Poplarville to Gautier
80.6 miles 2,334 feet of climbing
The day started out foggy and damp. For the first hour, until the fog lifted, I could see better above my glasses than through the droplets on my glasses.
About half of our ride was through De Soto National Forest. It is one of the most important protected areas for the biological diversity of the Gulf Coast ecoregion. The park itself housed a WW II German POW camp and parts of it still remains.
The terrain of the ride was gently rolling. There was so little traffic that James and I were able to ride side by side, talk and also enjoy riding in the forest. However, the route took us to Highway 49, a busy road with no shoulder. Cars and trucks did not necessarily move out of the lane to pass us and we had several near misses. The town of Van Cleave was no better. A woman going the other way actually stopped her car in the street and scolded James (who was riding in front of me) and shook her finger at him. She told him to get off the road because it was making it unsafe. This was similar to an incident a couple of weeks ago where a woman told Tom to get off the road before he was killed and then the person would feel bad.
James and I stopped for lunch in Van Cleave at a combo gas station/restaurant called The Honey Hole. The side of the building said “Hot food, Cold Beer, Pretty Cashier.” Inside, the cashier was, if anything, pretty bored. I had a crab po boy and it was very good. Don’t count out a good gas station restaurant.
Leaving Van Cleave and going to Gautier was more of the same. No shoulder and lots of traffic. Here is a couple views of today's roads and today's stats. Sometimes I forget to stop my computer when we stop so the avg speed is sometimes lower that it should be.
We spent the night in Shepherd State Park. Tomorrow we leave Mississippi and go to Dolphin Island in Alabama. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, but I hope we miss it.
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