Trans USA Cycling Tour

June 15, 2003 - Day 27
Odometer 2460 - The Spiders and Snakes Segment
Headed out of Hot Springs toward Pine Bluff then south to
Cane Creek State Park where I stayed overnight. The
wildlife education I had received from Scott, my brother
in-law from HS, came in handy during by biking today, as I
was able to quickly and efficiently identify the cotton-mouth
snakes I saw sunbathing on the shoulders of the road
thorough the central Arkansas route. This called for a
change in biking tactics during the day as my feet never
touched pavement unless I was on a commercial parking lot!

June 16, 2003 - Day 28
Odometer 2555
Left Cane Creek State Park and headed toward Greenville,
Mississippi, just east of the Arkansas State line. On today's
ride I entered the Mississippi Delta and headed for the Leroy
Percy State Park south of Greenville where I planned to
overnight.
On the way to the park I got directions from a lady at a
garage door facility who said the park was not far. Her idea
of not far was 20 miles. Evidently she must bike a lot more
than me for 20 miles to be "not far".

Here is a little hummer, but those with delicate reading
habits can skip to the next paragraph. As I was
approaching the entry to the Leroy Percy S.P. I
encountered my first aggressive B.M. Even though I was
prepared with T.P. and other accessories, I still had to
endure the swarms of mosquitoes trying to inject West Nile
virus into my white butt. I left that part of the Mississippi
Delta a lot more fertile.......

The Leroy Percy State Park was a unique experience. The
rangers there were extremely friendly and one even bought
me dinner that night. This park was the one of the loudest
experiences of my life. The noise from the frogs, crickets,
locust and anything else that could make noise cranked at
full volume. It was worse than sleeping next to a freeway.

June 17, 2003 - Day 29
Odometer 2650
Spent the day on a great ride through the Mississippi Delta.
It is the flattest piece of land you will ever see. There was
corn on one side of the road cotton on the other and crop
dusters darting in and out of the sky all day. Spend the
night in a motel in Jackson.

June 18, 2003 - Day 30
Odometer 2740
Headed out on HW-49 toward Hattiesburg and for the next
day and 1/2 I played traffic roulette. HW-49 does not have
a shoulder, which forced me to ride on the road. Planned
to overnight south of Hattiesburg at Paul B Johnson State
Park. The story goes I had some questions about the
amount I was being charged while other campers occupied
my campsite. I brought this to the attention of the park
ranger and he asked me to leave. I thought this was an
unusual way of operating and was somewhat reluctant to
leave as it was getting late in the day. A little later the park
ranger and I had another conversation where he asked me if
I was happy with the way things were? I said "no" and
was expecting him to ask me what he could do to make me
happy, instead he asked me to leave again. I was curious
with how he got from asking me if I was happy to telling
me to leave. He eventually returned with a sheriff and I
asked him to tell the sheriff why he was asking me to leave.
He was unable to tell the sheriff the reason, but I was on
my way out of the campground. I stayed overnight behind a
Baptist Church on the other side of the lake in the State
Park.

June 19, 2003 - Day 31
Odometer 2944
Broke camp quite early around 5:30 AM, and on my way
back across to the other side of the lake wished everyone a
good morning in my loudest and sweetest voice. I put on
some Frank Sinatra music and was on my way. I reached
the gulf about noon and had a terrific oyster poor boy
sandwich at McElroy's. I rode on to Golf Shores State Park
where I overnighted. Took some time to talk with a retired
telephone worker who was the host of the campground.
Got some rain during the evening which led to a soggy
morning. I was left with a beautiful marshy grassland view
on the way out of the park.

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