Day 22 – Aberdeen MS to Tuscaloosa AL

Today’s ride was about as good as any ride can get. The morning temperature in Aberdeen was in the high 40’s. It warmed up during the day to the high 70’s by the time we got to Tuscaloosa. The sky was clear all day. If yesterday was like one of those perfect fall days, when it’s cool but not cold; today was that wonderful spring day that occurs once a year. It is truly unbelievable that we could have ridden this far in the South and not had a hot, humid, miserable day. While the roads in MS were not the best, we only had 19 miles of the 110 in MS. Alabama seems to have far better roads. There was almost no traffic on all of today’s route. Lastly, my GPS recorded 4800 feet of climbing, mostly in relatively short, and often steep, climbs of 100 to 150 feet. The biggest climb was listed as 250 feet but I think that might be a little too big. Needless to say there were a lot of ups and downs and as Norman, my roommate, said, the route profile looked like an EKG for someone with a messed up heart.

Today as I entered Alabama I entered my 50^th state. I have now been in every state in the Union. Actually, I collected my last 3 states on this trip, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. I think that it is quite an accomplishment, it only took me 58 years to achieve it, but other more experienced travelers may not think it so much of a big deal.

I could have done without Tuscaloosa. Our route tried to avoid busy streets, but it was not too successful. I wish we could have gotten to our Best Western by another less traveled route. The final 10 miles through Tuscaloosa were not pleasant. Yesterday the sandwich maker in Subway wanted to know what all these cyclists were doing. At first she could not imagine, and would not believe, that we had come from CA. But when she finally accepted that we had come from CA and were going to GA, she asked why we were stopping in Aberdeen. Yesterday, I had no answer to that question. Today I do, Aberdeen is a lot easier to navigate on a bike than Tuscaloosa.

At one of the sag stops Chris was fixing yet another flat. If you read Mike’s blog you know that Chris has had a rough time with his bike, flats, broken spokes and problems with his brakes. A few days ago he invested over $1000 for a new set of wheels; they may be worth more than the rest of the bike. While he has not broken a spoke with the new wheels, they have not reduced the number of flats he has gotten. Today at the sag Mike was talking on his cell phone to a friend when he was asked to help Chris change his tire. He told his friend on the cell phone that he had to help someone fix a flat and his friend immediately asked if this was Chris. Mike exploded with laughter. It seems that Chris’s bike problems have become known to a very large number of people.