Snakes Alive, Dead Frogs, and Snapping Dogs

This morning started out very soggy after it rained all night. As we were riding out of Brinkley Arkansas  heading for Sanobia Mississippi I came across a beautiful full grown copperhead warming himself on the side of the road. He was very much alive. I have never been so close to one, it was thrilling. The country side was very rural with rice, wheat, corn, and cat fish rearing ponds.  The people have been very nice everywhere we go, they are quite curious about us. At one stop along the road I took a picture of a dead frog that had literally croaked. The ride was quite a mixture of conditions  from misting to strong head winds some sun and mostly clouds. We did 116 miles with some decent climbing at the end. We are all getting much stronger so we have not been as trashed at the end. Tomorrow will be 138 miles with 5800 ft of climbing, it should be are last really long day.

  Mississippi is really poor and it seems to be mostly black. It is interesting to think this is where many of the civil rights fights took place. You can still kind of feel those lingering sentiments. The Mississippi River bridge we rode over was really high. The river itself seemed turbulent and very muddy from all the rain fall. I rode with Lou again today, he is from Michigan. I have had a bit of trouble helping him enjoy the journey. Lou has not taken one picture this whole time. Today there were at least 5 dog encounters. One yard had at least 10 dogs and they all came after us. I had a large brown dog come after me at another  farm and it did its best to bite me, just grazing my calf. The two women on the trip have been terrified by the dogs. Monique was bitten in Tibet last year and had to get rabies shots. The attitude  has been up beat and this is a good group of riders. We entered our 7th state today. I miss all of you.

Life Is Good Ride On