Roling Along

Thursday 19 – 78th Birthday. Miriam wanted to get up to make pancakes for Longeneckers at 5:30 but I insisted she wait until six. They were very satisfied. Miriam used Rhoda’s recipe from More With Less. They were some of the best I’ve eaten.
Our reading was in Zechariah this morning. It is important to accept others where they are even though we may not agree. God takes us where we are at and works with us from there. That is a hard lesson. I need to keep learning again and again through life.
Ed & Rhoda were on the road about 7:30 with a police escort to the correct route at the end of town. They did that with each biker or group. This town certainly made a big deal of these bikers.
This town also gave us one sad perspective of race relations. When integrated education arrived the whites all opted for private or church schools. There is only one, that’s right just one white student in the towns public schools. At supper we had chatted with a professional black woman across the table. She said Ralph Abernathy was her uncle. Things are somewhat better than they were. To myself I wondered how. Both those black and white students need each other to help bring about better understanding. Well, it is still better that slavery – somewhat.
We left the school about half an hour after Ed & Rhoda (E&R). They were one of the last to leave and we soon passed them and the others tooting as we passed each one. One man became ill yesterday. He was doing a lot of coughing. He rode in the truck all day.
We stopped at a crossroads called Epps and wanted for E&R. It was called a grocery and restaurant and had gas pumps. We went in for salad dressing and olives. I told Miriam that she likely has more groceries in our house than they have to sell. E&R did get a nice chicken and biscuit, etc. Miriam had a salad ready from the left over spaghetti. It was delicious. That is good coming from a guy who is not big on spaghetti.
We found another Army Corp of Engineer’s camp ground for half price of $7 for our Golden Eagle Card. These are lovely camps. This one is also besides the Tenntom waterway that the other one was. We arrived about two and had nice showers and then sacked out for 45 minutes. It felt so good. I was awakened by E&R pulling in on their bikes singing “Happy Birthday.”
This evening E&R took us out for dinner for my 78th birthday to the Plantation Restaurant in Aliceville about tem mile south of camp. We had a wonderful black waitress. E&R told her what we are doing. We asked her about integration in Aliceville schools. She said they are fully integrated. She was surprised that the Linden schools had only one white. She was a fun person. It was a great seafood meal.
I helped Ed pack away his dried out tent.We drove around town to try to find WiFi without success. I helped Ed pack away his dried out tent. We sacked out about ten after several rounds of Password which was the first time for Ed.

Friday 20. Up at six again and had them on the road by eight after doing some work on his horse.
We did the laundry and did not leave until 10:45, the latest ever. As I pulled up to the laundry a man standing there asked if we were leaving. I told him we were as soon as we loaded the wash. He then informed me that the TV antenna was still up. I had walked all around checking before pulling out but had not looked up; unaware that anyone had watched TV. I was so grateful for that dear man.
The vegetation is interesting, especially at this time of year. When we left home the several warm days had made a few trees push buds a bit and the forsythia bloom, otherwise the trees are still bare.
In Mobile everything was green and the Azalea were finished blooming. Today we began seeing them in full bloom here in central and northern Alabama and Mississippi, the latter of which we crossed into today.
We have discovered that the Corp of Engineers parks are wonderful with electric and water hookups but no onsite dump station. There is of course a place to dump. By using our Golden Eagle National Parks card it usually costs $7 per night and $8 tonight. Wonderful! Tonight we are near Aberdeen, Mississippi. We have one more day in Mississippi then it is Tennessee.
Today was a rough day. The first 40 miles were all right. But we and many of the bikers had very difficult times following the route. Numerous times we met and asked them. Once Joy, one of leaders who earlier drove and planned the route was convinced of another way which was incorrect. Most of the confusion was in and around Columbus, MS. It was a maze. Early on when we got fuel one of the leaders was there on the phone. She said a biker had a flat and Alvin, the other leader was helping him repair it. This woman leader was calling to locate parts for Joy’s bike. Her one de-railer had broken. When she finally arrived at the park this evening she said she rode all day in one gear – Wow! The bikers came straggling in this evening from 3 p.m. to just now, 8:15 and one may still be out there.
The area we traveled through today was not nearly as desolate as the past days, with more towns and homes along the way. The previous days we sometimes drove for miles without seeing a residence or human activity other than the road.
This will apparently be our last day seeing the biker group. I will miss them. They are taking a day off tomorrow. E&R will ride and likely take off at least Sunday morning for worship at some church or perhaps we will have our own. I believe the group takes a day off per week – nice. But they may need that time for getting the de-railer part. Also we need to keep moving because of our need to be home before May 31so we have time to get to Grandson David’s June 1 HS Graduation.
E&R are spending a lot of time this evening talking to the other bikers.
Today I got the fever to have a motor home again. That cannot likely be reality. It is a great life.
We caught up with E&R about one where they and we were stymied about the directions. We arrived at Tishomingo State Park in NW Mississippi about two and had time to nap and relax. E&R arrived at four as we anticipated.
I noticed today that the trees here are not nearly as fully leafed out as further south.
Miriam made a big supper and used the barbecued pork shoulder we purchased earlier plus potatoes, green beans, and lime Jell-O with crushed pineapple. This evening it was more difficult to plan for tomorrow’s rendezvous than usual and some aspects are and will be hazy. The camp ground is iffy. Afterwards we laughed together at the DVD “My Big Fat Greek Wedding and hit the sack about ten a bit later than usual.

Sunday 22. We would not need to have gotten up so early but we are accustomed to six and were up soon after. The reading in Rejoice was quite meaningful.
We attended the 8:30 campground worship service. It was led by a Baptist brother, not surprising where at least 75 % of churches are Baptist of some sort. The next major group is the Methodists. He seemed to indicate at one point that he was using the SS Lesson. He did well with a typical warning at the end that we are headed for either heaven or hell and we need to make a decision. The Baptist services that we’ve been in through the years always close with an invitation.
After he had a closing prayer and told us we were dismissed, some nervy old white bearded guy said “We have a morning hymn that is meaningful to us and would be glad to sing it.” He apologized and said he usually asks at the beginning if anyone has something to share. So we gave our usual fine rendition of “I Owe The Lord A Morning Song.” There were sure many words of appreciation and persons wanting to know where they could get a copy of such a fine hymn. Later on the way to showers more people commented about the song.
E&R soon got their act together and were on the road by 9:15, 45 minutes earlier than expected. The service was only a half hour not and hour.
I showered; we packed up, cleaned up, unplugged, had our tea and were on the road by eleven.
We caught up with E&R about noon. Ed had a beef sandwich and both some grapes, then on they went. We had a difficult time following the bike path and finally gave up taking a shorter more direct route. We finally located a little campground right in the crossroads town of Shiloh, which left a lot to be desired. It only has 20 amp services. That is the lowest of the trip to date. He did tell us that the larger group of bikers is also coming here.
Miriam made a cake and we had time to sack out.
E&R arrived about 3:30 after a good day of travel. It was a lovely evening and we sat out after supper and called all our kids but Kevin. The service was pretty good. E&R got a kick out of listening to the conversation with Jim. After reading in my book, “Singer Paul’s Boy,” how Dean & Becky had been so helpful and kind when Miriam had her cancer he called Dean and thanked him. Neat! We also called Dan & Catherine with E&R chipping in.
The ladies walked a block to the convenience store for milk while had and I chatted. There were a lot of gold finches, blue birds and a hummingbird here. The showers and bathrooms were deplorable, especially the men’s.
WE played about three rounds of Rummikub and hit the sack at ten.

Monday 23. The beginning of week two of pedaling. It gave a couple light showers but off they went by 7:30. We did the dishes, disconnected and were on our way by 8:30. I drove up the road a block hoping that the WiFi signal would be better. No such luck. It has been a week since we have had service.
We followed their rout for some distance and then took another direction to the larger town of Parsons where we found a nice little supermarket.
From here on we were in trouble trying to follow or get back on the route. We must have gone miles out of the way today. This is really out in Appalachia. The roads were something else; twisting and turning through mountains, way up one time. At least six times we asked directions and it all seemed right for a few turns and then we messed again. We even missed the campground entrance. This is another campground that leaves much o be desired. It is hot and dry, no grass just crude rock/gravel and un-level sites, constant noise of I-40 and too expensive. The shower stalls have no place to sit to dress. Oh well, I guess there will be more days like this.
We sacked out a bit until E&R showed up at 4 p.m. They had some hard hills today and a lot of problems with dogs. Rhoda used a lot of their drinking water squirting them which really works. It was comforting to us to discover that they had a dreadful time finding the routes and asked many times also. Ed actually considered calling Alvin, leader of the other group and warning him about the need to be very careful as the routes are not well marked at all.
The weather was excellent to ride today. It was sunny, about 80.
For supper Miriam made the omelet special. She set out separate dishes of tomatoes, salsa, onions, green peppers, ham, etc. Then each of us was given a Ziploc bag with two eggs. These we squeezed and shook up. Then each one could choose form the dishes what they wanted to put in their omelet. All the air was then squeezed from the bags and placed in boiling water for 13 minutes. Un-zipped each one’s omelet tumbled right out and they were delicious. It was fun.
We watched about 90 minutes of a six hour DVD we purchased in Mobile about the history of slavery in the US. It is excellent. I learned a LOT that we never knew or heard before. It was an American Experience thing from PBS. Ed and especially Miriam had trouble staying awake. We hit the sack about 10:30.

Tuesday 24. We were up at our usual six. We never need an alarm clock. It was grits, eggs and sausages for breakfast.
They were on the road at their usual 7:30. About half an hour out Ed called and said he did not have his mirror. Would we search where he loaded the bags on the bike? We searched unsuccessfully and hoped that he might yet find it in his bag or somewhere here in the MH. However he recalled seeing it lying on the ground near the MH and planned to pick it up when his hands were free and forgot it.
Last night Ed showed me how to set the GPS and suggested we do not follow the bike route today but go directly to the campground. That worked so well today with that GPS woman telling and showing us every turn and right (actually left) into the campground. Miriam is convinced we need one for our west coast trip this summer. Perhaps! The cost is nearly $500, a lot for us.
We found a nice Wal*Mart Supercenter right on out route and had my glasses repaired. Miriam got a little rope to hang out wash.
Again, we found this another disappointing campground. There was a for sale sign on it and we needed to go to one of the campers to sign up. She took the $25 and told us to go park in any site we wished. There was not one level one. We used the plastic blocks to drive on and as expected, on the gravel the broke. The washrooms were above what we expected. We like those to be nice because a good shower after a day of pedaling is such a high priority for the bikers.
It was 79.8 miles to this campground. When we followed them to Florida in 2002 we always had fewer miles than they did on the bikes but it appears this was perhaps ten miles further.
We had a little lunch about one and sacked out for a half hour and then I did this journal. Miriam is reading the great book about the Christiana Riot; “Resistance At Christiana.” I caught up on reading the excellent material on the back of the bike maps.
Ed & Rhoda arrived about 4:30.It was some hilly riding today AND several drenching downpours. Once when it was lightening and thundering they parked the bike and headed for an open horsebarn. In the rain with a stick Ed held down one of the electrified fence wires so they could crawl through. In the barn one of the three horses, a stallion came over and began nibbling at Ed’s sleeve. He then stroke his head which the horse seemed to enjoy. They were holed up in the barn for 20-25 minutes and then on they went.
We also experienced a thunderstorm at the campground.
Since it was a week ago we decided to have dinner out tonight at the Catfish Diner next door. It was a buffet for $6:75. We are not so big on the fried stuff but the salad bar was great. It was nice to eat out again. And there was a lot of fun interaction with the waitress and a patron who enjoyed telling us his life’s story.
We had a quiet evening together with no games and no popcorn tonight. Rhoda was exhausted and wanted to go to bed so we all did. In such close quarters when one goes to bed, all do. We have reading lamps so Miriam and I read awhile. When we pulled back our bed covers SURPRISE, attached to each of our pillows were little bags of sugar free chocolates with thank you notes from Rhoda. These are two of the most thankful, grateful people we’ve ever met. How gracious of them to allow us to join them in this venture.

Wednesday 25. My didn’t it rain! Yep, off and on all night and sometimes quite heavy. But on awaking the air seemed less heavy and the sun broke through. The Rejoice Reading and Scripture in Psalms 3 was refreshing. He noted that the Boa Constricter of fear can easily choke us – fear of the hills, of concern for our children. Jesus is the one who can lift our heads above the fears.
E&R were off at their usual 7:30. We quickly unhooked and pulled out, stopping first at the little restaurant where we had dinner last night. I forgot to leave a tip – that’s not nice. A neighboring camper told us last night that there is WiFi down the road at the PigglyWiggly Grocery store. Sure enough there was excellent coverage. The last we had service was 4/18 over a week