THE BIG PUSH

A little trivia.............from what epic film if tonight's blog title taken from.............an "epic"

For our followers...........a little quiz.............name the 9 states we have visited as of this post...........and for extra credit, can you figure out the one state we skipped when our original plan was to touch10 states......

Natchez, Miss. - McComb, Miss.  Friday, 9/9

We left Natchez bright and early on Friday as we knew we had  tough ride ahead of us.  Some of you may recall that David and Rex traveled in this area last year on a short journey so they knew what was ahead........although they did neglect to let Bill know.  The ride on Friday consisted of two (2) parts.............first part.........tough riding on a busy 4 lane, with little interesting views............mostly trees.........the second part consisted of tough riding on a country road with traffic and lots of trees.  This part of Mississippi does not have the same type of crops we have seen to date.  Today, no cotton, corn, or soy beans.  It appears that timber,  mostly pine, is the prominent ag industry, with some cattle ranching.  We did see signs indicating a nuclear power plant, which was interesting in a weird sort of way.  We made good time and pulled into McComb, Miss to our favorite hotel.........ha.........and enjoyed a wonderful dinner Ruby Tuesday.  Wonderful is of course relative to the experience and locale you are in.   As we have gotten closer our pace has picked up and our conversations have been shorter.  "Less Talk and More Rock" as the younger generation might say.

McComb, Miss - La Place, LA - Saturday, 9/10

We got off on a really early start, i.e. 6:50 AM as the excitement is building for The Big Push............on towards New Orleans.  We had a good route today with a nice variety of scenery.  You will see some of our spots today when the pictures are posted.  We went through a couple of smaller towns and went through a larger community, Hammond, which is home to  Southeastern Louisiana State, "home of the dragons..........."  David and I wanted to see the football game tonight, but Rex was adamant about the big push and had us on a schedule to get to La Place this evening.  We entered the bayou country and saw some interesting water areas..............not sure I would eat any fish caught in these areas, but sure a lot of people fishing.  We also went over a really really long bridge that was elevated over Lake Pontchartrain via Highway 51.  A cool experience.

We are scheduled to be in New Orleans early on Sunday and will be dinning downtown in the evening with a special breakfast treat I understand on Monday.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  The Academy is in the final stages of voting on the annual end of the trip awards.  You will recall the awards are as follows:

Iron Man
Rookie of the Year
Best Hotel
Worst Hotel
Best Beer Spot
Best Day of Riding
Fiddle Fart Award

The members of the academy are making their final selections and the results will be posted with the final blog on Sunday evening during prime time.

For the facts................we are of course are pleased to have David provide the details:

Friday, day 26, 23 days riding.
Distance 67 miles.
Avg mph: 11.4
Total miles:  1490
Daily avg.:  64.7

Saturday, day 27,24 days   riding.
Distance:  86 miles.
Avg mph:  11.9
Total miles:  1576
Daily avg:  65.6

Some might ask what we eat during 7.8.9 hours riding:
Usually start at 0600 with a continental breakfast., that includes:  fruit, cereal, biscuits, pastry, bacon or sausage, juice, coffee.  We take from this some extras like pastries, apples, oranges, bananas to sustain us through the day.  The banana get gooey in the heat.  We stop at gas station stores for me:  chocolate milk, Rex: coffee, Bill:  health food and drinks.  We usually stop again in p.m. for coke, ice tea, lemonade, etc.  Dinner is usually welcome and depends on local delicacies such as Shonneys, Wendys, Ruby Tuesday, etc.
How much do we drink on hot, long, humid days?  Today I drank 70 oz of cold then warm water I carried with me.  Supplemented that with a McDonald's shake, very refreshing, a coke, sometimes chocolate milk, sweet tea, lemonade. etc.  All I can carry and drink to keep from dehydration.  And of course try to maintain a good attitude in the face of adversity.