Florida Ride - Day Five

Florida Ride - Day Five

Our motel in Bay St Louis was just a block of two from the bay.  Due to inclimate weather few, if any, boats left the marina. 














I rode less than a mile before coming the the Bay St Louis Bridge.  It had a wide segregated bicycle/pedestrian lane, which most of the coastal bridges seemed to have.

The weather was bitter cold due to the high humidity and gusty 25-mile per hour winds from the north.

I sometimes felt that I was going backward as I tried to climb the steep bridge.










The beaches were totally deserted due the weather.  Riding along the sidewalk adjacent to the beach from Bay St Louis to Pass Christian to Long Beach to Gulf Port, Ms, I had to battle the wind all morning long. 















I didn't arrive in Gulfport until early afternoon.  The wind seemed to get stronger as the day progressed and the temperatures were dropping. 














The beaches were freshly groomed, with wooden beach lounges evenly spaced -- and not a soul but me to "enjoy" them, and I was doing my best to get to Pascagoula.















I really liked this sign, but I hate to say that as welcoming as the sign was, I was being beat up by the relentless 25 mph winds.


















The nice sidewalks that I had been riding all day ended just as they approached the Biloxi bridge.  In their place was this wooden walk that went out over the Gulf waters for about a half mile.













Interestingly, the only sign I saw for Biloxi was over the road as I was leaving.

Leaving Biloxi, I found myself crossing yet another bridge, this time the Biloxi Bay Bridge.  Like the others, it offered no protection from the cold northern winds.

















The bridge had brass placards posted very .1 miles.  About half way across my curiosity got the best of me and I stopped to read what it said.  I had been on the bridge for 1 mile and I had .7 miles to go to the other end.  How comforting.  It didn't say anything at all about the near-gale force winds. 











The welcome sign for the City of Ocean Springs is on the side of a red caboose.  It is reminiscent of the old L&N Railroad that served this area years ago.  I want you to know that I once rode on the L&N (Louisville & Nashville line).  The car where my seat was located had a brass placard that read: "Rebuilt in 1918." 

This red caboose sells ice cream and snow cones -- not for me.  The wind would blow it out of my gloved hand.













Finally, two hours and another bridge later (this time, over the Singing River) I arrived at our destination for the day, Pascagoula, Ms. -- still in one piece (just barely).

Takeaways:  

Today's ride was the most challenging of all.  The forecast for the week included a couple of days of rain, so we were prepared with several changes of dry clothes, if needed.  I had even anticipated the high humidity.  But I thought we would escape the record-setting cold wave that was punishing the rest of the nation.  However, the dry-cold air from the north colliding with the moist, warm air from the gulf produced strong, cold, and humid winds. 

Some time ago a friend of mine who was an OTR truck driver asked me about riding my bike in the wind.  He asked if it was harder to ride into a headwind or to be battered by a crosswind.  I quickly confirmed that a headwind was the most challenging, thinking that a crosswind wouldn't bother me as much as it would the broadside of the tractor-trailer rig.  Today, I learned differently.  Two or three times the gusty winds almost blew me off the path on which I was riding.  I had to fight them every minute of the day to keep my balance, stay upright, and on course.  It was truly a one-day endurance test, a fight to the end.  Fortunately it only lasted one day, but I didn't know that at the time.

Everyone faces challenges in life.  Some adversities challenge our ability to remain upright and on course physically, socially, intellectually, or spiritually.  Perhaps the most difficult adversities are those that challenge our ability to gain or maintain balance in our life, giving the proper attention and energy to our needs in each of those four areas.  Finding and keeping that balance is THE challenge of this life.  We learn from Luke that: "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."  His was a life of growth and learning in the face of constant adversity.  We shouldn't be surprised when our challenges blow us off course, or even make us feel like giving up, nor should we become discouraged when for a moment our life doesn't have the balance we would like it to have. Like our Savior, we should strive to improve in all areas of our life, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." - Matt 6:33.