Tuesday February 17, 2015

OMG what a cold ride. I had checked the weather forecast and knew it was going to be a cold day, but OMG it was really cold. Now before my Northern friends tell me it is even colder up where they are, I am sure it is but… they are not cycling, they are in their warm cars or warm houses or warm offices. The temperature today did not get above 1 degree centigrade (33F)! The wind chill took it below that for the best part of the ride. I am so glad I had checked the forecast before getting dressed, because I was wearing all my winter riding gear – full lined leggings, thick merino wool socks, merino wool jersey, Showerspass heavy jacket, earbags and hat, and my winter full fingered gloves. My toes and fingers were still cold on occasions.

Today is Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day or whatever else people call the day before lent. In this area it is Mardi Gras and they are celebrating. At 9:15 am we cycled through Biloxi and people were already lined up for the parade. We stopped to take photos and discovered the parade doesn’t start until about 2:30 pm.

Biloxi and Gulfport are primarily casino towns. However, there are some lovely homes in the area including Beauvoir. Beauvoir was the retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The main residence — a Louisiana-raised, cottage-style plantation with a smaller, single-room east cottage — has been lovingly cared for by the Mississippi Division of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Sharing the 52-acre property is an additional Civil War museum, a historic Confederate cemetery, a botanical garden and presidential library. It looked beautiful, but unfortunately it was too cold to stop and take photos, it was closed so we couldn\’t visit.

Today’s route would have been a great route if it was warmer. We cycled along the gulf coast and along a boardwalk for about 10 kms.

The sands were white and there was no one on the beaches. Not surprising as it was so cold. There were a lot of big “plantation” style homes facing the gulf. What a view. In Gulfport there were a lot of houses and properties for sale. Maybe after Hurricane Katrina, they don’t want to risk rebuilding or reinvesting.

Again the only \”hill\” we went up was a bridge. The bridge was two miles long and had interesting signs at either end.

Even though it was cold we made it to Ocean Springs in good time. We cranked the heat on in the motel room and had a really good hot shower. Ralf went to get dinner when he got back he was adorned with beads.  Apparently the mardi gras partiers decided Ralf needed some beads.

I checked out our route for tomorrow. We have a warmshowers in Covington tomorrow, it is a 92 kms ride, I hope it is not cold.