Day 43 - Mile 2191 - 2268 (77 miles, 460 ft ascent, 373 ft descent)

Big Biloxi Campground, MS - Mobile, AL

Daily Route

Daily Elevation

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.

Nice trees

Mississippi swamp

Alligator!

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:

Alabama is treating us well so far

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.