Day 13: Perkinston, MS to Plainview, LA

Daily Miles: 59.1 Total Miles: 719.5

Three states down!!

Helloooo Louisiana!! So far we have been making pretty quick work of these states, but I'll be singing a different tune when we hit Texas next week (for 20+ days!). Today, I was prepared to ride 68 miles into Plainview, LA but thanks to a big shortcut, I ended up finishing the day under 60 miles. And thank goodness for that. Today it was HOT and HUMID. And while there wasn't as much climbing as yesterday, the grade of the roads was significantly steeper. I headed out at about 9:15am, and was feeling a little sluggish. My legs were tired from yesterday, the hills started immediately, and ride was really bumpy due to poorly paved roads.

Beautiful country roads

I finally worked out the soreness and made pretty good time into Poplarville, 30 miles into the day. There I saw it... The thing I have been dreaming of for the last few days... A Pizza Hut lunch buffet. And Mary had pulled over right beside it. I was already starving and put up a pretty good showing at the buffet, but was shamed by a 80+ year old, maybe 100 lb., grandma who was there with her grandson. That woman ate like 15 pieces of pizza. Very impressive. During lunch Mary and I consulted the map and we realized we could cut ~9 miles, and about 15 turns off our route by just taking State Road 26 directly from Poplarville to Bogalusa, LA. We decided to drive a few miles up the road to see if it would be safe for cycling and it looked fine to us, nice wide shoulder and not too much traffic.

Main street in Bogalusa. Named after my latina alter ego. 

Mom dropped me back off at Pizza Hut and I headed down SR 26. Well, as I should have known, about a mile after we had turned around, the shoulder disappeared. Then it became clear that the road was used predominately by large logging trucks. Then the nice pavement switched to the typical Mississippi bone-rattling pavement that I have grown to hate. All in all, the ~15 mile ride was a little more stressful than I would have liked, but on a hot day like today, I'm glad I saved those 9 miles. The road finally widened as I caught up with Mary at the Louisiana border. We took our ceremonial photos, and I rested a bit, then we headed out for the last 12 miles of the day.

Mary with her new buddies

The route took us through Bogalusa and on out through absolutely beautiful country. I finished the ride in Plainview and then we doubled back to Bogalusa, where we're staying tonight. Mom has already befriended the two kids of our hotel owners, and we're relaxing a bit before heading out to dinner. Finally, Mary and I want to say hi to Ms. Semonco and her 5th grade students at Kimball Elementary in West Virginia. We know you guys are following us closely and supporting us every step of the way. Mary enjoyed saying hi to you this afternoon!