Charles and I woke up at 5 a.m., for we had a long 120 mile drive back down on I-55 to Winona. Kudos one last time to my friend for driving! There were still some patches of snow in the forests in northern Mississippi, but the farther we traveled south, the less we saw. Today would be a bright and sunny day in Mississippi! I rode off from Winona around 8:45 a.m., and my first photos taken were along this highway somewhere in Webster County. It was Sunday morning and the roads were quiet. I briefly rested and let me tell you about Hammer Gels! They have some sort of electrolytes to serve as a "rapid energy fuel." They taste great and the substance is a gel. Rip off the top and squeeze it in your mouth and you'll be in bicycling heaven! I will admit my experiences may have been merely psychological, but these Hammer Gels did seem to provide some additional energy about 30 mintues after consumption. This particular package was vanilla; My favorite flavor was espresso. And check out that logo! Just looking at that teethed wheel with the peddle "hammering down" was enough to pump me to keep riding hard. :) Hammer Nutrition produces these and their web site is: www.hammernutrition.com.
	And since I am on the topic of logos and great products and services ... I saw a Piggly Wiggly Supermarket in Mathiston, Mississippi. Oh I loved it! What an magnificent logo ... a friendly pig wearing a butcher's hat! Piggly Wiggly ... The greatest name for a supermarket in the history of humanity! You Southern people got it alright if a Piggly Wiggly is in your town! Piggly Wiggly!!!! (I just had to shout that.) Visit their web site to learn where the nearest Piggly Wiggly supermarket is in your area: www.pigglywiggly.com.
	Across the street from the Piggly Wiggly, I thought the sign at the First Baptist Church in Mathiston was a very challenging one. I fall short of this standard time after time.
	Somewhere on the highway, near Mayhew, MS, I was looking down at the immediate road for too long when I suddenly saw a large tree limb (the circumfrence of a thick baseball bat; much thicker in some places) sprawled across the shoulder. It was too late to break or swerve and I rode over it with an initial head on thud - there was a split second where I thought I could have either catapulted from the bike or popped a tire - but neither happened. Thank you to the Good Lord on this Sunday! Approaching Starkville, the designers of the highway system decided to turn the relaxed four-lane highway into more of a interstate highway style. The turnoffs had deceleration and acceleration lanes that required that I really make sure no vehicles were exiting or entering. Not fun. Approaching Columbus, the traffic increased and there were more exits. It was a fairly miserable and nerve-wracking finale to the end of my ride. From Starkville, there were numerous small bridges over creeks and roads where the shoulder was almost entirely covered in small grayish pebbles. I either rode through that crap or leaned on the white line if it was safe.
Columbus, Mississippi	Downtown Columbus looked like an interesting place, but I struggled with trepidation over finding lodging. I later realized many of the motels were located just one exit farther from where I exited on Highway 82. I stayed at a really cheap motel on Columbus' east side. It was a "dive" in so many ways, but at least the lights worked and the bathroom was clean. I only paid $30 with tax included. Gooey gels, a Piggly Wiggly and my agitations with the highway. Yep, this was a fairly long and uneventful ride. In retrospect, I probably focused too much on the boredom and overall lack of enjoyability of these days, when I should have appreciated that they were not troublesome days. I felt accomplished to make it to Columbus, tacking on 85 miles on this day. I tried to limit my thinking about the ultimate end of the journey, for I still had a lot of riding to do and who knows what could happen? Tomorrow I planned to make another significant dent by riding way into Alabama. Just keep the mileage going, Steve!