Just outside of Natchez, less than three miles from where we spent the night, we began our ride along the Natchez Trace Parkway. It was magical! We started out just after sunrise because we were riding 104 miles that day and the sun rays were shining through the mist. It was humid and later very warm, but especially first thing in the morning, it was one of the most beautiful rides I have experienced. This is a ride that makes me wish I were a poet. Even when I was getting tired I was still constantly giving thanks for the entire experience. The surroundings were beautiful, the road was smooth, no commercial traffic was allowed, and other traffic was minimal.
On July 19, the day we were in Searcy Baptist Church in Louisiana, the church prepared dinner for us and then we got to watch the videos of our trip on their big screens in the sanctuary. I don’t know if they really wanted to do it, but they let us watch, at that time, all six of the videos that had been completed. There are now seven. We watched them in reverse order, newest to oldest, but you can watch them in any order you wish. It was surreal to watch. I can hardly believe we have actually done all that during the previous six (now eight) weeks.
This was a really fun day, riding from Searcy Baptist Church to Natchez, Mississippi. Judy and I were the sweeps for the day. There were a couple of interesting stops along the way–the Frogmore Plantation and the Delta Music Museum. The Frogmore Plantation had an interesting store, and the dinner bell was outside, but I didn’t pay for the tour of the plantation. It was a big cotton plantation. Now, apparently, they are a cotton gin and touring operation. There was also a mound nearby from some of the more ancient mound building peoples.
The picture of the sign turned out, but the picture of the mound doesn’t look like muchThe bellThe store: inside and outCotton fields
The Music Museum was the most fun, mostly because of the ladies working there. This was a small museum started from scratch in the town of Ferriday. It was free to visit and they let us bring our bikes inside. There used to be a bar in Ferriday where the blues musicians congregated. Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t supposed to go there, so he snuck in when he was a kid to listen and learn. There are a surprising number of musicians from the tiny town of Ferriday. The museum, itself, used to be a post office. Honestly, I don’t remember too much about the museum’s exhibits because I’m not that familiar with that genre of music. I mostly remember our tour guide’s enthusiasm. She clearly loved the museum and what they had been able to build there. She was thankful to the musicians who had donated their stage costumes. She told me about the three cousins who were all in the music industry–the oldest having taught at least one of the other two. When she found out that Judy had lived in Lafayette, IN, she showed us that was where the Post Office safe had been made.
Well, this is a silly thing to take a picture of! But the safe was made in Indiana
We crossed the Mississipi River and crossed the state line into Mississippi. It was a good day.
This cemetery was on the edge of Ferriday. We got lost and were trying to find our way back to the route
Time to get caught up on these! On July 20, we rode through the Kisatchie National Forest to get to Searcy Baptist Church in Trout, LA. We were originally scheduled to go to Jena, LA, but we couldn’t find a host church. Brenda and I were the sweeps for the day, but we never did catch anyone or have anyone to help out. I overdosed on caffeine (not badly, just bad enough it made things more difficult) I had trouble catching my breath for a few miles.
Because I need to get caught up, I am not writing a lot–but here are some photos:
Kisatchie National ForestRest stop at the ranger station
A pretty Methodist churchThis pond was at our destination, Searcy Baptist Church
In Natchitoches (pronounced Knack-a-tish) we had two days in which we did painting for about half a day and then had the rest of the day to explore the town or rest or whatever…One woman came in with her two granddaughters to cook for us. She had been on previous Fuller Center tours and had signed up to come on at least part of this one but health problems got in her way. She came and cooked Louisiana food for us instead! We had red beans and rice, and shrimp pasta salad and bread pudding with praline sauce. The next morning she had made beignets and chicory cafe au lait. She also had decorated cookies to look like hammers and paint brushes. We were well-fed. We also had meat pies, a Natchitoches specialty.
Hammer and brush cookies
I saw this weird plant ball, but on the other side of the driveway I saw a different one
We left Shreveport shortly after seven a.m. I know the time because Miss Renee came to our 6:30 a.m. circle up and her daughter had to be at work at 7. That helped me peg the time. During our devotions, Wes told us a story of learning to trust in God’s grace. He owned a building which was given over to a Christian counseling service in which he also worked. One room was rented out at market rates to help pay taxes and utilities for the building itself. At the time it was vacant and getting ready for another renter, another counselor was there helping her clients transition when she retired. One client needed a handicap accessible entrance.
And here comes the story of God’s grace in action: Shortly before the meeting, Wes had given over control of the building to God, including worrying about how to pay the building’s expenses. When the visiting counselor went through the list of clients and their needs, the one who needed a handicap entrance seemed like a perfect match for Wes. But then the counselor said, “But wait! She needs a handicap-accessible entrance, no stairs. And you don’t have that.” “Yes, we do,” said Wes. Everyone was surprised by his response. “No, we don’t.” The only room with such an entrance was the one they were renting out. It was not used by the counseling practice. “Yes, we do,” Wes insisted.
At the very same time that he said that (as noted on his secretary’s log) a person had called and asked him to call back. When he got hold of him, he learned that the person had been calling for a few days, and they were going to do all the maintenance on the building as an offering to God. It was a lesson for Wes to trust in God and rely on God instead of on his own efforts in doing God’s work.
A tree-lined road in LouisianaOur media crewThere are cattle back there, but Meredith said, “Hello!” and scared them off. Henry called them “Wizard Cows” but I think they may have been Brahmans
We traveled to the Louisiana city of Natchitoches (pronounced Knack-a-tish) where we were going to spend three nights at the Baptist church and work on a project for the local Fuller Center.
Saturday we had a build day. Mike is the construction supervisor for the Fuller Center and he had been saving up work for us at a home build in Bossier, LA (pronounce Bo-zher). This was for Mr. and Mrs. Combs. Mr. Combs had to go to work, although we did get to meet him. Mrs. Combs worked on painting with us. We had several tasks to complete—cleaning the yard, mowing, framing a shed, installing hurricane clips in the house to hold the roof on, painting the outside…It’s hard to keep 25 people busy, so some of us ended up going to the surplus store to do work there. We unloaded a truck and put together light fixtures. People will buy the lights if they can see what they look like, but not if they are in the box. Also, they can tell which parts are missing when they are put together. Most of them did have missing parts; that’s probably why they were donated in the first place.
The Combs family will live hereThe site was coated in honor of Miss MaggioGetting ready to work, inside and out
To-do listHurricane clips and soffitt venting
After we got cleaned up, we went to an all-you-can-eat catfish place, Port-au-Prince on Cross Lake. Renee Hooks, one of the staff, took us out. That was a very long dinner. The way they make sure you don’t eat way too much catfish is by feeding you hush puppies, bean soup, and cole slaw and making you wait a really long time before getting any catfish. Doesn’t matter—it was all very tasty. I was ready to be done by the time we finished, though. We didn’t have any down time at all that day.
It’s been a long dayCross Lake after dinner
On Sunday, some went to the Catholic Church where we were staying. Judy and I decided to go to Mt. Canaan Baptist Church where Renee goes. We were the only white people in the place at the 8:00 am worship service. We also felt rather underdressed. The service took nearly 2 hours and included two offerings, a benevolent offering and regular tithes and offering. The sermon was roughly 40 minutes long and there seemed to be a tag team that helped the speaker know when it was time to quit. After one person touched him on the shoulder, he said he was about out of time. After the second person touched him on the shoulder a few minutes later, he actually did conclude his sermon (after a shorter time). The speaker was a younger minister. Pastor Harry Blake also spoke. He recently celebrated his 80th birthday and will retire a year from December after 51 years at Mt. Canaan.
In the afternoon we had a little free time. A group of us walked downtown and ate some breakfast. I don’t remember doing much other than that. We had our team meeting at 4:30, where we change what chores we’re doing for the week and then talk about our high and low points for the week.
A chandelier made of actual tubas. Much bigger than the ones we put together
Then back to the Fuller Center for a dinner of red beans and rice (which apparently always includes sausage). Two vans were in use to transport us back to the church. I got in Miss Renee’s van. i wasn’t paying too much attention—checking e-mail and Facebook—and noticed that we were getting a tour of the city. I still didn’t pay much attention as we went to some of the wealthier parts of town and heard about who lived here and who lived there, and what the director of Community Renewal International did to get Millard Fuller to come. We saw the entire Allendale neighborhood built by the Fuller Center; the first three houses that were built; the empty lot where the house used to be where Miss Renee grew up…We saw a lot. It was rather astounding.
A whole neighborhood of Fuller Center houses! I bet it makes you want to donate to the cause!
Donate to the Fuller CenterMiss Rosie’s garden. The city owns the lot, but she has the rights to work it as long as she lives
Miss Renee had the windows of the van open for us because the air conditioning did not work in the back of the van. She said hello to everyone who was outside. At one place she was cajoling a young woman to get her mother to come to the door and wave. Her sister came out instead and explained what was going on. We got almost back to the church when she decided we needed to see the section of houses built for veterans, situated near the VA hospital. She said hello to someone sitting on his porch, and then asked, “What do you have in your hand?!!” He was smoking. It’s clear that she knows everyone in those houses. That was a fun evening, but it was also a bit crazy—what we expected to be a ten or fifteen minute drive lasted for at least an hour!
Just like yesterday, we got to ride in three states again today. This time it was Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. The day started on a very shady stretch of country road that ran parallel to a much busier road. It was beautiful, calm and peaceful. After a bit, though, we were back to the road with the noisy traffic. We saw more meadows and trees, and then, to let us know we were nearing Louisiana, we passed larger bodies of water.
A nice, shady road
I took a picture of a Methodist Church in Oil City. There was no discernible city, and I couldn’t tell if the church was operational or not. But I love the UMC and it had these crepe myrtle trees out front that I had not yet gotten a picture of. They’re beautiful flowering trees and shrubs that come in all different colors.
I loved the sign for the town of Frog Level, which later changed its name to Rodessa. As soon as I saw the sign I had to stop and get pictures—one to show the frogs and another which was legible to read the story.
We arrived at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Shreveport where they have a volunteer center we could stay in. It had three showers and a washer and dryer—though the washer wasn’t functioning very well. There were ten bunk beds—not enough for all of us, so some of us stayed in the fellowship hall. We learned later in the evening that there are very large cockroaches in the south!
Shreveport, LA is where the Fuller Center really got its start doing building. And we got to hear lots of their story from the staff. This is one of the few Fuller Center Covenant partners that actually have paid staff. I’m not sure of the entire story, but in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, the director of Community Renewal International contacted Millard Fuller about helping build for some of the people who had been displaced from New Orleans. Mr. Fuller wasn’t moving fast enough, so the man from CRI drove out to Americus, GA to get him and bring him back. That was the beginning of building for the Fuller Center. Before that, the Fullers actually intended to simply continue to raise funds for Habitat affiliates even though Millard had been fired from Habitat due to differences in philosophy. The covenant partner in Shreveport has built 57 houses since 2005—whole neighborhoods.
They welcomed us like we were celebrities! After getting cleaned up, we went in vans and private vehicles over to the Fuller Center office and surplus store. Mr. Lee Jeter had made us some delicious gumbo and salad, and we had chocolate cake for dessert. He gave us a short history of the Fuller Center there in Shreveport. Monica did a Facebook live segment and Mr. Jeter told everyone that they should also be on the bike adventure.
This was an interesting day. We got to cycle in three different states going from Idabel, OK to Texarkana. We started, of course, in Oklahoma. The total ride was about 75 miles and at mile 29 we crossed into Arkansas. Then at mile 63.8 we went back into Texas, and 0.8 miles further on, we were back in Arkansas again! In Texarkana, one post office serves both Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas. Texarkana, Arkansas is the larger of the two cities. There is one road in town where you can walk on one side of the street and be in Texas, but on the other side of the street you are in Arkansas. I had heard of Texarkana before, but I thought it was a region rather than a city (or two)
This giant cactus was in Oklahoma
In the place where we were in Texas just briefly, we could see the Arkansas welcome center from the same place where we could see the Texas welcome sign. It seemed a bit odd.
Made it to Arkansas, the Natural State!This doesn’t look like anything, but back there is the Arkansas welcome centerAnd right nearby is the welcome to TX sign again. We were there before Oklahoma, remember?
When we rode along Route 66 and ran into some less than ideal pavement, Henry declared that “Smooth Pavement Appreciation Day.” There were a few miles on this day when we could have declared “Pavement Appreciation Day.” There was a short section of chip and seal that had just been put down, so it was pretty much like loose gravel. Then there was another place where we passed a sign saying “County Maintenance ends here.” It was pretty clear that no one was maintaining that section! There were a couple of places where the gravel was pretty deep.
This was the chance to complete a century ride—probably the least hilly one we have on the trip, certainly the least hilly so far. It was another hot day. I started out slow, one of the last to start because of a last minute task I needed to do. Judy and Lou were serving as sweeps that day. They had already managed to complete a couple of century rides, the first one in Nevada. Judy asked if I wanted them to ride with me or behind me. I said with me, but I don’t think she heard me because they started out staying farther back. Then when I entered a road, they stopped at the corner. So I kept going. At the first rest stop, they finally caught me, though it took much longer than I expected. Lou had gotten a flat along the way.
The little hand pumps we carry on our bikes can get enough air in the tires to get back on the road, but a floor pump is needed to really get the tire inflated well. Lou was having trouble getting the pump seated on the valve, so I offered to do it for her. She wanted her tire inflated to 120 psi, and then changed her mind and asked for it to be inflated to 110 psi. At 110 psi, the inner tube blew and the tire came off the rim! So time for another change. They were at the rest stop, and there were spare tubes in the trailer so we got her flat fixed again and also found a hole in the brand new tire that she had just put on the night before. All set to go again.
I told them that they didn’t need to stay behind me, assuming that they had not heard what I said previously. But I left after the tire was on the rim, but before it was pumped up and back on the bike. They have always managed to catch me in the past, so I knew they could do it again.
This pretty pond was on the way to the first rest stop, I think. I hardly took any pictures that day!
The worst part of the day was a section of construction that we went through. I was pretty scared and I surprised myself by getting a lot of speed after having already gone about 60 miles. I had no idea that I had that kind of speed left in me. I certainly didn’t have it in me before I felt like I really, really needed to hurry. I don’t have any pictures of that.
Between the second and third rest stop, a man stopped us. He had a water jug that belonged to us that Phil and Kian had left at a gas station a ways back. We didn’t have any way to carry it and we told him that if he left it by the side of the road, we would send someone back to get it. Instead, he asked where he could take it. So he took it to the next rest stop at the Hugo Lake Overlook for us, probably another ten miles down the road.
And that story reminds me of an even better one from the day before! Meredith and Steve had stopped in a coffee shop on the way. They were sweeps, riding behind me, and that is one of the things Meredith likes to do. We got to one of the rest stops and found out that Mike W was behind us and that he had Meredith’s wallet. Meredith and Steve didn’t know how that was possible, that Mike could have a) gotten behind them and b) stopped in the same random, off the route, coffee shop. What had actually happened was that the coffee shop owner saw her wallet and went driving around looking for cyclists in orange shirts. Mike had missed a turn in an entirely different place but that put him in position to be spotted by the coffee shop owner!
Back to the hundred mile day: At the last rest stop, Judy and Lou were very encouraging. I always worry about slowing the others down since the sweeps are required not to pass me, and they are always better riders than I (still improving and still the slowest). It they had been the slightest bit hesitant, I would not have tried it. But I took a short break, got a Starbucks Doubleshot to drink, and ended up finishing a lot faster than I had been going previously.
When we got in, a whole bunch of people came out to cheer! That is the first 100 mile day that I have completed since 1983 on the first RAGBRAI tour I ever went on when I was 26 years old. (I’m pretty sure that is correct) And I got tears in my eyes again. Big day.
