One of the workers told us how to get around it by only walking about a mile on dirt. He also offered us cokes and cold water. That turned what seemed like a disaster into something wonderful. 

We weren't sure if we would make it to the campground before dark but we had water now and were prepared to set the tent up along the road. Then around 7:00 the campground appeared. They also had some really nice cabins available so we rented one for $75 and are watching the sunset over the oxbow lake and drinking some beers. They are Bud Lites with Lime so not real beer but very thirst quenching. 

This lake is great. Lots of white egrets flying over and nesting on the far shore and fish jumping everywhere. 

Greenville, MS

We entered Mississippi today. It is our ninth of ten states and the first state that neither of us has been in before. 

The road was fairly flat and we had a bit of a tailwind so we rode 101 miles to get to a town with hotels and maybe a bike shop. (Our first fully loaded century this trip!) At mile 65 we were thinking of camping but while we had a Garorade we were being attacked by mosquitos. And that was in town at 2:00 so we nixed the camping idea. 

The river delta here is very broad so we aren't always following the shoreline because no roads do that. We have passed numerous oxbow lakes where the cypress trees grow right out in the water. 

There aren't many towns because the farms have become so large and mechanized and there isn't work for too many people. We found 3 general stores to stop at and one of them made sandwiches for us and it was a great lunch at 11:00!

 The people in MS have all been so nice to us and we were thinking that they really care about bicyclists because they all swerve way around us. Then we found out that they have a well enforced three foot bicycle passing law. It's still nice that they all do it. 

Helena Arkansas

I want to thank New York for such a great job of putting bike and pedestrian lanes on their bridges as well as easy access to those lanes.

  As we crossed over to AR today we were on our first bridge over the Mississippi with a separate lane. To use it, however, we had to walk our bikes up the grassy embankment on the TN side and down the embankment on the AR side. We then had to ride a ways on a gravel /dirt road before we got to a real road. This was because we couldn't ride along I-55.  It was a safe crossing so we had time to take a picture but the whole thing took an hour. 

 Arkansas has been quite pleasant to ride through. The MRT is marked and the roads had either little traffic or great shoulders. It is also fairly flat and the people are very friendly. I had a flat tire and an AT&T truck driver pulled over to see if we needed help. 

 The main crop is sorghum now but some areas are still cotton. We only saw one cornfield and it didn't look too good. 

 Road kill has been changing, too. In the north we saw mainly raccoons and deer and then some squirrels. Possums started appearing in KY, along with frogs and now it's armadillos and frogs. 

I'm hoping it never gets to snakes and alligators. 

Memphis

We only rode 41 miles on Saturday and then we were in Memphis. It's a fun and interesting city so we stayed 2 nights. They have a real coffee shop! We went to the Mississippi River Museum and figured out a lot more of what we've been seeing and what is yet to come. We learned even more Civil War history and also about French and Spanish explorers and native Americans along the Mississippi. 

We had breakfast at the oldest restaurant in Memphis (95) and saw where MLK was shot and where they filmed "The Firm". We also listened to some blues and learned more about the Memphis music scene. 

We had some fresh salads which may be the last for a while and had Memphis ribs and red beans and rice for dinner. Now we're all set to cross the bridge into Arkansas tomorrow. 

Zip-Ties are the new duct tape

After 93 miles we ended up in a hotel in Covington, TN but we had an interesting time getting there. We were dry for about fifteen minutes before the first storm hit. We kept riding through rain all day with each new wave coming when we were almost dry from the last one. Somewhere along the way the bracket holding my carrier to my bike broke and my packs dropped to the ground. We were able to get them back in place with 2 zip-ties. Then Craig's back light shorted because it got wet inside. 2 more zip-ties and we got the spare in place. He picked up a pack of one hundred at a convienence/bait shop and used two more to really secure my carrier. Now we have enough to cover any emergency-I hope!

We are feeling like we are in the South now. All the breakfast sandwiches come on biscuits. Everyone calls us Maam and Sir. There are pop machines outside even when the building is boarded up. And they call it Coke, not pop. Sweet Tea is the drink of choice. It's good but someday  I'd like to find an iced latte again. And we started seeing cotton!!! We talked with a retired farmer and he said the KY line is about as far north as cotton goes. All the farms are a couple thousand acres now because they use automatic harvesters and nobody lives on the farms anymore. 

For a while we were riding through the hills. So much is covered with kudzu and it looks really eerie. The places looked a bit wild and uncared for and the dogs weren't tied up and enjoyed chasing us. We were glad to get back on the flats where there were more people and the dogs were lazier. 

Reelfoot Lake, Tn

We made it across the bridge over the Ohio from Cairo, IL to KY because a semi driver was nice enough to stay behind us so nobody would try to pass. It is a narrow high speed bridge and we had been warned about it so we were dreading it. Neither if us even remembers taking a peek at the River. Soon after the Ohio joined the Mississippi and there was a great viewing spot of the confluence. The first 10 miles in Kentucky had no shoulder and heavy traffic and the only hotel was closed. 

After that we were on rural roads and were riding through wooded rolling hills. We stayed at a State Park campground overlooking the Mississippi. The shower room had AC, there was a concession stand and we had a swing at our site. 

This was a great campground!

Belmont Columbus SP was an important site in the Civil War. The South tried to block off the River but Grant came down from Cairo with 4 ships and claimed Columbus, KY.  For this win he was awarded command of all the Union Forces. Neither of us knew much about the Civil War from the Mississippi aspect before we visited this park and museum and we were excited to learn so much. 

There are only 61 miles of MRT in KY so we were in TN by noon today. The welcome sign was not too welcoming and within 15 minutes those black clouds let loose. We were drenched before we could find shelter so we turned on our flashing lights and kept riding. Fifteen miles in we came to a lake with a hotel --$60 including tax but we would have paid far more as it stormed all afternoon. 

At the restaurant our waitress was so amazed that we were from New York that she told everyone else.  We had fried catfish, cole slaw and hush puppies. The cook came out and asked if the food was the same in NY and if the prices were different. We said we never had catfish in NY and his food was delicious. We said the prices were a bit higher in Manhattan but he has no idea. 

Devil's Backbone CG

We hopped the ferry back into Illinois and most of the riding today was fairly flat. The roads are in the Bottoms which is what they are calling the floodplain. It is much wider on this side of the river. We were often able to ride on paved levees past the cornfields. We did ride up the hill into Chester because 31 years ago we crossed the Mississippi River there on a west to east cross country ride on our tandem. This marks the intersection of our W-E trip and our N-S trip. Chester is where the comic strip "Popeye" originated in the 1920s and 1930s. My Dad got his nickname Jeep after the character Eugene the Jeep. Last time we were here we took pictures of the Popeye statue for him but now there is one of Olive Oyl holding SweePea and standing by Eugene the Jeep so of course we took a picture. 

After 63 miles we found a campground right by the river and we are sitting at the picnic table watching the barges pass and the sun set over the river.