Eutaw, Alabama to Columbus, Mississippi

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. OH NO!! I don't bike in the rain--not on purpose!! When I went to breakfast, these women were dressed to RIDE. They were wearing all kinds of fancy stuff, things I've never seen, much less own. Then Laurie, our tour guide, gave the ok to ride. WHAT?? It was RAINING!! There was no doubt that Anne was riding. Kathy was unsure, and I didn't know what to do. Then some of the women started leaving. As I stood there, looking at the rain, I decided that I came on this tour for an adventure, and there would be NO adventure in riding in the sag wagon. So, I ran to my room, put on my new Pearl Izumi rain jacket, and got on the bike. I left with Anne and Jennifer in a "soft" steady rain. I learned a few things on this 64 mile ride in the rain. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. There wasn't much traffic (I guess loggers don't work in the rain), and the dogs stayed on the porch. Even they were smart enough to stay out of the rain! We stopped a few times. I had some hot cocoa once. But mostly, we just peddled on. The pace was a little slow for me some of the time, so I rode out front a lot, but we all got to Columbus about the same time and rode in to the Holiday Inn together. Would you believe it stopped raining as we entered the city limits, and by the time we got to the hotel the sun was coming out, and the rest of the day was beautiful. Tonight before dinner we had margaritas. I learned that is a tradition with WomanTours every time we cross a state line. Ummm, how many more states... Tomorrow is another rest day, so I plan to upload a few more photos to my blog, do some laundry, and buy a mirror for my handle bars. All these women have mirrors on their bikes, so I'm going to get one too. Just hope I don't have a wreck trying to use it!
63.75 Miles

Demopolis to Eutaw, Alabama

On the road again . . . what a great ride. The sun was out, the hills more gentle, and my "FRIEND" stayed home. Anne, Kathy, and I began to paceline when we got off the busy 4-lane and onto the country roads. We decided to each pull one mile (couldn't do 30 seconds, DB, we had too far to go), and it worked great. Not exactly a blistering pace, but we were moving down the road! Marilee (remember, she rode in with me on the 102 mile day) joined us at one of the sag stops. Sag stops were every twenty, and we stopped to make a few photos along the way. A fluffy dog tried to chase us, but stopped dead in his tracks when I yelled at him. The ladies were impressed, so I had to give them a lesson in how to yell at dogs. Alabama dogs, which are exactly like Louisiana dogs understand "southern" yelling. You have to tell them to "GIT BACK" in your meanest voice. So, I think I'll pack my whistle away--never had time to use it anyway.
We had a great lunch at B & N Bar-B-Q in the little town of Eutaw. Caused a few of the diners to stop in mid-chew when we all walked in. A bunch of women in lycra and biking helmets must be a bit unusual here. Oh, and the town weekly came out to interview us. Our picture is supposed to make their paper next week. (Not a lot happening in Eutaw, huh?) We didn't have internet service last night, so I wasn't able to update my blog. We could see I-20 from our motel. It made me think of Monroe. I miss ya'll, but this tour is really fun.
56.4 Miles