"It ain't dyin' I'm talkin' about; it's livin...'"

Ms. Jackie Martin came to visit early Sunday morning before I left Kosciusco. We had a great time talking about my Mom and Dad when they were first married. My mother was 18 and had never been outside of New Orleans much when she married Dad and moved there. He had returned from Korea and was working there. By day, he worked for United Gas and by night he hung out at the local funeral home with Mike, Jackie's husband, who was the mortician/undertaker/ambulance driver of the community. He spent all his free time as a self-appointed first responder. Anyone who knew him has to have a mental image of him hurdling down the highway in a ambulance with lights going and sirens blaring.
They rented a garage apt., Mom and Dad did.
My mother is a saint...

Anyway, I set out to find these places and seven miles later realized that I had better resume the trip.
I hit the Trace mid-morning and with weary, aching legs, gained some momentum. A few miles south of town, I heard some voices and realized some riders were about to overtake me.
It was none other than the famous Danny Chew, (www.dannychew.com), two-time winner of Race Across America. He was passing through with a nephew and a local cyclist he knew who joined them for a few miles. Believe it or not, he left Pennsylvania, rode to Alaska and back through the northwest and central US and was going on to Florida.
I liked him a lot until I saw how he was looking at my two-wheeled trailer.
"You ain't gettin' very far pullin' that baby carrier." he said.
"I may fool ya'." I replied...
Seriously though, it was a close brush with fame, running into him was...

I made it along in more great weather.
A couple of songs I was thinking about were Johnny Jenkins' version of "Statesboro Blues", and Nat Stuckey's version of "Sweet Thing and Cisco".

In the afternoon, I encountered musket fire from the woods near the mouth of the Pearl River, twenty miles north of Ridgeland.
Figuring it was a civil war reenactment, I thought I'd stop and check it out. I walked a piece into the woods and hid my bike, then tried to pinpoint the area that I heard the shots come from.
About 200 yards down a logging road that I thought led to another historic site, I was almost smashed over by several oncoming deer. That was odd, I thought.
Walking a few steps further, I realized that I was standing between hunters and their flushed prey.
I quickly reversed course, followed the deer, and was on my bicycle within seconds.

I stopped at the Ross Barnett Res. Overlook for old times' sake. That was a favorite place of mine during school.
I stopped for supplies in Ridgeland and passed over I-20, trying to figure out which character I am more like:
Josey Wales
Clark Griswold
Augustus McRae
Cousin Eddie
Ranson Stoddard
Probably only numbers two and four, I concluded.

(By the way, crossing I-20 affords a view of Highland Colony development which features P.F. Changs and Bianchi's and Ruth's Chris, to name a few.)
But as I still had nearly thirty miles to cover and my hostess had offered to save some supper for me, I pressed on toward Raymond.

In the Raymond area I was facinated with all the local civil war history.

With the help of another good samaritan, a tree farmer named Chris Fitzpatrick, (who carried my trailer to the inn), I made it to the spot on the Trace from where I could take a short trail to Mamie's Cottage, an antebellum BandB on the grounds of the Dupree estate.
I didn't know it but I was in for a real treat.
I dined on a truly great meal, read for awhile and enjoyed the night and evening in solitude.
My hosts, Charles and Brenda Davis, contributed ibuprophen, razor, and other needed items, besides two fine meals.
All told, I'm not sure that I've eaten a better meal; 1.5" thick pork chop grilled, mac/cheese, lima beans, bread, apple crumb cake.
Homemade breakfast was served: blueberry pancakes, bacon, ham, coffee, o.j.
Brenda even sent me off the next morning with another big hunk of the cake.

Sample food/liquid intake for one day only:
6 to 8 twenty ounce bottles of Powerade/water/energy drink
two Clif energy bars
breakfast
dinner
supper
8-10 ibuprophen
misc. junk foods

Thought for the day-
"When I was a child...I was a dreamer. I read comic books and I was the hero. I saw movies and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times...
Elvis Presley