Date: 2008-04-13
From: Pascagoula, Mississippi

To: Pascagoula, Mississippi
Miles today: 0.0

We rode out of Austin and got into a road construction area that had wet clay. By the time I realized it was wet clay, my wheels on the bike would hardly turn.We stopped and ate at a restaurant and used their hose to clean the bikes.Bastrop was the first night out, then Brenham, TX was next. We had a good ride on back roads and crossed the Colorado River again. We crossed it last time between CA and AZ.Mrs Gorp used her GPS and we ended up on lots of dirt roads, but it ended up being fun.Cleveland, TX was next. I noticed the local high school team name was the Indians....and it was at the Cleveland High School. Wonder where they got that name. :-)Silsbee, TX was the next night. I had been watching the mileage on my bicycle and it turned over 10,000 miles near here. That bike is just over a year old too. Mrs Gorp's new bike mileage turned 2,500 miles today as well! She sure has been riding alot! :-)We crossed out of TX after taking 20 days to ride over 1000 miles.We started getting chased by dogs for the first time on this trip.We got chased by 2 pit bull dogs. One was trying to get Mrs Gorp's foot, but decided I looked more appetizing, but I had my pepper spray ready for him.The look on that dog's face was priceless....he looked at me like he was saying; hey, I'm supposed to be the bad guy here. :-)I didn't get him good, but it was good enough to stop him in his tracks.We ended up in DeRidder, LA that night.Ville Platt, LA was the next night. Severe weather had been forecasted, but we only had strong headwinds......again. It seems like we've had mostly headwinds on this ride.There were lots of crawfish farms and most of the land was kept flooded.Simmesport, LA was the next night. We felt great when we pulled in and found a room because more severe weather was predicted.We left Simmesport and started seeing some of the floods near the Mississippi River. We found out that the ferry was shut down indefinitely because the road to the ferry was flooded.We rode into New Roads and found a car rental just waiting for us. :-)We were able to rent a car and go around the Mississippi River by a bridge near Baton Rouge.We stopped at a famous fish house and had lunch just north of New Orleans, then headed to the car return in Bogalusa, LA. and turned in the car.The next day we rode into Wiggins, MS. I expected a small logging town, but it ended up being a nice stop with good services.We rode to Pascagoula, MS the next day.We will be in FL in two more riding days.Looking forward to seeing Bear Bag, Sweet Pea and Cimarron in Pensacola in a couple days, Xmas a day or two later and eArThworm when we get to Tallahassee.I can't believe this ride is getting so close to being over. We have just 600 miles left and should be done in about twelve days. :-(Oh yeah, I forgot about the black lab/pit bull mix that wanted me yesterday. He made me run my bike across the road....and was trying to get me. I got him dead on in the face with my pepper spray. It really made him stop cold in his tracks. I love my pepper spray for these dangerous dogs. I can't believe people let dogs like that run loose.Hopefully that dog won't chase bicycles anymore. I was glad when it was all over that a car wasn't coming at me when the dog ran me across the road.I'm having another great ride and enjoying the heck out of each and every day out here.....and making a couple dogs sorry they messed with Capt Pepper Spray! :-)