Mike Murphy, owner of the Starkville bicycle shop, discusses the route with Neville.

Fellow riders Ford Waterstrat (left) and Adam Howell (right). Ford is a high school student and Adam is a student at Mississippi State University.

It was not clear to me whether the exercise bra was included with the fish plate or not. We forgot to ask.

John Whitten (left) and Paul Failla (right), the "Mud Brothers," very muddy from their ride through the wet fields nearby.

Started from: Starkville, MS
Ended at: Tupelo, MS
Distance traveled today: 114.4 km (71.1 mi)
Average speed: 23 km/h (14.3 mph)
Elapsed Time: 6.20.0 (hh.mm)
Max speed: 48.9 km/h (30.4 mph)
Staying at: Mockingbird Bed & Breakfast, Tupelo, MS 38801 [tel. 601-841-0286]

Distance traveled so far: 1186.1 km (737 mi)

Last Modified on 5/9/98 at 4:28:45

Day's Narrative: When we got up it was cool and the sky was partly cloudy -- not raining as we had expected, but it had rained last night.

Today we ate at the Starkville Cafe in downtown Starkville. They do poached eggs well. Many restaurants serve poached eggs as hard boiled eggs, but this place does them right. However, it did take them quite a while to get them right.

We got away from the motel about 9:30 and headed out state road 389 toward the Natchez Trace Parkway. Today the wind has shifted around so we had a breeze from the west -- not a tailwind as with previous days.

A few miles out three bicyclers caught up with us. It was Mike Murphy, owner of the Starkville Bicycle shop, riding with Ford Waterstrat and Adam Howell (photos). We rode with them for an hour or so at a good pace as they showed us a great, low traffic, scenic route to the Trace Parkway. This route took us to the parkway further north than we had planned, however we thought we could get there before Connie passed by. The pace was fast enough that we cut almost an hour off today's expected time to Tupelo.

We got to the Parkway about 11:20, having ridden about 30 miles, almost half of the day's distance. We hoped we hadn't missed Connie because she had our lunches. Well, we would see. We continued down the Parkway in our usual way, stopping at every historical sign and pullout. Lunchtime came and passed and still no Connie. As the time entered early afternoon, it became obvious that we had missed Connie -- and lunch. We stopped and ate the last of our snacks and pretended that was lunch. We were now only 15 miles or so from Tupelo. At a distance of about 8 miles we noticed a Fina gas sign on the side road entering the Parkway. We took the exit and bought sandwiches at the local grocery store -- which happened also to have a special on fish plates with exercise bras (photo).

As we were devouring our late lunch two young men, John Whitten and Paul Failla, rode up on their dirt bikes, covered with mud (photo). We called them the "Mud Brothers." They said they had been riding in the fields, when they dropped their bicycles in the mud. Then they got muddy getting them out. I'm sure their mothers were happy to see them this afternoon.

Feeling a lot better with some food in our stomachs, we finished the ride into Tupelo and found Connie at the B & B. Connie had driven the Parkway all the way to Tupelo looking for us, then had driven back down the Parkway again 10 miles or so, and still couldn't find us. Actually, we were even further down than that. It's probably obvious that Connie is not interested in carrying our lunches any more. This misunderstanding could have been avoided had that second cell phone been working.

This was really a beautiful day -- cool, and not a drop of rain.

Tomorrow we will layover here in Tupelo. Connie and I are moving to the Holiday Inn down the road because we need a more utilitarian form of lodging where we can handle our gear. Neville and Barbara are staying at the B & B because they really like it.