Rick had a tense moment where he came across the crest of a hill and mistook a driveway for the road. There was a locked metal gate only 40 yards up so he had to stop fast.
Just before getting to the Mississippi border the terrain got dryer and suddenly felt remote. We stopped at a four way intersection and took a few pictures.
Further into Mississippi there were long stretches of freshly graded dirt which allowed for some really fun riding. Power sliding through corners etc. Then we got to a pair of bridges that were out of action. The first one would have been possible to get over but the second one wasn't an option.
For a short time we ended up on a really nice road that inexplicably had a 20mph speed limit. It then had a warning about the curves ahead which said 15mph - I think we could have rode through at 60mph. Anyway who knows. We passed one big house there so the owners possibly had some political connections.
We came into a small town called Ashland at lunch time. The first sign warned that loud music would not be tolerated $500 fine....
Fun town. Then the speed limit was reduced to 20mph... then 15mph as we passed a school. These folk have some strict laws by the look of it so we tried to stay on the right side of the law rather than end up in an orange jump suit. I had to look down to see if my wheels were still turning. Anyhow, it was lunch time so we stopped at the Ashland Cafe.
After lunch there were a lot more great dirt roads. They varied from single car width to wider graded roads but they were all fun. As the afternoon went on the roads had more and more rounded stones on the surface which made them difficult where it was deep. We had to really concentrate on maintaining control - this took it's toll. With all the dirt roads and now the more difficult soupy gravel people were getting tired. This more difficult gravel also produced a lot more dust so we ended up more spread out trying to avoid breathing it and not being able to see the hazards.
A short distance from our end point for the day we rode through a sketchy area. We weren't sure if the groups of people who waved to us were being friendly or getting ready to block us in and rob us. One group was playing horseshoes and I swear the guy holding a horseshoe was aiming at me. We just kept riding... Didn't want to slow down at all.
Finally we got to the hotel. We were pretty dusty today and a bit tired. It was good to settle into the rooms.
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