Day 157: LaFleur's Bluff State Park, Jackson, MS

We had planned a late start today because leaving early would have meant riding through commute traffic in Jackson, MS.  That was fortunate, as we discovered that we were infested with sugar ants.  The main casualty was Lana's nearly full bag of dog food.  Things probably would have been much worse, except for the fact that the cupboards were just about bare.  Fortunately, we had some dollar-store ant spray to deal with the problem.  The ants had used the power cord to gain entry to the galley.

Alea started riding a bit after 9 am, hoping that traffic would have thinned out a bit in Jackson, MS.  It hadn't, and there was no southern hospitality to be found on that stretch of the Trace (which goes through the northwestern outskirts of the city).  She avoided a good part of the stress by getting on a bike path, only to find that it ended abruptly on a hill above the Trace, four and a half miles from the last point of direct access to the Trace.  Bushwhacking down the hill wasn't an option, as this is the south, so slogging through tall grass isn't a good idea (too many poisonous snakes).  Besides, Alea's knee probably wouldn't have fared too well on the uneven ground.  But she doubled back and eventually got through her 25 miles of riding for the day.

Alea was off the road by 11 am and it was already over 90 degrees out.  At one point the temp hit 97 degrees, and when we checked the weather report in the evening it was 87 degrees with a 98 degree heat index.  So we are guessing the heat index today was somewhere near 108.  It will be around the same tomorrow, but then it should dry out a bit, and it might even cool off some as well.

With our riding done for the day, we went in search of a bike shop.  The first one only sold crappy KMC chains, so we decided to look elsewhere (we would need to replace a KMC chain every 2-3 months, whereas a Shimano chain will last 3-4 months).  Along the way, we restocked the pantry and bought more dog food for Lana.

We ended up at The Bike Rack, which was located not far from where we are camping.  They replaced Alea's chain in a flash, but my bike turned into a bigger project.  I had them check to make sure the bottom bracket or crank arms hadn't loosened, as there was starting to be a creaking sound on my pedal downstroke.  It turns out a bearing was going bad, and they had to get the replacement from another store.  So we left it there overnight and went to set up camp.

We are camped at Mayes Campground in LaFleur's Bluff State Park ($19.44, power, water and adjustable showers).  We've decided to stay two nights, as that gets us on schedule for our campground reservation for the Labor Day Weekend in Louisiana. 

Our bath house, on stilts.  Check out the wrap around ADA ramp.

Once we had set up, we found that we hadn't completely rid ourselves of sugar ants.  There were quite a few that had hidden under the false floor of our deep storage compartment, where the dog food, bread and other bulky items are stored.  Others had hitched a ride in the power inlet at the back of the camper.  We were amazed to see where the ants had eaten a whole in the bag of our fresh loaf of bread, just hours after having bought it.  So we emptied everything out and removed the false floor so that we could spray all of the unwanted guests.  We learned that anything that we had stored in ziplock bags survived the ant onslaught, so we poured Lana's new bag of dog food into two gallon-size ziplocks to keep the ants from getting into her food again.

Since we had only reserved for one night, that meant a trip back to the registration shack.  On the way there, Alea had a flat tire.  Of course we could have called either Ford or USAA roadside assistance to change it, but that generally means a few hour wait, at a minimum.  So I walked over to where she had stopped and changed the tire (we'll need to get the tire fixed before we leave town).  Of course it was pretty hot and humid, so it was a bit less fun than one normally has changing a flat.