Cold, wet, rainy in Mississsippi

A non-riding day

     Mississippi welcomed me from the warmth of the Van today because five of us decided we didn't want to ride in cold (50 degree) rainy windy weather and opted out to sit and be tourists. The rest of them braved the elements, mostly with success though a few were rescued by the Sag Subaru, Little Bo Peep as it declares on the side, and rode back to the warmth of the hotel in Wiggins, MS. Riders came in cold and wet and expressed varying degrees of enthusiasm for the experience. I don't ride in the rain in Colorado, or when it's around 50 or below so that was not an issue for me.
     When we got here, four of us went to the Mexican restaurant next door for hot coffee and excellent quesadillas. As we left, one local woman warned us: "It may even snow!" but assured me she was joking. I've just been sent photos of the Flatirons in Boulder CO with more snow than I've seen for a long time, and a picture of the Johnson Dog Family, where Scooter, Stanley and Sammy stand in the snow looking hopefully for a treat from Scott, just outside their door.
      Everywhere we go, people tell us it's not this hot or cold usually. We are all prepared for a hurricane when we get to Florida and rain unlike we've ever seen before, instead of the blissful warm sunshine we hoped for at this end of the trip.  Weather is weather whether you like it or not.
      The region round here is bursting into spring with new leaves on trees and calves in the fields with cows, and horses grazing the new grass, and blossoms appearing on bare trees. The specter of the outside world and the tragedy in Boston has reached us all and we can do no more than shake our heads in despair at the violence and cruelty as we read and watch and absorb. I lived in Boston from 1964 to 1978, and my children grew up there, and I remember going to cheer on a friend who ran the Boston Marathon way back when, and going out to watch the happy and celebratory event when it came through Newton Mass every year.
       I have no great thoughts on evil or violence except to believe that good people outnumber the bad and that we have to stand up and be counted and speak out for what is right, and not what is wrong. I just read Tony Horwitz's excellent account on traveling through the Arab countries some 20 years ago, "Baghdad Without A Map and other misadventures in Arabia" which gives a sobering and personal view of what life is like on the other side of the globe, where women have no say in their lives and where centuries old traditions are in place that will never change. His account is witty, critical, funny, and evocative of his own experiences, in a style that is readable and fascinating.
       Tonight we drink margaritas again because we have cross another state line. Then we have Alabama, and then we reach Florida, and ride across the state to St. Augustine arriving May 2nd. We're already discussing shipping bicycles home and catching airplanes and meeting family and going back to our lives before the trip - which is hard to imagine!