Aliceville to West Point, Mississippi: Mississippi and considerate drivers... who would have thought!

April 19, 2010

Prior to leaving the hotel we heard a story about a Dutch cyclist that was hit and killed by a drunk driver on the Natchez Trace. We entered Mississippi early in the morning and took our first state sign.

We noticed most drivers with Mississippi plates avoided following us too closely, waited to pass until there was no on-coming traffic and pulled far into the opposite lane when passing. When we commented on this to a cashier, she explained that there was a big push in the state to protect bicycle riders. She said that if a motorist passed a cyclist in an unsafe manner, they would surely be ticketed. She said in addition to the incident with the Dutch tourist, another prominent case involved a young teenage boy who crashed his bicycle and was run over from behind by a motorist who was following too closely. I tried to discover how this attitude of sharing the road with cyclists had come about, and more importantly, how had it been communicated to the motorists at large. She wasn't sure, but assumed everyone knew they would be ticketed if they endangered a cyclist when a policeman was around.

We stopped in Columbus and searched out the public library in order to see an archive of slave documents and artifacts that were mentioned in the Adventure Cycling maps. A well-meaning research assistant (suffering from a terrible cold) tried accommodate us, but it turns out the items were packed in a vault and had only been on display when the map researchers happened to be coming through town. She did bring us some interesting clippings about the Queen City Hotel. The hotel had been the only public accommodation for African Americans in the early 1900's. BB King, Marion Anderson, Louis Armstrong and others stayed there, including Negro League baseball teams. The building had fallen into disrepair and an African American Historical society tried to save it, but it was too badly damaged and was demolished.

When we crossed the Tombigbee River we stopped to take a picture but couldn't find the camera. Rhona assumed she left it back at the library and even called to ask the research assistant to look around (even outside where the bicycle was parked). No luck! Rhona decided to check one more time in the bag where we had been keeping it and there it was!

We went to a lot of effort getting this picture, standing in the hot sun, phoning a long-suffering library research assistant, so enjoy the picture of the Tombigbee River.

Swamps had their own special beauty, but also bugs.

As a retired school transportation director who dealt with overcrowded buses, I thought I'd send this picture to the mechanics; perhaps with a good welding torch they could double capacity on the buses.

Upon arrival in West Point, we were directed to the wrong end of town and ended up cycling for more than two miles in four lane rush hour traffic. As unpleasant as this was, the Mississippi drivers continued to be considerate although Rhona whimpered loudly from the back seat. After arriving safely at our motel we elected to walk to dinner at an uncrowded Pizza Hut and met Laurence for dinner. We learned there was a good reason the Pizza Hut wasn't busy... the service and selections were poor.

We enjoy spending time with Laurence. He is a strong rider and we keep meeting each other, although we each prefer to go our own pace out on the road.

Rhona is frustrated trying to find postcards; we have not been able to find them anywhere in Alabama or now in Mississippi. Wildlife has also been scarce, although we did see a dead armadillo.

Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 306 miles (492 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0