Double Down Day
The password is "MANGO"
9.27.13 - 9.28.13
85 °F
View
Pony Ride 2013
on brendagerber07's travel map.
Hello to the faithful followers at home. We are sitting in a Day's Inn in Kosciusko, MIssissippi.
Yes, we are now in our third state and everyone is feeling fine. We pulled into the parking lot of the motel we were suppose to stay in and Karen looked at me and we shuddered. No way were we gonna stay there! We frantically got out our phones and IPads and started searching. We found a Days Inn with two rooms available. Crisis averted. You might wonder why we called today's post the Double Down Day. Dan wore a double pair of socks and both Colleen and Wynn wore double pairs of shorts (Thanks, Greg for the suggestion). Since all the riders have sore posteriors, they are always talking about solutions to their problems when we stop at a break. The MANGO became a password for talking about the wonderful cream they all use to help soothe those sore spots. I told them no more talk about butt cream. Thus the MANGO password.
The riders left the hotel at 7:15 am this morning and were ready to tackle the day. They had about 10 miles to go before entering Mississippi. That's where the first snag happened. There was no state sign on their route. So we got a phone call and Karen and I rode a route to the north and came across on Hwy where there was a great sign saying:
image
Karen and I had to head through Columbus, MS which holds the first home of Tennessee Williams as its Welcome Center. We met Virginia and she gave us quite the tour. She even let me play the pump organ.




While in Columbus we toured the streets to find a large number of Antebellum Homes- beautiful.




Meanwhile our riders were seeing reddish gray roads lined with beautiful greenery.
We caught up with the riders in Louisville. We did not have 3G in this place but saw the riders comfortably sitting at a Shell station, having a good old time visiting with the locals. We met Shelley and Sally there and Sally gifted us with three huge round homemade peanut brittle. It was most delicious. They heard from a truck driver that had passed them earlier..." You guys are really movin' along. Really movin' along. "
There were all kinds of quotes heard today...
The riders rode 92.2 miles in 6 hours, averaging 15.3 mph. We have finished our first week and are 25% of the way across. Wynn says we are now under 2000 miles to go. Tomorrow I will devote the blog to answering some of the questions you have posed. Have a wonderful Sat and we will continue the quest.
I will close today with a few words from Dan.
" Dan here: I thought other cyclists following our blog might be interested in our daily riding routine. We've settled into two mile rotations on our pulls. So far we've had very little headwinds, so the rotation we are doing is really practice for the future tough windy days. But an added benefit is that by rotating each two miles, it gives us each something to concentrate on, and makes the miles go faster.
On a personal note, I'd like to mention how fortunate I am to be able to do this ride at my age. This ride has been on my bucket list for years. It's only possible for me at this time because of my wonderful wife, Evelyn, who at this time is keeping the home fires burning. But also because of terrific riding partners, Colleen and Wynn. plus a huge shout out to Brenda and Karen who are so great at taking care of all the day to day items like food, lodging, water and countless other things along the way. This has made it possible for the three riders to just pay attention to doing the miles.'
Posted by brendagerber07 17:19
You do not have to post a reply to us...just a note of interest. Did you know that Kosciusko, Mississippi is the hometown of Oprah Winfrey. We went thru last year. Enjoying the post...good sailing everyone.
by Joyce and Ron