Ride Day 46

I survived another night of thundershowers last night. I stayed at a campground in Easleyville Louisiana that had a carport that I was able to set my tent up under. That at least kept me dry. The wind blowing and all the thunder and lightning still made sleep difficult. I got a bit of sleep but not enough. Tonight I checked into a motel because there are even more heavier showers forecast for tonight and tomorrow. I left Easleyville early as usual and cruised easily for a few hours. The roads were not too busy with traffic but there were more and bigger hills as the day went on. I had no problem with that so I must be getting fitter as I ride. I rode 75 miles today through rolling hills all day and was not even tired when I stopped for the night at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line. I did have a lot of dogs on this section of the ride. I like farm dogs. Their job is to defend the farm and they do a good job of it for the most part. They bark at and then they chase bicyclists. That is their job. They very rarely would bite but they can be very intimidating to a lot of people. I grew up with farm dogs so they don't give me much problem. I play with them when they charge at me looking like they are going to tear me limb from limb. I laugh at them and talk friendly to them. I tell them they are good dogs. They usually look a bit confused when I do that. I am not afraid of them and they know that by my actions. That intimidates them. If they come into the road I tell them to get off the road and they almost always do just that. Then I slow down and encourage them to chase me while laughing and obviously playing with them. They seem to know right away that it has changed to a game and they play along. Sometimes I even stop my bike and get off and play with the dogs. On rare occasions one does not get it and they do really seem to want to attack and bite me. Bad idea on their part. When I was a young boy I was walking out in the woods at night and a werewolf attacked and bit me. A very old woman dressed all in black killed the werewolf and nursed me back to health in her cabin in the woods. She gave me potions that she said would keep me from turning into a werewolf unless I was threatened by another werewolf again. So the only time I turn into the junk yard dog from hell is if I think I might get bitten. Then I transform and scream my bike brakes to a skidding stop and jump off my bike and with a primordial loud roar and run right at the vicious dog that threatened to bite me. They take one look at the mad wolfman coming at them and they always turn tail and run away. Then I laugh and walk back to my bike and talk sweetly to the dog again if they come back into earshot of my voice. It works for me. The part about the werewolf biting me might have just been a nightmare I had but I am not sure about that anymore. My 75 mile ride to the state line went smoothly all day even with all the hills and dogs. Worse than the dogs were the bugs today. In Texas when I was done riding I always stopped and ate like a double cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake or something because I was so hungry after riding hard all day long. Here in Louisiana I am not hungry at all after my rides because I eat so many bugs while I ride. They bombard me all day long going into my mouth, eyes, ears and down my shirt. Today I had to stop at a car wash when I finished my ride to pressure wash the bugs out of my teeth and off of my clothes and my glasses. I felt like a radiator on a big Mack truck after a cross country haul. I am sitting here writing this with my mouth open so that the bugs that I inhaled today can fly back out of my lungs. Their buzzing around and bumping into the sides of my lungs bothers me just a tad. I will be happy when I get out of the buggy swamps. Bogalusa Louisiana is a great name for a town that has billions of bugs. Tomorrow I enter Mississippi. It is small state and I won't be riding in it for very long before I hit Alabama and then Florida finally. More later...