It has been
over a month since I last wrote a blog and a lot of things have transpired
since then. I have reached two more
summits and then got to spend a week and a half back in Columbia, SC while
taking a break. Not to mention some
pretty exciting moments while just riding across the country.
From
Arkansas I continued south into the state of Louisiana for my next high
point. It was pretty cool just crossing
over the state line because there was a fairly substantial change in the
vegetation along the side of the road that gave a very different feel to the
ride. The state was pretty nice to ride
through because there was not much traffic and the roads were in good shape
most of the way. Although I did hit some
roads that were in terrible shape and made for a very uncomfortable ride. The highpoint itself required about a mile
hike in to it but even at the top you could not see anything around because the
high point is only 535 feet about see level.
That makes it the 3rd shortest high point in the country.  |
| The Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. |
My next
target was Britton Hill in Florida and to get there I would need to travel back
through Mississippi and Alabama. While
crossing the Mississippi river at Vicksburg, Mississippi I had one of the
scariest moment of the trip while riding.
Due to the size of the Mississippi river there are very few options for
crossing it. When I first crossed it
heading west I had to take a ferry across the river. This time I only had one option. That was to ride my bike across a bridge that
was also known as Interstate 20. As I
started across the bridge I thought it was going to be all right because there
was a pretty good shoulder. However,
that soon became pretty much worthless since they had installed drainage grates
all along it with there slots running in the same direction I was travelling
and they were big enough to eat a tire up if you strayed into it. This left me about a foot between these
grates and the speeding traffic on my other side. There was also another issue. The bridge had multiple expansion joints
across it. Most of these were not an
issue but there was one that seemed to have spread out almost a foot. I didn’t notice it till the last second and I
thought I was done for upon seeing it.
Some how though I was able to make it though with only a dented front
rim to show for it.
Eventually
I made it to the high point in Florida, which was only about a mile over the
border from Alabama. Britton Hill is the
lowest high point in the country coming in at a whopping 345 feet above sea
level. After making it to this high
point I was pretty excited because it meant I was headed back to Columbia to
finish up the first leg of the trip and I was going to be able to take a couple
days off and rest.
Another
thing I was very excited about was that when I got back to Columbia we were
going to have a fundraising event at the Public House, which is a local bar in
Columbia. We ended up having 99.3, a
local radio station broadcast live from the event. There was also a raffle and silent auction in
order to raise money for the Big City Mountaineers. Not to mention having a wing buffet and some
drink specials with proceeds also going to the charity. All in all we made $2025 that went directly
to the charity.
 |
| My bed back in Columbia. It got a little crowded. |
After the
fundraiser I was able to hang out in Columbia for 1 more week just hanging out
with some friends and completely shutting down.
Now I am back on the road and headed towards Mount Mitchell for my next
high point in North Carolina. The next
time I write yall I will be back home in Virginia for another extended stay in
order to try and recharge some batteries.
Until then make sure yall don’t forget to move your clocks forward on
Sunday and get outside to enjoy the extra our of daylight.
-Michael Hunter
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