We crossed the Mississippi in to Mississippi on a old rickety bridge and were met by a sign, mesquites and a casino. Luckily they are building a nice new bridge with stimulus money. Don't know about the Casino.
We rode through downtown Greenville and I think we were better off in Dumas. Not an exciting place.
Back on our private highway, we diverted into a few towns, to find them basically abandoned. The main thing on the highway is that great southern plant, kudzu. It went on for miles and miles. A friend of mine took some to Ecuador to keep the jungle growth down in his palm plantation. It worked and he just had to keep the base of the trees cleared.
Yesterday I had helped a older lady at a gas station in Hot Springs check her transmission fluid. She was all dressed up and wanted to tip me, which I refused. She had just came from the cemetery visiting her veteran husband;s grave. She was quite upset that no one really honored our veterans anymore. As I rode on I thought about what she said. I had seen no indication that anyone was honoring the veterans. Until I rolled into Columbus, Ms.
The downtown was closed up but the main street was decorated with hundreds of American flags. I looked for a place to eat lunch and the only one open downtown was Harvey's so I whipped Scoot in. It was a more modern restaurant than the others that were closed. Beautiful Mary took my order and then asked if I was veteran. When she said yes, she said my meal was on the house, and though I had just ordered a salad I could change it to anything from prime rib to sandwich's and it would be free. I stayed with my order of the salad. The owner of the restaurant, the Hertz family, have honored veterans for many years by treating them to a free lunch. I wish I could call the lady that I had talked to yesterday and tell, "yes, some people do still care". Harvey's restaurant Thank You !!!
I had plotted several routes for today, but bridges pretty much dictated the route. In Alabama, I looked at several alternatives, but off the main roads hotels were almost non-existent. I also know that in this part of the state, there is little or nothing on the side roads. Four lane highways are not conducive to making u-turns or pulling off to visit. Just being on a four lane changes my mind set to a faster pace. I had already missed several opportunities this morning because of this highway. So, I decided to just go for a record mileage day and headed for Selma, Alabama. We joined AL219 at Centerville and headed out in the country. This was a nice ride with almost nothing on the road. The only thing was Paul's vegetable truck at the end of his driveway. I stopped and chatted and bought some home made soap and pickles.
We rolled into Selma about 4PM. A dark cloud was over head with a few rain drops falling when we pulled into the hotel. 367 miles. We could have done more miles as it never did rain, but there were not hotels at a reasonable distance and 367 was more than enough for me.
ps: the editor is still off for the holiday so please forgive my errors and omissions.
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