Day 27(4): Bude to Collins, MS

 For those who might be new to this blog, I am a preschool teacher riding my bicycle across America and blogging for young children as I go. The purpose of this ride is to raise money for Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, IN

If you'd like to donate to Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, which is the cause for which I've dedicated this ride, you can donate here (all donations go to Ryves Youth Center; I receive nothing): Ride Across America

For information about what Ryves Youth Center is and the different services they offer, click here: Ryves Youth Center - Catholic Charities Terre Haute - Terre Haute, IN

Last night the good people of Bude, Mississippi helped me find a good place to camp. I would like to thank Elisha, the town clerk in Bude, as well as Dirk and Mr. Flower in maintenance for your help, as well as Mr. Leroy M who stopped by in his pickup truck to make sure I was OK, and the folks in the mini-mart there in town who were very hospitable and helpful. I got an early start (setting out just after 3 o’clock in the morning, when most people are sleeping!) I didn’t get a ton of pictures today due to wanting to get to Bude quickly before the heat set in.

In order to make it into Collins before it got too hot, I had to plan things out very well. I knew that if I took long breaks, I would end up getting to town when it was too hot, so I just took short breaks to eat and fill up on drinks, and I kept going. Have you ever tried to do something but you had to think hard before you did it to come up with a good plan? What was it? How did you do it?

When I was almost here to Collins, a nice man named Oscar stopped to offer me a cold drink. I told him I had plenty of cold water and we talked for a few minutes. He told me that he & his wife were planning a motorcycle trip from El Salvador to Argentina some day—there is one spot between Panama and South America called the Darien Gap where motorcycles can’t go because there are no roads, so he said that people who own boats can take you through. If you had your own imaginary place, how would you travel across it, if you could go any way you wanted? Would you go by boat, or by motorcycle, or bicycle, or car, or skateboard, or roller skates? Or maybe some other way?

I’ll explain some of the pictures below and then after that I’ll record another reading of Jenny’s Journey before I leave Mississippi tomorrow!

These 4 pictures are ones I took in Bude yesterday afternoon. It was a lovely town, and reminded me a lot of the little town I grew up in. There were railroad tracks across from the town hall, but I don’t think trains go through there anymore—at least I didn’t hear any in the 12-14 hours I was in town. But you can see the yellow and brown train station in a few of the pictures below. It reminds me of my hometown in Clinton—there is an old railroad station that isn’t used anymore (the trains don’t stop there). When you think of trains, you might think of all the people who built the railroads and the many people who have ridden on them. Even though some of the railroad tracks aren’t used anymore, we can still remember the people who built them. Many of those people who built the first railroads that crossed our country were from China. If you click at the link on the very bottom, there’s a beautiful song by Nanci Griffith that I’ve been listening to on my trip where she sings about that—the railroads, the tracks that aren’t used anymore, and the people who built them.

What numbers do you see on my odometer? This was how far I’d gone (in miles) as of this morning:

Here’s some pictures of some men tearing down an old brick building in Prentiss. Don’t worry—no people live there anymore. They always make sure that no one is using a building or living there before they tear it down:

I washed my laundry. What shape do you see in the front door of the washing machine? What do you think the orange piece of clothing is in there?

Here are a few here from Collins. Do you know any of the numbers or letters in the signs?

Beautiful purple flowers!

I recorded the washing machine at the laundromat. What sounds do you hear? What does the machine sound like? Do you hear any other sounds? What does you think they are?

As promised, here is the Nanci Griffith song about the railroads. I hope it helps you express your feelings like it did me.