We took a rest day today. We’re staying in Jackson, Alabama which is almost due north of Mobile, Alabama by about 60 miles. Jackson is located in a part of Alabama that’s actually hard to get to because of two big rivers. The city has the Tombigbee River to the west and about 15 miles to the east is the Alabama River.

On the ride yesterday, we stopped for a short break in Chatom, Alabama. As we were discussing our route out of town, a person in a pickup truck pulls up along side us and asks if we need help with directions. We told her no and she asked what it was we were doing. We told her all about The Dream Tour. She shared with us the story of her husband with diabetes. We chatted some more about where we’re headed and where we had been. Just before she drove off she warned us about snakes. Interesting last bit of advice, I thought.

Yesterday’s heat and humidity was washed away by yesterday evening’s thunderstorms and a strong cold front that moved in overnight. We woke up this morning to much cooler temperatures. Even with the clear blue skies and sun, it was more pleasant outside this morning than it was with the cloudy skies of a day earlier. This is the kind of Alabama weather I could get used to.

Today, we went about our usual rest day activities — grocery shopping, seeing the sights, finding the post office, and bicycle maintenance. One other thing we did today is to stop by the local newspaper office to say hi and, hopefully, talk with a reporter about The Dream Tour.

We got an interview with a very nice man from the South Alabamian, a weekly newspaper serving Clarke and Washington counties of Alabama. Just before we left the office, we were chatting aimlessly in the parking lot (we went outside to take photos), and somehow the subject of snakes came up. He warned us about the various snakes in the area. Then he shared a story about a friend who had to call animal control to remove a snake from the undercarriage of his car (this after having run over the snake!) and also his own experience of seeing a snake in the road, pulling up along side it, and watching the snake repeatedly try to bite the front tire of his car. Now there’s a tire change that’s worth calling AAA about!

This evening it was so nice outside. Full moon, gentle breeze, clear skies with the stars coming out. We decided to go for a walk. We got about a quarter mile down the road when a car approached from the rear, but would not pass. We got to the edge of the road, but it still wouldn’t pass. We got to a wide spot in the road, crossed to the other side of the road and finally the car passed. As it went by, the person inside called out “I didn’t want to push you to the edge of the road. The snakes are already crawling!”

Hmmm. I’m sensing a pattern here. I had seen a couple of dead snakes along the side of the road in Mississippi, but we hadn’t seen any snakes at all in Alabama. Still, when 100% of the Alabamians you meet mention snakes, there must be something to it. We decided to go back to the hotel. We also decided that we wouldn’t even try to locate campgrounds anymore. Maybe this is why they’ve been so hard to find — pitching a tent in the grass is simply dangerous and tempting fate.

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