Day #9: Moss Point, MS- Diamondhead, MS 53.2 Miles

This morning we pulled out of our hotel by 7:00am. We found that this helped us get another hour of biking in before the heat really sunk in. We continued on our homemade route which took us on I- 10. Last night we called the Sheriffs  office in Moss Point MS to find out whether bike riders were allowed on I-10 in the state of Mississippi.  Although everybody we have run into here could not have been nicer, we think we have seen movies (or maybe just had nightmares) about when people like us get "pulled over" in Mississippi.  The friendly police officer on the phone said it was not a problem.  There is a very wide shoulder (almost wider than the driving lanes) on I-10 which seemed to be the nicest road possible (flat, well paved, and with little debris). Unfortunately, this was true for only the first 2 miles.  After that, there was a stretch of the bumpiest and most cluttered shoulder (still just as wide though) we had ever experienced. I would compare it to the experience of riding on an old wooden roller coaster while sitting on a fairly hard/ narrow seat (yummy right?).   Just as we were beginning to lose faith in our new route, we saw a ray of light from the heavens, the clouds parted (there weren't actually clouds....we were baking in the full strength of the sun), and we heard faint music surrounding us (turns out it was my dad's iPhone). The treacherous roads suddenly gave way to the most beautiful, smooth stretch of road that we could have asked for. We flew down the interstate with new enthusiasm and speed (we think the trucks created some sort of tail wind because it felt a lot easier to be going faster than we usually go). We stopped for breakfast after 30 (seemingly quick) miles. Back on the road, the temperatures had spiked again so we stopped frequently for water breaks. One of these breaks took place next to, in our opinion, the best named rivers. The name of the river is Tchoutacabouffa (see picture below... remember that the next time you're playing 'hangman'). Around 2:00pm we arrived in Diamondhead, MS and ate lunch. We decided to call it a day, and we checked into the Econo Lodge just .4 miles away from where we ate. We changed into our bathing suits and swam/ relaxed by the pool for a while before eating dinner. While we ate, we watched The Big Lebowski (a classic comedy about an unemployed bowler who gets in over his head when he is mistaken for a millionaire with the same last name). Overall it was a funny movie and we recommend it!  Saturday night we watched the movie Bananas with Woody Allen which was so funny my dad was still randomly laughing about it today.  We're hopefully going to call it an early night so we can have another amazing day tomorrow!


Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Check out our route at the link below:
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Amoco+Dr,+Moss+Point,+Jackson,+Mississippi+39563&daddr=441+Yacht+Club+Drive,+Diamondhead,+MS&hl=en&ll=30.387092,-89.060669&spn=1.042473,2.320862&sll=30.403675,-88.953552&sspn=0.521151,1.160431&geocode=FQRv0AEdKia5-ikNtbrp2uubiDGdsvcy0lJtEw%3BFe9mzwEdkDes-imrG-7J6zKciDEOh2TIefH2ew&mra=pd&z=9