Trans America Cycling Day 38 - Wiggins, MS to Pascagoula, MS

The link to today's route and statistics is found here.

Won't you please come swim with me?  (Hee hee, I heard that humans taste like chicken.)


Today we rode to Pascagoula.  It is one of the 25 largest seaports in the USA and the largest in Mississippi.  It appears to be a working man’s town, surrounded by tourist towns and bedroom communities.
Mississippi's Flagship City

Entrance to Pascagoula harbor, looking toward the Gulf of Mexico

  A bridge in Jimmy Buffett's home town of Pascagoula, Miss, was dedicated in his honor in 2015. Don't you just love the way he sings Margaritaville? How about singing along?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue2-ZVxpVjc
Pascagoula is too good of a town name to not be in a country song.  Ray Stevens is known for his humorous country songs poking fun at the human condition.  You may want to check out on YouTube the tongue-in-cheek song by Ray Stevens called “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival.”  

Over in Ocean Springs, MS, on the way to Pascagoula, John checked out some real estate.  His requirements were to have a marina and beaches with fine sand nearby, have a bicycle route run near the house, and have enough rooms to accommodate family and guests.  This house was at the top of his short list of properties.


House just across from the beach in Ocean Springs meeting all of John's requirements

A great time was had by all at the Gators Farm and Air Boat ride organized by Barry. 

Air boat ride

There were little Gators and very Big Gators. 

Grounded gator

Big scary gator

Our Air Boat Drivers name was Frog! 

We feel safe with Frog behind us

Frog commands the helm

To the chagrin of the gators, everyone survived and returned with all their fingers. 
Gator contemplating his next move
Wouldn't you like to come in for a swim?

We could splash around and have some fun together

The humidity has been around 95% lately.  This causes cyclists to sweat excessively as a body cooling mechanism, and attention to hydration is essential.  Those who sweat copious quantities often need to take salt pills in addition to loading electrolyte in their water bottles.

Sweating out electrolyte when cycling in 95% humidity

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Link to Every Post for the 2019 Trans-America Cycling Southern Tier Ride

Clicking on the Day will take you to the blog entry for that segment. Day 0:    Prep in San Diego, CA Day 1:   San Die go, CA to Alpine, CA Day 2:   Alpine, CA to Jacumba Hot Springs, CA Day 3:  Jacumba Hot Springs, CA to Brawley, CA Day 4:   Brawley, CA to Blythe, CA Day 5 :  Blythe, CA to Quartzsite, AZ Day 6 :  Quartzsite, AZ to Wickenburg, AZ Day 7:   Wickenburg, AZ to Mesa, AZ Day 8:   Mesa, AZ to Tonto Basin, AZ Day 9:   Tonto Basin, AZ to Globe, AZ Day 10:   Globe, AZ to Safford, AZ Day 11:   Safford, AZ to Lordsburg, NM Day 12:  Lordsburg, NM to Deming, NM Day 13:  Deming, NM to Las Cruces, NM Day 14 :  Rest Day, Las Cruces, NM  Day 15:    Las Cruces, NM to Clint, TX Day 16:   Clint, TX to Sierra Blanca, TX Day 17:   Sierra Blanca, TX to Van Horn, TX Day 18:   Van Horn, TX to Fort Davis, TX Day 19:  Fort Davis, TX to Marathon, TX Day 20:  Marathon, TX to Sanderson, TX Day 21:   Sanderson, TX to Comstock, TX Day 22:   Comstock, TX to Del Rio, TX Day
Read more

Trans America Cycling Day 10 - Globe, AZ to Safford, AZ

Image
The link to today's route and statistics is found here . The morning was cool, low to mid 50's F, and windy, greater than 20 mph, so cyclists put on an extra layer of clothing.  Later in the day and during the ride, the wind increased to a little over 30 mph.  The wind was mostly a tailwind with a crosswind component from the right.  In places with the most  crosswind the wind would change one's direction to the left and the rider would have to correct to the right.  Some lean to the right was also necessary then.  This much wind was a new experience to most of the riders. The course initially had some very long undulations ( sine waves  to engineer Ray from Malta) of 1/4 mile to 1 mile in length (period to Ray).  The main road surface was good, so on the downhills the cyclists could ride near the white line in the roadway and gain considerable speed, to 30 to 35 mph at the bottom of the longer undulations if one let 'er rip.  Riders also had some crosswind componen
Read more

Trans America Cycling Day 26 - Rest day in Fredericksburg, TX

Image
Fredericksburg is a tourist destination in the Texas Hill Country.  For us it’s a rest and recuperation (R & R) destination.  Museums are also available.   We are at the tour halfway mark!  Tour leaders sang a happy halfway ditty to us yesterday.  Some halfway stats and observations * 1500 miles down the road * Temperatures generally cooler than normal * Before the middle of Texas we had more tailwind than headwind.  It appears that in the central region of Texas it is rather common in the spring to have winds out of the east, so we rode pacelines there where we can there to foil the headwind. * One day of rain, on Day 24 was a gully washer * We have ridden over most of the worst chipseal on the journey, but Larry warned of some rough road still ahead of us Last night and today Barry, our retired Navy Command Master Chief, presented everyone with a unique, customized challenge coin.   One side includes the seal for the Navy Special Operations Foundation, the veter
Read more