We can tell we're not yet acclimated to the new timezone. Larry was up at 5:25 local time - which would have been 6:25 eastern time. As a result, I was up soon after and we were on the road by 6:30 AM local time. It was nice to start the day early as it takes best advantage of the coolest part of the day, plus traffic was light that early too. We managed to get to Atmore, AL, but we did continue what appears to be a developing trend - that is finding the post offices. Even with the GPS taking us right to them, they seem to be "hidden" and takes some digging around to find. This one in Atmore was tough because as you'll see in the photo, the sign is very near the top of the building AND in a poorly contrasted color.
From here we had a pretty good haul to our next waypoint. It was a really nice morning and traffic was fairly light - until we crossed the Tensaw river and got off I-65 at Saraland. From there we headed up US-98 which had a lot of traffic that appeared to be weekenders heading to the country. Eventually that thinned out and it was a nice ride up into Hattiesburg. We stopped there for coffee, fuel and found a Dick's Sporting goods store so I could replace my leaking bite valve (for my Camelback drinking water supply).
Here's the day's track to help you see where we rode:
By the time we got up to Prentiss and turned westward on US-84 the day was getting long and hot. Eventually we were seeing the tell tale signs of impending rain. We did catch a couple of light showers, but fortunately managed to skirt the worst of it so never had to break out the rain gear. It actually felt good (cooling)!
Along the way on US-84 we picked up the Lincoln County sign for the Presidential tour, and further on down the same road the Adams County sign.
Just after the Adams county stop we rode into Natchez where we stopped for lunch and planned out where we would overnight. We are a little concerned that being in the prime summer vacation times we need to be careful about finding rooms, so we called ahead and pre-booked a room in Delhi, LA.
From Natchez, we crossed over the "Mighty Mississippi" River (which was quite high on its banks as most all the rivers and lakes have been on this trip) and with that we were in Vidalia LA. From there we continued west on US-84 into Ferriday where once again we had to ferret out (no pun intended) the post office. This time the GPS took us to a place that was MILES from the actual post office location. A quick check with locals got us back on track and we captured our last waypoint of the day.
Can't see the name of the post office? Trust me, when you zoom in on the full size photo you can just make it out in that thin strip of light blue just below the Post Office sign.
From here we had about 85 more miles to make it to our hotel and managed to keep out of the rain the rest of the way. We did ride along some incredibly tall and healthy looking corn fields though.
Total miles for the day was 402.
