July 30, 2017
to Goshen Springs: longer than expected
"There's nothing along the Trace" said the cyclist we met in a restaurant before Baton Rouge, and the Louisiana “warmshowers” host in Baton Rouge and Jackson echoed this. Believe it! The Trace is a beautiful park through tunnels of forest and the open green sections where mowing tractors are parked. Some open sections with corn or soybeans fields. But there are no places to eat, and only a few restrooms with water. Adjacent towns do have services, but they are not allowed to have signs along the trace telling people what and how far. It seems like a missed opportunity, with concession in most other National Parks for food and souvenirs this park has very little. We are sure there are guidebooks telling cyclists where the closest commercial campgrounds, cafes and gas stations are, but we only have the information we gathered from reading a couple of other CGOAB blogs.
Today we plan to make it just past Jackson MS. The Trace starting near Clinton is used a bit more for regular city traffic, which makes it busier, but most people still treat us right, are patient and move way over for us. There is also a nice network of pedestrian and bike path along the Trace. We take the Ridgeland exit onto highway 51 because we need to find internet and shop for supplies, in that sequence.
We had contacted a “warmshowers” host in this town about a week ago and had not heard back from him before we lost internet access the last couple of days. At the Trace exit we talk with a couple of nice local runners, they confirm there is a McDonalds just a mile to the south by taking highway 51. On our way there though we spot a Subway restaurant and a grocery store less than half a mile off the Trace, so that’s where we head as we’ve not spotted the McDonalds yet. There is internet at the Subway.
To our disappointment there is still no reply from the host here in Jackson. Being a “warmshowers” host does not oblige you to host cyclists. You can mark yourself “unavailable” to get zero requests, or you can just respond to a request with a “no” if hosting does not suit you at that time. But in our opinion if you are listed as “available” you should respond to requests in a timely manner so passing cyclists can plan their route. Quite a few hosts have dismal response rates; we have stopped wasting our time contacting hosts that have 15 requests but only 2 responses. In our opinion the warmshowers organization should just automatically remove host who drop below a certain response rate, or who have not checked their account for over a year.
Anyway, enough of the rant, we are not staying in Ridgeland tonight. Instead we shop for two days, pack everything away and make our way back to the Trace. It is very hot by now, but the Trace follows the shores of Ross Barnett Reservoir, there is a breeze off the lake and the humidity is down. The ride is longer than expected though. We have to go to about mile marker 115, then go off-route about 6km across the lake to a very nice state run campground. The fee is $22 for a tent which is reasonable; there is a small pool, laundromat and a shop just outside the campground that sells some groceries and cold beer. The cold beer is most appreciated. We get our dirty laundry done and cook up a nice meal for dinner. Even with the heat we discovered we can buy frozen hamburger, carry it for most of the day, cook it in the evening and then carry it the next day for dinner. That makes it possible to have nice cooked meals with meat as long as there is a store every two days. Tonight we feast on pork chops with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and baked beans!
Today's ride: 108 km (67 miles)
Total: 36,264 km (22,520 miles)
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