Having seen a great deal of the Mississippi delta farmland getting to Rosedale, MS, and having the flexibility of choosing our starting and stopping points in contrast to touring company sponsored rides, we decided to ride in the van over about 50 miles of the flat farmland before beginning our pedaling on Day 11. This would enable us to arrive at Vicksburg on Day 11 rather than on Day 12 as originally planned.
So we found ourselves in front of Roy's Store on the corner of none other than Roy's Store Rd. and E Washington Lake Rd. From left to right are Emiel, John, Bill, Ken Z, Don, Tom, and Ken McG. Roy's store was a very interesting place full of antiques including what appeared to be a huge bolt or cable cutter with rack and pinion gearing that was born in Urbana, Illinois in some previous age. Oh the variety of restrooms we encountered on our adventure! Ken Z peeked into a shower in a restroom we would visit later on this day and found a snake at least two feet long.
We began our pedaling along beautiful Lake Washington. It is apparently a back water lake occupying what was formerly the main channel of the Big Muddy. Initially the water lay like a sheet of glass on this gorgeous day with "Mary sky". What a true blessing to begin this last day of riding under such beautiful conditions. Many home on the lake were plush, with manicured lawns and well maintained docks in the lake - not at all like the conditions we encountered in small towns we rode through.
A pair of simultaneous flats slowed us a little along the lake. Mine was due to a thorn that pierced the sidewall. Several stately homes that appeared to be plantation houses lined the lake. This one was well maintained and had a great view of the lake. Another I saw was falling into disrepair.
After reaching SH 465, on which we would ride our final 39 miles, we took a lunch break at this old cemetery. Judging from the holes I saw, it appeared that armadillos were trying to get a closer look at the residents. Speaking of these armored creatures, they were now the primary victims of roadkill. Except for a big but too slow beaver, we saw only lots of flattened shells over our Mississippi miles.
Leaving the cemetery we climbed up a levee an stayed there for many a mile. We saw a lot of work underway to improve the levee, but could not figure out just what the nature of the improvements were. We did see large portions of the levy apparently sinking or sliding down. The most exciting thing, in a negative way, about the levee were the way too frequent cattle guards. They were totally bone and bike rattling - much more so than those out West. I realized after crossing several that one of my water bottles had been shaken out and was missing. Unfortunately, I could not find it at the most recent crossing and I was not about to recross twice many of them in search of it.
Continuing down SH 465 we saw lots of soybean and corn fields that looked very similar to Illinois, except of course for the armadillo carcasses. The temperature rose steadily to the mid 90s covered the final miles, most of which were through bottomland forest with lot of slough areas.
We ended our 76 mile final day at the intersection of SH 465 with busy US 61, but not before Bill's second flat rang out like a whistling gunshot. We loaded into the van for our ride to Vicksburg.
We were fortunate to find another nice restaurant, Rusty's on the Riverfront. We had a great meal, but began to realize that our days of feasting for fuel were ending and that we would now have to relearn to reign in our appetites.
After dinner, as the sun set on our final day of riding, we did some exploring of downtown Vicksburg. Some time after the Civil War, the meandering Mississippi moved to the west and away from Vicksburg. To maintain a waterfront, the Yazoo River was rechanneled and now occupies the bed that was once Big Muddy. The tall flood wall has been nicely decorated with murals depicting history of the area. Some of the downtown improvements are no doubt partially financed by the local casino gambling boat.
Tomorrow we will visit the Vicksburg Battlefield and then head for home. Hopefully tomorrow I can put together some final statistics.
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