Not much happened today. Typical empty roads on a Sunday morning. It was mile after mile of corn and soybean fields with an occasional rice field thrown in. I think I have seen rice fields only one other time, near Sacramento. We could see the levee for the river in the distance at times but we do not get too close to it.
We traveled through Rosedale. It looked like a nice town. I thought of Eric Clapton's and Cream's lyrics mentioning Rosedale. I loved the song Crossroads and heard it for the first time when I was in high school, oh so long ago. It stayed on my mind the rest of the day, knowing that Mississippi is the birthplace of the blues and that Eric Clapton used alot of the old bluesmens' lyrics. So here it is:
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees,
down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees,
Asked the Lord above for mercy, "Save me if you please",
I went down to the Crossroads, tried to flag a ride,
Down to the Crossroads, tried to flag a ride,
Nobody seemed to know, everybody passed me by,
Well I'm going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side,
Going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side...
Two ironic things: mention of Crossroads and rider.
Robert Johnson was the author of the lyrics and Cream used them in their song. Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for receiving musical talents. This took place in Rosedale. There was a sign in Rosedale referring to the town and the blues. There is a blues museum in Clarksdale where we are staying tonight. Several of us looked forward to going to it, but alas it is closed on Sundays. The sale of his soul to the devil is referred to in the Coen Brothers movie "Oh Brother, where art thou". My bible study Bohemian brethern refer to this movie often and I think that we have a sung a song or two from the movie in our fellowship on Friday mornings.
We had our first dog encounters today. My friend Doc told me that if you yell "Get off the couch", it will stop a dog in its tracks. It worked like a charm the first time. The second encounter was with dogs that looked like pit bulls. The larger one was tied to a chain the size of my forearm. I thought I was home free on that one, but Nathan soon yelled that the second was chasing and I used my Tyler Farrar sprinting prowess (LOL) to escape. The third encounter took 3 of us yelling at the top of our lungs to stop them from chasing. I had goosebumps after that chase. Another dog encounter was with some abandoned puppies in the middle of the road. One of the forward riders saw them crawl out of a box. Sad, but there was nothing to do as we were in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully, a driver picked them up.
Day's stats: 83.1 miles, 17.2 mph, 450 feet climbing.
Cheers,
Tom
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Tom, are the winds out of the south? Is that usual this time of year? I have to laugh at your elevation figures - 450 feet of climb...really? Don't you get tired of riding in the same gear all day?
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Jim,
ReplyDeleteYes, the winds have been out of the south. Monday was the first day of headwinds and we did not have much of it. I do not like the constant flat territory. You are in the same gear, have no opportunity to rest while descending, and must remember to stand up constantly for a different position. When I did Tracy's Maine to Florida tour in 2008, it was flat from central New Jersey all the way to Florida. The only hills were on bridges.