April 14, 2023: Vancleave, Mississippi to Dauphin Island, Alabama – 66 miles and 1,206 feet of elevation (and 2 intense dog chases)

Welcome to Alabama! By crossing the state line today, we now have been in 7 different states, with only 1 to go! Today’s ride was very pretty, as we cycled through the Pascagoula River valley through the sun all towns of Wade and Hurley in Mississippi, and then across I-10 through the towns of Grand Bay and Bayou La Batre, Alabama before crossing the Dauphin Island Bridge. We are staying at the Gulf Breeze Motel both tonight and tomorrow night, in what will be our final “layover day”.

Today, I received my first exposure to a “Love Bug”, (or probably more accurately, “Love Bugs”), which up until now, I had not been exposed to. After crossing into Alabama, I began to notice these little critters flying at me with incredible accuracy, nestling in the hair on my arms and legs. At first, I thought they were lightning bugs without their “lantern”, and then realized that these guys aren’t flying solo, but are “together” as “pairs” (thus likely the origin of the phrase “love bugs”, if you know what I mean). I learned later that these flying insects are common to the southern United States, including Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Louisiana.

Love bugs are apparently members of the family of March flies. I’ve learned that during and after mating, adult pairs remain coupled, even in flight, for up to several days. According to experts, April and May are considered “peak season”, thus the reason why we are seeing so many right now. They say that “flights” extend over periods of four to five weeks, and can number in the hundreds or thousands. Based on what I have read, mating takes place almost immediately after the emergence of the females. Females live only three to four days, while males live a little longer. Apparently, these “couples” found the hair on my arms and legs quite a comfortable nesting place, and I found myself having to brush these guys off quite frequently. They say that they can prove to be quite a nuisance to cars, since when the bug’s dead bodies are left on the car even after just a couple of hours, the acidity of the dead adult body often result in pits and etches in automative paint and chrome if not quickly removed.

Crossing the causeway at the Dauphin Island Bridge on a bike to enter Dauphin Island was quite an experience. You could see the bridge for miles before you came to it, and the views from the bridge were truly incredible, or so they tell me. (I was pretty focused on the keeping the bike pointed in the proper direction, so I didn’t have a lot of time or where-with-all to “stop and smell the roses”, particularly at the apex). Apparently, one of the motorists thought that I should not be on the bridge, and they angrily blew their horn at me as they passed, which scared the heck out of me. If I was supposed to be doing something different other than pedaling like crazy, I promise I don’t know what it would have been).

After entering “camp”, I replaced my back tire, since I noticed some shearing of the rubber that occurred during a particularly rough segment of road both yesterday and today. I’m now completely out of replacement tires, so I hope and pray the two I have on last for the remainder of the trip. I was supposed to have one additional tire shipped here, but the shipment apparently got lost. My backup plan, should I lose one or both tires currently on the bike, is to rent a “big wheel” tricycle like the little kids have, and finish the ride on it. (At least the plastic tires won’t go flat, right)? I also noticed some significant squeaking with my front brake, and had the mechanic help me remove the brake pads and clean a considerable amount of oil and grease off of the disc brakes, which hopefully will alleviate the issue. I have new brake pads, but Lance the mechanic feels pretty confident that this will do the trick. It’s amazing the toll that my bike has taken, thanks to the sheer distance of the ride and the various road surfaces. After this trip, I think I could write a book simply about the state of roads in the US! I’ll conclude with a few new images from my ride the last few days.