day 8: Mobile, Al to Hattiesburg, MS

Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

83.1 miles – 2,760 ft climb

Today was a good day. We were a little bummed this morning when we checked the weather and saw chances of rain ALL DAY in both Mobile and Hattiesburg, causing us to assume that it would be raining the whole way in between. After we checked out of the hotel, we hung out in Harvey until around 11:00 waiting for it to quit raining. Bruce replaced his inner tube again because it had flatted again and he thought it might be a bad tube (he was right). I finished adding pictures to the last several days’ blogs. Finally he couldn’t take it any longer and prepared to ride in the rain. But amazingly it stopped raining right as he headed out and barely sprinkled all day. A huge answer to prayer!

Bruce was planning to just ride to New Augusta, but was still feeling pretty strong, so ended up riding 20 more miles to an RV park I found in Hattiesburg. It’s not actually an RV park. It looks like a huge fair grounds with RV overnight parking. It’s pretty empty except for us and maybe 5 other RVs who look like they possibly stay here long term.

I think we made the right decision changing our route. Tomorrow he will be on a Rails to Trails paved bike path for 40 miles and then around 40 miles on roads. The highway today did not have a bike lane which made me pretty nervous, but he said that almost all of the cars and trucks got over in the other lane when they passed him. So I guess I’m at least thankful it had 2 lanes each direction.

One interesting fact about today. I only spoke with 2 people all day besides Bruce — a lady who held the door open for me leaving the hotel and a Mississippi sanitation worker who stopped to make sure I was ok when he saw me stopped at the side of the road waiting for Bruce. But don’t worry. I talked to myself all day. Haha! I’m a good audience.

Since today was pretty uneventful, I thought I’d tell you how Harvey got his name. My adorably precious granddaughter, Kinsley, “helped” me pack the food and stuff in the RV before our trip. When we were finished and walking back into the house, she turned and waved and said, “bye RV” but in her adorable 2 year old voice it sounded like “bye Harvey” and so he was named. And now that I brought her up, I’m missing that little punkin like crazy!