27 December 2010
“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live”. – Mark Twain
Today we started out at Bridges-Hall Manor in Houston, MS (NOT Houston, TX). Our B&B hostess was Carol, who is also a caterer. She’d served us a delicious dinner the night before and the breakfast was just as divine. (We are getting seriously addicted to homemade biscuits and fig jam.)
Almost immediately after leaving the B&B, Miranda spotted a small hawk on a wire. (She has eagle eyes.) We saw more hawks during the day, more turkey buzzards, and a dead possum. Overall it was a quiet day: fewer historic sites than on previous days, a lot of long stretches riding, a lot of storytelling. We really soaked up the sunshine – a crisp, clear day, very cold but with not a cloud in sight.
Here are some highpoints:
1. We stopped at the Old Trace and got our picture taken by some fellow visitors.
2. We had a typical Southern roadside lunch of “meat and three”: choice of meatloaf, BBQ pork, or fried steak, plus three veggies (creamed corn, green beans, fried squash, mashed potato). The restaurant was filled with men in camo, who Miranda and MB initially thought were soldiers but learned from Stuart that they were deer hunters.
3. Took a walk to an overlook at Jeff Busby Park (Thomas Jefferson Busby was the congressman who, during the 1930s, introduced the bill to restore the Trace as a National Park).
4. We arrived at French Camp, which was once a trading post in the frontier days but since 1885 has been a school. They have recreations of historic buildings and also a bed and breakfast, where we’re sleeping tonight.
We’re doing great and are at milepost 180. We hope we can blog tomorrow but if we can’t, sorry fans!
Go you three go! I am such a wimp when it comes to cold weather biking - I am so impressed that you keep on biking! What an experience you are having and will continue to remember in the future. Be aware of the southern food and the southern accents... they both tend to SLOW you down.
ReplyDeletehello 3: back in London from minus 15 degrees centigrade phone & virtually screen-less shropshire and, needless to say, we've all gone into screen mode - Jackson catching up with Top Gear xmas special, Lukas on x-box and I'm, of course, lapping up the cyclists' blog. Hope to speak tomorrow and belated merry xmas etc. best, ken
ReplyDeleteLukas says: hi mum,stuart and miranda just telling you that i hope your having a good time and im missing you all
Jackson says: hi stuart mum and miranda hope the weather isn't to bad and hope that you guys can continue at the current rate and finish your intrepid journey. Also id lik to wish you a belated merry christmas and if i dont get a chance to say it a happy new year
I just got my self caught up. Sounds like a great trip so far. Southern comfort food, history and beautiful scenery.
ReplyDeleteThe long stretches are tough. Once steve talked me up a particularly long hill by telling me the entire plot of Rocky(the first movie)! Why Rocky?--i don't know but the distraction was just what i needed. I think there was another, shorter hill, on the same day, that required a Seinfeld episode...Miranda what is your favorite movie?