day 7: clarksdale to senatobia, mississippi 62 miles

a much cooler and shorter day.  temps only in the low 80's.  the thunderstorms that rolled through clarksdale last night took some of the humidity out of the air.  today was a flat ride through the rice paddies, soy, corn and, yes, cotton fields.  saw a bunch of field hands planting cotton.   mostly a flat ride for the first 40 miles before we started climbing into senatobia.

there's a reason that mississippi is the poorest state in america and, for much of this ride, we've been witness to that poverty.  there are no major cities and no major industry except farming in mississippi.  even in a town like clarksdale, home to morgan freeman and the delta blues museum, there is little sign of wealth or even a thriving middle class.  and, once we got outside of clarksdale, the situation only got worse.  we rode through ramshackle towns with dilapidated buildings, unpaved streets and little to no sign of hope for a better tomorrow.

two examples are shown below.  we've been passing church after church along our ride routes.  this one, long-abandoned, is a prime example of the small baptist churches we've been passing day after day.  many, like the one below, are also abandoned, especially as the local congregational populations have severely dwindled or disappeared altogether.

the second shot is from a convenience store we used as today's one pit stop.  i'm taking a bit of a literary license calling this a convenience store.  i'm not talking about a brightly neon lit 7-11 with shelves teeming with the latest snacks, coffee stations and glass enclosed cases with milk, beer and soda.  this was more of a "gas-n-go" store you'll find throughout the south.  i'm not really sure what it is, other than something that escaped from a 1960's time warp.  we were told, in advance, about this place and it's proprietor, a 80-something year old woman who sits every day in her barco-lounger watching television.  sure enough, when we got to the pit stop, there she was, right where we were told she'd be; sitting in her lounge chair, watching a tv rerun from, yes, a 1960's drama.  walking into the dimly lit store, we saw long, low shelving with canned and bottled goods.  basic staples only.  no snack foods.  no candy bars.  no gum.  no hot pot of coffee or a soda and ice dispenser.  the one refrigerator case that was working barely had two six packs of beer, a couple of quarts of milk and a dozen eggs.  how this place remains in business is beyond me.

the picture, however, is from the outside.  it's of the one gasoline pump in front of the building.  what caught my eye was the "3" pasted in front of the per gallon price at the pump.  this pump was so old that, when it was installed, gasoline cost much less than $1 per gallon.  there was no thought to it ever going above that price, hence the pasted on "3" in the dollar position.

as we got closer to senatobia, the farms began to show more life; the farms and homes a bit more upscale.  we even started riding through legitimate neighborhoods.  eventually, we started to see that we were technically entering the outskirts of the southern suburban metropolitan area of memphis.

tonight's revelation came during a dinner conversation with a couple of the guys on this tour.  for many of these guys, the rides are a kind of addiction.  and the addiction they feel when riding is something they don't seem to be able to capture in other parts of their lives.  maybe it's because so many of them are retired.  in a way, they seem to live for these rides.  i think it's a combination of the camaraderie, the physical rigors of biking day in and day out, and of seeing various parts of the country that you could never see by car.  at least seven of the people on this tour are either jumping right into the next event, the cross-country north tour (52 days from astoria, oregon to portsmouth, new hampshire) which starts four days after the end of this ride, or will be heading to astoria later in september for the west coast ride (25 days from astoria to newport beach, california).  many of these riders average two tours a year.  that's at least 75 days on the road, biking across parts of america.

i think i understand the feeling of addiction.  it's how i felt when doing all those aids rides years ago.  couldn't wait to ride in the next event and was a bit depressed when a ride would come to a close.  i missed the adrenaline rush every morning; the spirit of community among the riders riding for a common purpose; and the ability to see some of the most beautiful parts of america.  but i'm not there just yet with this ride.  maybe it's because it's much longer than i've ever ridden before.  maybe it's because i'm doing it for myself and not for a charity.  who knows.  we'll see how the next couple of weeks play out.

tomorrow we'll hit memphis by lunchtime.  and a much anticipated day off to follow.