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By David Freeze

 As I mentioned the other day, it is always bittersweet to see the latest cycling adventure come to its end. As I write this, I am on the Amtrak Crescent leaving Birmingham, Alabama. I checked out early this morning from the motel and walked the bike to the Amtrak terminal, just a quick 1.1 miles. I walked in and told them it was time to go home, both me and the bike. Seems easy, doesn’t it?

    I met Cheryl, head ticket agent, and she looked at the bike and said that I couldn’t ship it even if my ticket said it could ride. No one would be at Salisbury to take it off the train. She called someone and got the OK to put it on the train. Then we began to talk about my adventures, how she had an unused bike that would now get used, and other things. With the pressure off, I was ready to get on the train. Trains have always been a favorite of mine and I was about to go on my longest ride ever, about 20 hours.

  With help from Travels by Allison, I had a roomette, a small sleeper compartment for two. There is a bed overhead and the two chairs make beds too. I was amazed at all the well-planned small space the unit has. There is a toilet, a sink, my own thermostat, plenty of lighting and big window. Meals are included, WiFi works most of the time, and I can’t remember being so relaxed in forever.  Good for the mental and physical stress of what I expect will be somewhere over 1300 total miles. My legs are getting a needed day of rest and a couple of naps won’t hurt either.

    I love the sound of the train whistle and the gentle rolling of the train from side to side. Most of the train ride so far has been in the rain and I have enjoyed being in the dry this time. The train staff are all exceptionally nice while being professional. Other passengers in the car are quiet and respectful. I have a schedule of stops back to Salisbury, regular stops through the night, and expect to get back to the depot about 6:15 am.

    It’s time for my final thoughts on this ride. Thanks to all the sponsors that I know about until I get home. Father and Son Produce, Dick and Jane Richards, Skinny Wheels, Men on Mission at First Baptist Church in China Grove, Wayne Cobb, Gear for Races. All of them have been along for the ride before. I appreciate each and every one of them.

      Thanks to the Salisbury Post and especially good friends Paris Goodnight and Andy Mooney. They fielded the photos and daily updates and made them look good. Rayna Gardner, The Forum General Manager, again managed the whole production as only she can. Amanda Lewis helped with technical issues.

    Two events stick out for me. Early on, I was getting a little bored with my own company and decided to stop at Walmart and get a cheap AM-FM radio. But somehow, I never used it once. I decided that I needed to spend a lot of time daily doing much better with my prayers. Long stretches passed by while God and I talked about my concerns. And His too. The radio just never seemed important again.

   The second was on the evening that my final 30 miles fell apart. I had been thinking that I was well past time for an impending flat or an issue otherwise with the bike. I was concerned for the last week about all the roadside metal, wires and junk that the bike rode through. Then, after that last big storm, I knew the first flat put me in big jeopardy of making New Orleans by dark. The third did me in. I already had a train ticket to leave today and a day of sightseeing in the city planned. No extra days to do that remaining 30 miles.

   After all was said and done, I am sure that the biggest lesson was sent my way when Johnny Walker and David Bourg both stopped to help and we covered the “Pay it forward” philosophy extensively. In the shape the world is in today, what better way to see if we can fix some of the turmoil by only expecting to do something good for the next person. Without any reward except for them to do the same. Those guys set the example, especially David with giving me a ride into the city when he had something else planned.

   So, those will be my takeaways from this adventure.  Plenty more lesser good things happened too, actually too many to revisit them all. But running the bases at the Field of Dreams, the day of fun at Hannibal, all the other days of safe pedaling and people like Cheryl, Layne Logue and plenty of motel owners or others who gave me a good deal or a kind gesture. Or maybe just a friendly “Hello.”

    I got to see a lot of history, always a big part of these adventures. But I wonder why cities like Vicksburg and Natchez don’t take the attitude that Hannibal does. US 61 was a good road and I would have liked to have finished it into New Orleans. But there will be another day, and hopefully by then Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana will continue to pave over more of the rumble strips.

    And finally one of my favorite parts, each year I make new friends who invest their time in writing to me about something to see or do, or maybe they just offered encouragement. Either way, I am glad that you and the Post readers rode along again. I always feel great when someone says that I make them feel just like they were along for the ride.

    We will do it again soon, and I am already thinking about possibilities. Thank you all for being part of another adventure, learning something more about our great nation and maybe getting to know each other a little better. I appreciate you all!

By David Freeze

 Today was about seeing New Orleans and I planned to get as much done as possible. First up was the World War ll Museum, followed by some time at the Mississippi River and a sightseeing tour if there was time.

  I walked 6 tenths of a mile to the museum with few people on the streets. Just a few folks wandering around the museum plaza anxious to get in. There were just a couple odd guys, one of them standing in the street and hollering to the cars that passed by. There were a few statues and plaques outside to see and I made use of that time to read about the museum. We got in at 9am, which they do nearly every day of the year. Once inside, I paid for the ticket and Tom Hanks’ movie that celebrates the museum and honors those who fought. Galleries follow all the different portions of the war from having an undersized and ill-prepared armed forces that would soon take on war machines already operating with vast power.

    Historian and author Stephen Ambrose along with movie producer Stephen Spielberg got credit for starting the museum, and Hanks and many others have joined in. Those galleries were impressive to me, especially the stories in their own words from the heroes that fought and survived. Brave soldiers who didn’t survive have their stories told too. The equipment displays are real, from all the armies that were involved. A wonderful place worth seeing, worth a least a full day and maybe two, already recognized as New Orleans top attraction.

    Hanks produced the movie in 4-D, meaning the screen is wide angle, the sounds are incredible and the chairs and floor shake at appropriate times.

    After five hours, my first thing when outside was to find a small amount of food. A $5 large cookie and $3 bottle of water. I walked back then to Jackson Square, seen by many as the center of old New Orleans. There is a great viewing area of the working river, and I watched tugboats push barges by. A couple of military ships and a riverboat were also close by, with a small cruise liner moored in the distance.

   I took an hour and a half tour of the city, the last one available for the day. New Orleans is vastly cleaned up and much brighter than when I was here last. I found out that the city is in fact an island, visitors and residents unable to leave except by plane, boat or bridge. Insurance is often more than the house payment, and celebrities like John Goodman and Sandra Bullock have their primary residences here. Beyoncé just bought a huge old church that is a block long and is making it a residence too.

   The trolley system has operated since 1835 and one car still operates that is almost 90 years old. The Mississippi at the viewing spot is about a half mile wide and 200 feet deep. The street performers that I remembered from my last visit no longer perform in Jackson Square, which is now a nice park. But some of those performers entertain at other locations near the square.

    I walked a lot, nearly all day and really enjoyed the city. I did get a standard bag of three beignets, French donuts. Very popular were the places selling them and one stays open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I did order mine without powdered sugar and it took the girl a long time to get them that way. The line never stops at Cafe Du Monde.. There is a fantastic downtown market that has all kinds of gifts and probably at least a hundred open air vendors.

   Typically, I usually listen for scams and found a few, but I think that is part of the game. One guy who set up his truck near the beignet place, where water and soft drinks were really high, had a sign that said bottled water for $2. I asked for two and he said, “$5.” I told him I wanted the $2 water and he still pulled them out of another cooler and said, “You get it for a discount!”

   I got a huge slice of pizza twice at the same place and got s few things for my granddaughter. Finally, after one more visit to the river with a street performer playing great organ music, and I have called it a day.

    My train, the Crescent, leaves at 9am, but riderless bike and I will walk there early. My longest train ride was to New York City close to 20 years ago, and I am really excited about this one. It should be about 752 miles and will last about 20 hours.
    One more day of traveling and then this journey will be ending. There is some sadness when they all end, but with that sadness comes an opportunity for planning the next one.

I hope you will join me tomorrow when I write from the Amtrak Crescent while seeing yet another part of America. See you back here then and as always, thanks for your prayers!

By David Freeze

  Cloudy and very humid from the start, I pedaled out of Hollandale without a visible sunrise. For the first 10 miles, I rode inside the lane with light traffic. Most of the traffic seemed farm related and patient enough with me, but I was glad to have a red flashing rear light working well.

   Panther Burn passed by but looked more like a big farm. Then came Nitta Yuma, getting my attention right away from the bike seat. At least nine of the buildings in this little community are antebellum, meaning from the 1700’s. Once with 600 residents, only about 20 remain and change comes hard to them. The little town has gained some world wide attention. Next was Anguilla where I finally got a good breakfast deal on two awesome egg, cheese and tomato biscuits.   

   Rolling Fork was next, then Cary, Valley Park and Redwood. Enough good stores with ice available. I made great time with a wind that couldn’t decide what to do. About 40 miles of the 70 mile trip was on recently paved road, mostly without rumble strips. I met Quentin at one of the paving spots today where he was flagman and we had a nice conversation about my trip.

    Surprising, but it shouldn’t have been, as I neared Vicksburg, hills came back. A couple serious ones after more than 60 miles of pancake flat. I just called on my Missouri muscles and noticed that the Yazoo River was part of that mix. About that time, I saw a sign for downtown Vicksburg but needed some answers from Sue and MacKenna who own the Country Junction restaurant where I had stopped. Just up ahead was a huge hill to continue on US 61, and a flat entrance exited toward Vicksburg. Sue said to take the flat exit and that it would all work out.

    Still about six miles of rough roads and plenty of trucks on the way to the Vicksburg Port kept me wary, but I finally made the downtown. The river was not the Mississippi, but it used to be there. I stopped at the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum and got the scoop. The river used to be here but moved away, leaving the Yazoo to serve as a canal for light shipping. Attached to the museum was the Mississippi lV towboat, a huge boat that was driven by diesel power.
   Also I learned at the visitor center within the museum that no ongoing downtown tours are available, a big surprise and disappointment to me. Hannibal does well with theirs and Vicksburg is loaded with way more significant old buildings, notable people, and of course the Vicksburg National Military Park.

   Speaking of the park, that’s where I headed next. Just in time to see a great movie about what happened to residents during the Civil War, I think the story is fascinating. The Union attacked several times and couldn’t take the entrenched town because the Confederates had the high ground. Yet, Lincoln and Grant decided to “out camp” them, blockading the city so that no food could get in. The Confederates had to surrender and with it came control of the Mississippi and splitting the Confederacy in half.

    To get into the military park, I used my lifetime senior pass purchased out west a few years ago for $10. A great deal! Speaking of that, the Y Service Club at the South Y has decided to renew my ice cream fund after all!

    Finally, as I was leaving the military park, Layne Logue, a civil engineer and wilderness canoe expedition leader, stopped me for a some great conversation about my cycling and his canoeing. He takes big canoes out on the Mississippi and goes camping on sandbars, all sounding like great fun to me. He sent me great suggestions by email for my trip tomorrow to Natchez.

    I’m in the best room of my trip yet, a first class Quality Inn. Trina, who signed me in, also said the breakfast shouldn’t be missed. I won’t.

    A big day, full of people, and now onto Natchez. If all goes well, tomorrow will be my last full day in Mississippi. Since Vicksburg turned out to not be on the real river, I have been assured that Nachez is. You’ll hopefully get photos of it tomorrow. Join me back here for that!