Goodbye Mississippi, Hello Alabama

I spent one day in Mississippi and it should be the same for Alabama. Tomorrow I should be in Florida! Today’s ride was 61.2 miles, mostly along the Gulf coast. It was a beautiful day with hardly any wind. When I left the motel this morning, I heard an ominous grinding sound coming from the front wheel. Errr, errr, errr, errrr. I found a bike shop that opened at 9 and headed there after an IHOP breakfast. The guy at Cyclist Choice adjusted the hub stuff and it seemed to roll easier. He said it should be ok, but if it did fail, I could get a new wheel at pretty much any bicycle shop. So, off I went, errr, errr, errring down the road. It was driving me crazy and then my left foot started hitting the rear pannier. I thought, what the heck now? I dismounted and took the pannier bag off when I noticed the stupid rack screw had fallen out again! The rack was pressing on the disc brake and the bag was hitting the tire, making the errr, errr, errr sound. Once I replaced the screw and used a tywrap (thanks Calvin) to double secure it, all was quiet again. Maybe if it happens a third time, I’ll remember to check it before tossing red herrings at bicycle mechanics.

Here’s the map and photos from today:

The ride along the beach was so pretty, I kept having to stop to take pictures. After a while, I started taking them on the fly, so I wouldn’t slow my travels down too much.

Another great bicycling bridge. There’s a decorative and effective concrete barrier between the cars and bikes. It makes it especially nice to stop for photos. And they’re off!American Pharaoh comes from behind and wins by a nose.
As soon as the route turns inland, the pines are back.You would expect it to sing Ol’ Man River, but instead it sang Maggie’s Farm.

Off in the distance is a huge shipbuilding yard. I think those are shrimp boats, but who knows. Woo hoo! Seafood capital of Alabama, eh? I had a shrimp poboy at a chicken place. Bawk! I think most of the seafood is shipped out. There were a lot of wholesale seafood businesses along the way.