Belmont, MS to Port Gibson, MS: - Couple on Coupled Co-motion Tandem Tour Trace - CycleBlaze

November 1, 2014

Belmont, MS to Port Gibson, MS:

A Town Too Pretty To Burn

41 degrees! That was the temperature when we were ready to ride this morning, colder than back home in West Virginia. Like sensible people we went back in our room and waited for it to warm up a little but we were still cold (at first) even dressed with all of our cold weather clothes.

She still looks a little cold, and that is even with wearing my extra wool shirt.
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Two things happened to us today that have never happened on previous tours.

First

While sitting at a picnic table eating lunch I saw a couple on a tandem pulling a BOB trailer cycle past. At first, I worried I was hallucinating but I called out "Tandem!!!" to them, the only thing I could think to get their attention. Mike and Chandra are riding from Madison, Wisconsin to New Orleans. They are averaging 90 mile days and camping every night. They claimed it wasn't too cold last night in a tent, but I don't believe them. It was wonderful to lunch with another tandem touring couple. I'll get information about a blog they are writing later.
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Mike had the longest arm and the best technique so he took the "selfie". We didn't want to delay them because they still had a long way to go today and had to set up camp before dark.
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Second

Rhona spied our first live armadillo. We've seen the insides of several dead ones, but this was our first mobile one. This one stuck around long enough for us take (his or her) picture. We were surprised to see it hop away and since it's ears look rabbit like, Rhona wondered if the species is related to rabbit. This will take a bit of research.
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We heard about how the traffic on the original Trace had eroded the trail but it was a shock to actually see it in person.
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I'm standing at the bottom of the Trace. Rhona took the picture from what had originally been level ground.
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General Grant marched his army through Port Gibson on his way to attack Vicksburg. He reportedly said the town was "too pretty to burn". Perhaps his opinion had something to do with the large number of churches on Church St. where our B&B (Isabella B&B) was located. We lost count during our walk tonight.

A local Presbyterian preacher was known for pointing toward the heavens while exhorting his flock. When the new church was built late in his career, the congregation placed a pointer finger in top. General Grant would have seen the finger when he was here. Perhaps he envisioned God's finger pointing at him in judgement if he set fire to Port Gibson.
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Bobbye Pinex, hostess of our B&B gave us a tour and history lesson about this old home which she and her husband renovated several years ago. I marveled at the planning and work that had gone into resurrecting a home which had fallen on hard times. Her pre-reirement career as a remodeling contractor probably provided the necessary skills. When we arrived she was answering a phone call from Randy Fought from NatchezTraceTravel.com who was checking to make sure we arrived safely. She said they sometimes get in the car to search the Trace for late arriving cyclists. They didn't have to use the car to look for us but Bobbye loaned us her car so that we could go for dinner.

The tandem made it through the day but we avoided coasting as much as possible because of the chain problems. Because we pedal all the time we never get an opportunity to get out of the saddle while on the bike.

Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 446 miles (718 km)

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