Messages from the Pale Blue Dot

Private Kit: An app that could tell you if you crossed paths with someone who has coronavirus and respects digital privacy rights

In the coming weeks and months, as we come out of lock-down, how can we use smart tools to keep ourselves safe from...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Friday, March 27, 2020

An Argument for Mobile Phone Tracking of Individuals to Prevent Post-Peak Resurgence of COVID19

 

An Argument for Mobile Phone Tracking of Individuals to Prevent Post-Peak Resurgence of COVID19 Dr. Fauci often refers...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Saturday, March 21, 2020

Abandoned Natchez Trace Ride in Tupelo due to Coronavirus Pandemic

On 11 March, after a slow start getting out on the road in Houston, Mississippi, I rode towards Tupelo heading to the home of my Warmshowers host, Rufus. The weather forecast was for showers in the afternoon, starting between 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm. Wrong. I didn’t beat the rain and almost made a bad mistake in not checking for the current forecast.  In short, I got caught out in the open and almost ended up in some trouble.

The rain started coming down pretty heavy just as got about an hour south of Tupelo. My weather app, Dark Sky, alerted me just minutes before the rain started, so I was able to get on my Showers Pass rain jacket and boot covers. The temperature at the onset of the storm was warm enough so that I could ride in the rain with my cycling shorts and jacket, but then things started to get really weird. As the front swept past, the temperature dropped and lightening started to strike around me. I needed to find some shelter and there was nothing along the Parkway other than picnic tables in the turnouts.

Google Maps showed the Natchez Trace RV Park about fifteen minutes up the road. As the rain intensified and the seconds between lightening flashes and the thunder claps were getting shorter and shorter, I rode hard while holding out my thumb when any flatbed or pickup truck would roll past. Yes, I would have abandoned my “Every Fucking Inch (EFI)” attitude and thrown my bike into anything moving faster than 20 km/hr. Just as things got dangerous, I turned off the Parkway on Pontocola Road, dashing to the office of the RV park.

I was that blue dot, with two severe weather warnings aimed directly towards me; the heavy rain and lightening alerts above.

I was lucky. The rain was really heavy and the lightening strikes hit all around me. This was the kind of electrical storm that fries cyclists if they are not careful. As the outside temperature dropped and my core temperature also plummeted as soon as I stopped riding, I pulled the down vest, long warm waterproof pants and waterproof gloves out of my “holy shit” frame bag. (My “holy shit” bag is a waterproof Revelate Sweet Roll mounted between the drops on my handlebars that is there for easy, fast access when the weather changes from nice to awful very suddenly, causing me to exclaim, “Holy Shit” and reach for its contents.)

After an hour or so as the deluge abated, I bade farewell to the RV Park manager, who was very kind in letting me use his porch but treated me like I was an alien who had fallen out of the sky. But, this was a trailer park in rural Mississippi, the kind of place that serves as a breeding ground for Jerry Springer show guests. I was glad to be heading down the road to "civilization", as it is, in Tupelo. After having ridden for five days without a break, my plan was always to take a rest day in Tupelo. However, with the growing coronavirus threat, I did not want to push the limits of hospitality with my Warm Showers host. Rufus was very gracious, taking me shopping at the local Walmart (always a cultural experience in this part of the world) and providing a perfect landing spot in town where I could shower, cogitate on my situation and make plans. Sketching out my next moves were complicated by a nasty forecast of rain and headwinds for the upcoming weekend, combined with a rapidly deteriorating public health crisis. The region was stuck in a weather pattern that funneled a lot of moisture across the area where I was riding.

Although most of the people who I had spoken with in Tupelo, and the folks on the local news programs were far from taking the pandemic very seriously, I had been listening to podcasts and watching the national and international news. Sadly, most of the people in this region get their news from Fox News, which had been downplaying the severity of the impending health crisis and had not be warning its viewers to avoid contact with others, maintaining social distance or even the importance of testing and handwashing. No one was panicked in Tupelo.

But, I knew that there was a possibility that if I were to head off along the Parkway, headed to Nashville, there was a chance that the situation could change and leave me far away from home with no place where I could "shelter in place." Even worse was the possibility that the states up the road, either Alabama or Tennessee, could enact Italian-like measures that prohibited cycling. Also, the weather for the next week was lousy, with the possibility of thunderstorms and possibly tornados.  I used some of the Marriott Bonvoy points and checked into a local hotel for two nights to rest and evaluate. During that stay, I decided that the prudent thing to do was to head home to New York where I could shelter with Pam at home in case draconian measures were put in place.

On Saturday morning, 14 March 2020, I rented a car one-way back home to New York. After loading my bike and bags, I drove up to Cave City, Kentucky to spend Saturday night. On Sunday morning I took the Historic Tour at Mammoth Caves National Park and drove over the next two days back to New York City.

I’ll be back to Tupelo to ride the rest of the Trace, maybe when the coronavirus runs its course. This road is simply one of the best bike roads in the world and I still have another 321 km (200 miles) to ride into Nashville. Although I drove the Parkway from Tupelo north, it just wasn’t the same as doing it on two wheels.

And, in addition to finishing up my bike ride, I also need to return to Tupelo, specifically to the Neon Pig for another chance to eat the best burger I have ever had in the world. The Belvis Burger (coarse ground hamburger meat with pimento cheese, pork belly, sweet and savory sauces and soft ciabatta bun) was fantastic.

Tupelo, I will be back… if not to cycle, at least to eat this scrumptious thing again.

New Orleans to Nashville: Cycling through Baton Rouge and up the Natchez Trace

On 29 February, I left New York on the Amtrak Crescent to New Orleans with my bicycle. As I have shifted most of my online posting to Facebook, rather than here on my blog, below are links to my public postings for this trip.

Here are my postings from March 3 through March 11, after riding from New Orleans to Tupelo. Mississippi.

After a long Amtrak ride from New York to New Orleans, and a short night at the Hosteling International hostel, I've...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Tuesday, March 3, 2020

After a long Amtrak ride from New York to New Orleans, and a short night at the Hosteling International hostel, I've...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Tuesday, March 3, 2020

March in the American south can be stormy. Today I cut my ride short and am staying with a Warm Showers host north of...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Wednesday, March 4, 2020

I've arrived in Natchez, Mississippi for my first layover day to rest up, shop for food, and explore this historic town...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Friday, March 6, 2020

As I leave tomorrow to cycle up the Natchez Trace, I'm reminded how I first heard about this 10,000 year-old indigenous...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Friday, March 6, 2020

If it were warmer or colder than it was today, cyclists would complain! Damn near perfect blue-sky weather riding...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Sunday, March 8, 2020

For the last two days, I've pushed to the northeast, crossing rural Mississippi on one of the best cycling routes in the...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Tuesday, March 10, 2020

the Norwegians have a saying that there is no such thing as bad weather... only bad clothing. That may be true, except...

Posted by Kimo Goree on Wednesday, March 11, 2020