6/26/00
Demopolis, AL
Mileage 95.1 miles
Max. 27.1 mph
Avg. 13.22 mph
Flats #8

Mississippi's rough road became smooth by comparison in Alabama. Truckers were back to work roaring their way through the pine forests and small towns.

I keep a watchful eye on them all the time in my rearview mirror. Several have refused to move over even the slightest. That wouldn't be so bad if the powers that be would have installed paved shoulders.

In Alabama half the truck traffic was made up of logs and loads of chips bound for a paper plant in Demopolis. Wood chips, strips of bark, and chunks of limb cover the shoulder and roadside. Seems like littering to me, and while I'm on the topic the fine is only $250 for littering here in Alabama.

The other half of the truck traffic, I was told, came from trucks avoiding the scales on I20. This was possible because the scales on US 80/11 were closed most of the time.

The roads showed the wear of heavy loads. In some places the surface was rutted like it was made of mud. I wondered how it was possible for me to learn this was going on but not the authorities.

Two men flagged me down. The editor of the Newton weekly paper had been called by a reader. He stood by the roadside and snapped a picture as I rode by. Later we had a chance to talk.

The second guy appeared close to Demopolis. Being a recumbent rider himself he just wanted to talk. He had purchased a recumbent but his wife taken it over and rode it most of the time. He recommended a place in town to stay as well.

When I arrived at the motel, the receptionist said her daughter had a bike like mine. Since so few people have recumbents, I quipped that her daughter was married to Mike Cork. I guessed right; Mike had referred me to his mother-in-law's motel.