New friends, generosity, homelessness, and awesomeness!!!

So I was feeling incredibly left out, because I didn't have any pink. So Jess and Caley remedied that for me. We have become pink attack!!! We are attempting to be accused of being triplets...we will then reply "indeed we were womb mates!" The following are the pink attack pictures. I particularly enjoyed Charley's Angels!










Below is the photo that illustrates each of our nick names. We have opted to leave them off this blog...you may ask us for the names and context in person...a much better and funnier way to find out the names!




Here's the photo of Caley, Jim, and Mary. Jim and Mary are the wonderful aunt and uncle of Caley who generously fed us some of the most fantastic meals...the food was only eclipsed by the caliber of their company!!!




We then left Jim and Mary because their passports were not recognized in Mississippi.

There are many traditions in Mississippi, one of them is to lick the sign as you enter the border...you can't argue with tradition!







We camped in Airey Wilderness Area. We're pretending to be on tandems.






It was incredibly sad that we no longer had Mary and Jim with us.



Here's the meal we prepared for ourselves in their absence.




We have found a great deal of generosity in the south. This gentleman named Derrick owns the grocery store... He saw our cutting up sunscreen bottles to get every last uv protective slather. Seeing this he proceeded to give us two bottles from his store. If anyone is ever in Vancleave Mississippi try to stop at his store and say thanks again from us...he works 124 hrs a week so he'll likely be there!











One of our goals for Louisiana was to see an alligator. Alas this was unsuccessful and so we tried really hard to see one in Mississippi. We made some of our best alligator faces, gestures, and calls. Below are the pictures.







We were so inviting and convincing that it worked and we summoned this guy!!!





Then came the crescendo of Mississippi, crossing into Alabama! It was spectacularly triumphant as is depicted by the monolith that Jess and I are gazing admiringly toward!





If you've ever heard the song "business time" from Flight of the Concords the lyrics "she says, 'is that it?' And I know she means 'awe yea, that's it.'" these are the most appropriate words to describe the sentiments.

We were fortunate enough to find an additional state sign. It appears to be tradition in Alabama to throw garbage at the state sign while passing through. Bottles are frequently used.





An other tradition is to feed a creamy substance via interlocking arms to your companions at the state line.





The last tradition is to do that nose spoon thing...were all pretty good at it. Jess has been on the pro circuit, Caley retains her amateur status so she can still compete in college, and I am a veteran spoon nose thing guy from way back. We're all pretty big deals!





In Alabama we all found our inner indentured servant / migrant worker and picked some strawberries. A gallon of strawberries costs only $6!








I asked the strawberry farm owner if the field was precarious enough to warrant a helmet. "How dangerous is the field, should i take this with me?" She was terribly unamused, but Caley thought the exchange was incredible!





Then we were headed to the ferry that connects Dauphin island with gulf shores. The ferry owner informed us that the ferry had broken and would likely not be fixed until Wednesday the 25th. As it was Monday and we need to average 70 miles a day this was disheartening. Here's a picture illustrating our ferry sentiments.




We promptly got over this and we're back to our jovial selves after a quick glucose infusion.




The task of finding our way around the ferry was next. We decided more food was in order to keep moral high. Becky Selling suggested waffle house. Jess asked if it "was on our way?" Caley snappily replied, "of course it's on our way, because we're going to waffle house." Then I proceeded to laugh at the circular reasoning till my collar bone hurt!

We had a fantastic meal at waffle house. Additionally, we met the manager Elton, who is AWESOME!!!

Jess also remarked that her homeless person titters were feeling a little low. So we asked Elton if we could camp behind the waffle house dumpster and he gladly obliged!





We enjoyed dinner so much at the waffle house that we decided, well heck...why not have breakfast?! Elton joined us and very generously got us breakfast!!







Best of luck with pilot training, Elton!!! We'll let you know when our next bike touring adventure is so that you can plan accordingly!

The trip sent us through the university of south Alabama where as is tradition, we interlocked arms and took pictures.








The current flat tire count is Tad - 2, Jess - 4, and Caley - 3. This has left us with presta tubes that only have patches...onward to the OK Bicycle Shop!





Turns out that it's a bar...so when in Rome...it was also likely 5pm in Rome ;)

On Blakeley island we met a very pleasant gentleman by the name of Salem who pulled his truck up in front of us while we were picking some blackberries.

We hope your son continues scouting, your wife cycling, and your back improves so you can join her!!!! Salem also kindly bought our lunch that day!








Pizza huts buffet was closed...but dragon Chinese restaurant buffet was not!!! They unsuspectedly seated us and this is what ensued!





















































On a totally unrelated note, Dragon Chinese Restaurant Buffet has decided to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Thank you so much for the food Salem!!!!

We're moving up in the world...who knew that on one night you can sleep behind a dumpster and then sleep under power lines on the next night?! The American dream at its finest!!!









Goodnight all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Gulf shores, AL

Louisiana, Locals, and Lessons

As we rolled into Louisiana, we could tell this state would be great because the sun came out, the birds started singing, and we found something to eat on the side of the road.





Jim and Mary rode out to meet our trio plus Gary, another cross country cyclist whom we've enjoyed getting to know.





Our posse of six rolled into DeRidder, Louisiana together.





My sweet aunt and uncle have turned us into quite the pampered pedalers with magnificent motor home meals and lightened loads. After mountain biking the Continental Divide in 2003, they know exactly what bicycle tourists crave.









I feel especially thankful to get to spend this time with them before my impending move to Seattle. We have much in common, including our great style.





April 18 started off with a display of Mary's gourmet resourcefulness: omelettes boiled in bags.




They were delicious!





Inspired to new levels of resourcefulness, we discovered that newspaper stands outside of gas stations double decently as chairs.





We've been so impressed with the kindness of the Louisiana locals that we're trying to be a bit more like them. After meeting Eva Lou, we decided that Louisiana is a state for first and middle names.





Henceforth, we became Jessica Claire, Caley Sue, and Mauddie Williams.





We took a dip in a river and met some more locals who told us all about "noodling." Unfortunately this fellow said the water was too cold or he was too old to show us how it's done, but he gladly posed for a photo.




In search of something pink for Tad to wear, we landed at the Oberlin thrift store perfectly on a Fill-the-bag-for-$2.50-Wednesday.




Not only did we find something pink (to be displayed at a later posting), we also found some shirts to cheer on the local team. Go Tigers!





I'm not sure if we've told all y'all about the Adventure Cycling group yet. We first met the 14 riders and their snazzy van in Marathon, Texas. Since then, we've played a sort of "Where's Waldo" as we find each other along the route. Beyond offers of food, camping, floor pumps, and beer, we've appreciated their company and commaraderie through headwinds, chip seal, and rainstorms. They've enthusiastically listened to our stories and taken pictures when we've gotten ourselves into a pickle (such as the time I was caught like a hog in a snare with my foot trapped in the river rope swing). In return, we've added at least 10 ideas to their list of alternative uses for chamois butter and given free (albeit useless) medical advice. We will certainly miss them down the road as we pick up the pace in our final weeks.





After a likely last beer with their group, we pedaled down roads lined with flooded fields.





Turns out they grow rice by winter and crawfish by summer. This kind man explained the process to us and let us play with his catch.














After another 20 miles of pedaling and a lesson from a local, we were ready to eat crawfish.





We refined our skills on 4 pounds of boiled Cajun crawfish.










We washed them down with a drive thru daiquiri.















We finished the day off with the other two members of our squad,




 

crawfish étouffée,




s'mores around a campfire, and our first sighting of a live armadillo. We saw it hop and later read that they have a "habit of jumping to about fender height when startled" (Wikipedia). No wonder we'd only seen them in their road kill form.

April 19 brought more bayous and surprises.




Our shirts have gained us supportive honks from passing cars but also a whole new slew of comments. "Did y'all ride here from the college?" or "You should know where to find gators; you're from around here." I guess we're fitting in.




We couldn't find a turn we were supposed to take so we carried on down a lovely road, waving at farm implements along the way.





Unfortunately, we had to take a gravel road for four miles. Look at those positive attitudes!





We noticed another set of bicycle tracks in the gravel, later met this cute couple, and bonded over our trek down the bumpy but scenic road. They'll be my neighbors in a couple months.





A serious morale boost was waiting for us at the post office in Simmesport.





Our friend Becky Selling sent treats for our journey, including money for ice cream. Thanks, Becky!




So we went to the Family Grill. We couldn't resist hush puppies, po boys, and fries. Before we even ordered ice cream, much of the family related to the Family Grill stopped by and chatted with us.





Darling Sadie made us a brownie delight and then a banana split.









Carter made one for Gary.





Apparently, ice cream treats made by the grand kids are on the house! Thanks so much Margherite and family! Guess we'll have to eat ice cream again, Becky.




We spent the night next to False River, which was truly part of the Mississippi 300 years ago.





Highlights of April 20 and 21 included crossing the Mississippi





eating local food















riding past plantations and castles









meeting up with other cyclists










and just having fun with Louisiana in general.











Louisiana has also taught us some lessons.

#1. If the fines for littering are high...





leave it in your yard





hide it in the river




or burn it!




# 2. Fire ant piles make poor bike rests.





# 3. When using a caterpillar as a mustache, be sure to select the non-nose stinging variety.





# 4. Kissing bugs don't kiss the way most people would like to be kissed.











# 5. Our dirty clothing can be used for cockroach extermination.





But Jim and Mary are survivors.





After 80 straight hours in our Oberlin Tigers shirts and 5 days in the great state of Louisiana, we've cleaned ourselves up to move on to Mississippi.




We'll miss you, Jim and Mary. Thanks for everything!

Location:Mt Pleasant Road 2,Bogalusa,United States