Day Five
It was 62 degrees at daybreak this morning, and it got up to 87 this afternoon. Mostly sunny with some big, puffy clouds and a tail wind for the most part. No real hills today, just a few grades that required a little gearing down. How's that for a perfect bicycling day? We packed up camp and went to the McDonalds up the street, where I had a sausage biscuit (no egg, no cheese) and a cup of orange juice. Then we headed 5 miles back through town to the Trace (trail). What can I say about our adventure riding loaded bicycles through morning rush hour traffic in Jackson, population 184,586 (or whatever the new 2010 census shows), state capitol of Mississippi? Let's skip that part and the part about our accelerated pulse, raised blood pressure, and adrenalin rush... Oh yeah, and no shoulders or bike lanes on the streets. Back on the Trace we pedaled on north, and the trail followed along the west shore of the reservoir (Ross Barnett Lake. I looked at the map) for about 15 miles. It was cool. There were lots of guys fishing today, some with four rods off the front of their boats, and some fishing from shore. Lots of Herons along the water's edge. I stopped and took a picture of one. There's also a picture of a brave little tree growing out of a stump in the water!
Then we left the water, other than the gooey swamps among the trees on both sides of the trail. I wouldn't want to fall into any of THAT water! It's mucky and muddy and smells rank, like swamps should! it might be kind of cool to paddle slowly around in there with my kayak, except for the part about alligators and snakes (Cottonmouths, water moccasins, etc.)! I took several pictures of the Cyprus swamps along the trail!
We stopped a few times to sip water and have snacks, and went off into the town of Kosciusko for lunch/dinner. I love the names around here. We passed Yockanookany earlier today, north of the reservoir. The Yazoo River was west of us, and the Lobutcha River to our east. We've also gone through such places as Grindstone Ford, Mount Locust, and Pigeon Roost. Most of the historic waysides along the trail either relate to the Choctaw Indians (Chief Red Dog was one of the first to adopt the white's ways of farming) or the Civil War. There have been two confederate cemeteries and a few Civil War battlefield sites. The colored people here call it the “Slave War”.
After we grabbed some food (I got stuff like bananas and apples and juice...well, okay, and I got a small bottle of "sweet tea", that famous southern drink, and was disappointed the gas station didn't have one of those Southern fried chicken stands) we rode out to the Bicycle-only campground on the edge of town. We were the only ones there, other than the hundreds of cars that passed steadily on Hwy. 35 right next to the campground. We could see the gas station and other businesses across the highway. They had nice tent pads at the campground, 4 of them, level, too! It was nice to be setting up camp so early, around 5:00. I was looking forward to an evening of relaxing and reading. Everything was covered with greenish-grayish dust, or in other words: pollen! I blew it off the picnic table before we set things on it, and our shoes were coated with it as we walked through the grass. We rode 66.2 miles today.
It was 62 degrees at daybreak this morning, and it got up to 87 this afternoon. Mostly sunny with some big, puffy clouds and a tail wind for the most part. No real hills today, just a few grades that required a little gearing down. How's that for a perfect bicycling day? We packed up camp and went to the McDonalds up the street, where I had a sausage biscuit (no egg, no cheese) and a cup of orange juice. Then we headed 5 miles back through town to the Trace (trail). What can I say about our adventure riding loaded bicycles through morning rush hour traffic in Jackson, population 184,586 (or whatever the new 2010 census shows), state capitol of Mississippi? Let's skip that part and the part about our accelerated pulse, raised blood pressure, and adrenalin rush... Oh yeah, and no shoulders or bike lanes on the streets. Back on the Trace we pedaled on north, and the trail followed along the west shore of the reservoir (Ross Barnett Lake. I looked at the map) for about 15 miles. It was cool. There were lots of guys fishing today, some with four rods off the front of their boats, and some fishing from shore. Lots of Herons along the water's edge. I stopped and took a picture of one. There's also a picture of a brave little tree growing out of a stump in the water!
Then we left the water, other than the gooey swamps among the trees on both sides of the trail. I wouldn't want to fall into any of THAT water! It's mucky and muddy and smells rank, like swamps should! it might be kind of cool to paddle slowly around in there with my kayak, except for the part about alligators and snakes (Cottonmouths, water moccasins, etc.)! I took several pictures of the Cyprus swamps along the trail!
We stopped a few times to sip water and have snacks, and went off into the town of Kosciusko for lunch/dinner. I love the names around here. We passed Yockanookany earlier today, north of the reservoir. The Yazoo River was west of us, and the Lobutcha River to our east. We've also gone through such places as Grindstone Ford, Mount Locust, and Pigeon Roost. Most of the historic waysides along the trail either relate to the Choctaw Indians (Chief Red Dog was one of the first to adopt the white's ways of farming) or the Civil War. There have been two confederate cemeteries and a few Civil War battlefield sites. The colored people here call it the “Slave War”.
After we grabbed some food (I got stuff like bananas and apples and juice...well, okay, and I got a small bottle of "sweet tea", that famous southern drink, and was disappointed the gas station didn't have one of those Southern fried chicken stands) we rode out to the Bicycle-only campground on the edge of town. We were the only ones there, other than the hundreds of cars that passed steadily on Hwy. 35 right next to the campground. We could see the gas station and other businesses across the highway. They had nice tent pads at the campground, 4 of them, level, too! It was nice to be setting up camp so early, around 5:00. I was looking forward to an evening of relaxing and reading. Everything was covered with greenish-grayish dust, or in other words: pollen! I blew it off the picnic table before we set things on it, and our shoes were coated with it as we walked through the grass. We rode 66.2 miles today.
Amazing descriptions, and the word usage, sounds great and I can see the imagery. Wish I could do a ride like this, except for the night time storms, wind in your face, and the rain suits... James B.
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