Day 3 -June23 - Longleaf Trace Rail to Trail and then Prentiss to Magee MS on rough roads
Distance 64.0 miles (103kms) - 40 on Longleaf Trace trail and then 25 on hilly rough roads
Weather - another hot humid day, 82degF (29C) at 8am with 98% humidity, Reached mid 90s F (35C) by mid-afternoon with the heat index reaching 103F (39C) by 2pm
Svitz Index 8.5 out of 10 as it was windy (Svitz is Yiddish word for sweat)
Elevation Gain 2067feet (63o meters)
Calories Burned 3410.
Speed 13.0mph (21kph) in 5hrs 2mins
The first 40 miles were on the National Recreational Trail, Longleaf Trace, into a mostly westerly wind. The last 24 miles were bumpy and tough on poor roads and also into a head wind which switched at about the time I changed direction.
I changed my planned schedule yesterday as I woke up late with a bit of a dodgy stomach (something I ate on Sunday night?) and I spent the day trying to dry out clothes and gathering supplies for the days ahead. I had mused about getting onto the Longleaf Trail as I had read about its charms. It follows a sort of raised levee over the surrounding swampy forests on its eastern end and is at surface level for the western part. Much of the middle section also has a dirt horse trail and it passes through four small towns. The rail line was abandoned in the early 1980s and by the early 1990s, the local communities had managed to get the bike trail underway. Used mostly to transport logs, it was bought by the Illinois Central from Mississippi Central RR. Now logs are transported by huge trucks as I saw later in the day as I passed my acres of clear-cutting timber. Thankfully, they gave me plenty of space when they passed me.
The eastern end of the trail has a much smoother surface than the western end and it was a joy to ride. Each mile seems to be sponsored by a local business or a family. There wss absolutely no litter on the trail, quite a contrast from the roads in Louisiana and Mississippi. Once the trail passes into Jefferson Davis County (carved out in 1906 form other other counties for white supremacy goals and named after the Confederate States' president in the Civil War just 40 years after its end), it becomes more bumpy with frost heaves, quite a few fallen branches from the recent heavy rain, and a rougher surface. Nevertheless, the rain shelters every few miles (I thought at first it read 'pain shelter') at frequent intervals allow a restful break while immersed in the sounds of nature as the birds and the insects were full-throated today.
Thanks for the greeting - main street of Bassfield, a small town through which the trail passes
Prentiss has seen better days as the main street was empty in the noontime hot sun with only a couple of vape stores open on the main street. On the edge of town are the usual Dollar General store and Piggly-Wiggly (grocery store). The most visible structure on the main drag is the county courthouse, beside which a huge tank is displayed at a war memorial.
Jefferson Davis County is the 48th poorest county in the US (out of over 3000 counties) and 7th poorest in Mississippi. I read a bit later about its history of post-Civil War race relations and it's not a pretty picture, though the county had fewer lynchings than the county (Simpson) that I later traversed.
From Prentiss to Magee, the road surface deteriorated, even on relatively main routes. I passed through many large cattle farms, some stinky pig and chicken farms (one can smell them from a long way off before they come into view), and I had my first serious dog encounters. On Sunday, quite a few dogs barked at me as I passed their territory but none were arsed to chase me. Today was different, as 6 dogs gave chase, one for about a half-mile. Most frightening was a huge muscled pit bull that came racing across a large lawn in full pursuit but since I had a 50 yard start and it was downhill, I was able to win that race. So the current dog v Johno score is 0 -6. Since the dogs today were not reacting to my yells to 'go home', tomorrow I will deploy a very loud horn that I carry to try to dissuade them.
Tomorrow's forecast is for a strong chance of severe thunderstorms in the afternoon so I will shorten my planned ride to Philadelphia - almost 100 miles (160kms) - to try to get to the hotel before the skies open. After Thursday, the forecast is for less humid weather as the front finally moves away but the temperatures are expected to rise with heat indexes up to 110F (43C) later this week.
Glad to hear you escaped from the mad dogs, and have had no other mad encounters, which hopefully will stay that way.
ReplyDeleteAdding to the other AK’s (should have foreseen there may be another AK when I used my initials from Anne Kane) comment about American hospitality- I lived between Pa. and Va. for 7 years, managed to visit the majority of States during that time and, since then, visited on numerous occasions, mostly Pa. and a few other eastern states. I always found American hospitality to be at a high level. I, also, had a stop, less dramatic, at the roadside one day travelling from West Virginia to Pa. . The clutch in the car died. A much younger man stopped. After an initial brief reaction of OMG is this safe, I decided he had a friendly face and accepted a lift to an auto repair shop in the nearest town. I was on the road again within a few hours.
Like Andrew, I didn’t feel totally safe travelling in the South - based on the gunshot holes in many road signs. However, that was in the 1970s, when despite the end to legalised segregation, the divide was still very evident.
Stay safe John