Since I went to sleep at 9:30 PM, I of course woke up early, but stayed in the tent till 9 AM when I was pretty hungry.  Leftover enchiladas with a couple of fried eggs hit the spot.  It was a chilly and rainy day, so the beach was out of the question.  Tim, Jim, and Patrick went to the movies while Mel, Bill, Jackie, and I watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil followed by Inside Man…both pretty good movies.  Oh, Mary has a friend who lives in Fairhope, so she spent the time with them.  After movies, I made pita pizza for dinner, did laundry, and am now in the tent at 9 PM.  Overall a pretty relaxing day.​

Tomorrow we cross into Florida marking our last state in this cross-country ride. Woohoo.

I stayed up too late playing on the computer and watching TV.  SInce I had internet access I was looking at AirBnB’s for the end of the trip but didn’t book any.  I woke up at 6:30 AM thinking that I better book before the places I found weren’t available, so I didn’t get the 8-9 hours of sleep I like to get.  I figured Patrick will pick up our stuff and since Tim and I are riding alone today, we can lay back down a bit after.  Patrick showed up right at 8 AM and since we were up and dressed we went to breakfast in the lobby.  When we returned to the room around 8:30 AM, there was no way we were going back to bed, so we finished getting ready and were on the road by 9 AM.​

I was at first worried about riding along some of these roads in Mobile, but then I realized it was Saturday morning, so the traffic was very light.  The route took us through an old, historic district of Mobile and we came across this incredible Victorian house, The Kate Shepard House built in 1897.

I slept really well last night and woke up just before the 6:45 AM alarm.  We are leaving a bit earlier today since we have more climbing that we have had in a while. Right at 8:30 AM we were all ready to go.  The first 60 miles of the ride was really nice, with back roads that were smooth and light on traffic. Here are a few of the photos Mary took of the scenery today.  She and Jim even saw an alligator as we crossed over a swampy looking river.

Just before mile 57 we crossed over into Alabama.  Unfortunately there was no "Welcome to Alabama" sign on our route.  We continued on to our first stop in Alabama:

After a 1 mile ride on a rocky, closed, under construction road we arrived at the RV park, but they don't allow tents.  So, Mel, Bill, Tim, and I continued 5 miles east to check into our hotel for the night.  We decided to eat out tonight, so the 4 of us walked to a Thai place down the road then returned to the room around 8 PM.  

Tomorrow we ride to the beach.  We have all been looking forward to seeing the Gulf for a while now, so it will be a treat.  The official bicycle route takes a ferry to cross Mobile Bay, but since I am crazy and want to have continuous tire tread from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, Tim and I are riding around the bay. It is an extra 13 miles or so, but there are a couple of breweries along the route.  Patrick will be here around 8 AM to get our luggage, so it's time to finish up the blog and get some sleep.

Last night was a bit warmer than the night before, so I was able to sleep pretty well.  In the morning, the humidity must have been 100% since the tent and our sleeping bags were wet.  At least the temperature was high 50s, so it was bearable. ​

We left a little after 9 AM.  No one was in too much of a hurry since we only have around 40 miles today.  The roads today were beautiful; low traffic and great scenery. 

After a small fiasco in the parking lot of Mel and Bill tipping over on the tandem, we were back on the road for the last 11 miles of the day.  More great roads and great scenery.​

When we were about 3 miles out from the campground, Patrick passed us going the other direction.  Of course he turned around and rode back to the campground with us…what a nice surprise!  We arrived at the campsite just before 1:30 PM.  How nice to have the whole afternoon to relax.  

And bonus…my good friend Julie, who lives near Biloxi, came to the campground to visit with us for a few hours.  It was great seeing her and a great visit. 

We pulled into the RV park in Poplarville right around 3:30 PM.  Mel and I prepared vegetarian enchiladas, Mel prepared Mexican quinoa, and Jim cooked the taco meat for the Mexican feast we had for dinner.  YUM!​

Tomorrow is a short day (around 40 miles), so we will start out at 9 AM.  Since it is only 8 PM and I am already in the tent, there shouldn’t be any problem waking up in the morning.

A well deserved day off after riding the last 5 days in a row.  I slept in till around 9 AM, had some breakfast, and fixed my flat tire from yesterday.  Today, Jackie's sister Cathy flew down for the day from Michigan, so we took her on one of our famous grocery shopping trips along with Patrick, Jackie, and Jim.  After shopping we went to the gas station for PoBoy sandwiches to take back to the RV park for lunch.  Why are the best PoBoys made in gas stations?  We then played some games while Jim prepared the ribs for dinner tonight.  After dinner we said goodbye to Cathy and just after 8 PM retired to our beds.

Tonight is supposed to get down into the 40's, plus we have just over 60 miles to ride tomorrow, so we aren't leaving until 9 AM.  After a great day of resting, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Lots of people that stay / live in this RV park leave early in the morning.  I was awoken pretty regularly starting at 5 AM by engines starting and people yelling.  The alarm went off at 7 AM because we have a long day today and are starting out at 8:30 AM.  Not that the alarm woke me because I had been up for a while.

As planned, we were on the road just after 8:30 AM.  Two cool milestones today...one, we will be passing the 2,000 mile point, and second, we will be crossing the Mississippi River around mile 15.  Patrick met us there to take some photos, which is pretty cool.  We crossed on the John James Audubon Bridge.

Today's route took us on some really nice backroads in Louisiana:

Tim and I were riding in front when I looked back and noticed no one was there.  I checked my phone and had a message that someone had a flat.  We were only 2 miles from our scheduled lunch stop, so we continued on.  Mary showed up pretty soon and said that she continued while Bill and Mel turned back to help Jackie with her flat.  About 30 minutes later everyone else showed up and we were back on the road shortly after.  

Our next stop was a Dollar General only 19 miles from the end.  After a short break, Bill and Mel took off a few minutes before the rest.  As we were about to leave, Jim noticed he had a flat.  Seems to be one of those days, but at least he is able to change it in the Dollar General parking lot and not the side of the road.  

To save us about 5 miles of riding today, Patrick is going to meet us at a church on the route and transport us to the RV park which is over 5 miles south (off the route).  The next day we ride is a shorter day, so we can ride the 5 miles back to the church, or Patrick will transport us back.  We arrived to Patrick around 4:30 PM.  Mary, Jackie, and Jim decided to ride to the RV Park.  As the rest of the bicycles were being loaded on the truck, I noticed my rear tire was flat.  Yep...one of those days for sure.  Again, luckily I made it t the truck and can change it at the the RV park instead of the side of the road.

We got to the RV park and set up camp.  Well, most of us did.  Mary's brother is meeting us here and taking her away to a hotel for a couple of nights...lucky her.  Gerard showed up soon after with beer (I think he knows us), so we sat around and talked and drank for a bit until we were all motivated by our stomachs to shower and get ready for dinner.  Since it was a long day and Mary's brother is visiting, we decided to go out for dinner.  We went to The Boston Restaurant in Amite City.  It wound up being pretty good.  We returned to the RV park around 9:30 PM and everyone went straight to their beds / tents / hotels.

Tomorrow is an off day, so no alarms will be set tonight.  I plan on sleeping in till the heat of the sun wakes me.

We now had only 8 miles to the RV park.  Most of the ride was over a levee that was interesting since to the left of us it was completely flooded.  This was expected after all the rain in the midwest lately.  We made it to the RV park around 3 PM.  A pretty short day all-in-all.  

I walked to the nearby store and was delighted to see that they sold margaritas and daiquiris to go.  This is definitely a Louisiana-only specialty.  I chose the margarita and after having a shower and getting dressed I returned for the mango daiquiri.  I was glad I did.  The daiquiri was delicious.  We had a great dinner of spaghetti and meatballs/black beans with Jackie’s famous fresh baked bread.  Oh, Mary had a friend visit and take her out to dinner, so she missed out on this wonderful meal, but there are leftovers.​

Tomorrow’s ride is 84 miles, so we are planning on starting at 8:30 AM.  That means an alarm is going off at 6:45 AM.  Luckily we are in the tent just after 8 PM, so we have plenty of time to get a good night sleep.  Until tomorrow…

As soon as we woke up Tim said that he wasn't riding today,  I don't blame him since he was pretty bad off yesterday, and one more rest day is probably what he needs.  The big surprise this morning is that Mel spent the night sick and isn't riding either.  Bill shopped around for a back seater, but no one was willing, so he set up Patrick's bicycle to ride.  It was a semi-sweet start of the day when only 5 of the 7 group members were hitting the road.

The ride today is a bit longer than yesterday, but just as flat.  There are towns conveniently located at around 15, 30, and 45 miles making for perfect distances for breaks.  The wind is calm, the weather is perfect, and as you can see by the assent and decent numbers above, it is a flat day.

One more thing is making today amazing.  We are leaving Texas!  We have been riding in Texas since 1 March, 22 days ago.  Although Texas was beautiful, we are all ready to move on.  Here we are at our last rest stop in Texas:

Before we hit the Louisiana border, we stopped at the Welcome to Texas sign since there wasn't a sign to greet us when we crossed over in El Paso.  It's never too late.

We crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana.  Woohoo!  Four states down and four to go.  We are actually getting there.

Shortly after entering Louisiana, we left the highway and turned onto a nice country road.  It wasn't the smoothest road surface, but we only saw two cars for the entire 8 miles we were on it.  Hopefully this is just a taste of the road we will be riding through Louisiana.

Well, most of us were enjoying the ride. Bill wasn't feeling 100%.  His back was bothering him and he didn't really feel comfortable riding Patrick's bicycle and not having Mel on his back.  However, he was a trooper and continued riding.

The RV park in town doesn't allow tents, so Bill, Mel, Tim, and I are staying at the Quality Inn in town.  Since the hotel was 1 mile before the RV park, Bill and I peeled off and went directly to the motel.  Once there, it wasn't too hard of a decision to not go to the RV Park for dinner and just eat local.  Since Mel wasn't feeling well, Tim and I were on our own, so we ventured across the street to the Mexican restaurant.  We ordered the shrimp fajitas for two and was amazed when this was delivered to our table:

After dinner, we did laundry because we could, watched TV, and I caught up on the blog which I have now at 11:30 PM finally done.  Patrick picks us up at 8:30 AM tomorrow morning, so I better get some sleep.  Tomorrow is our first complete day in Louisiana.