Update 4/2
Day #41
Today: Selma, AL, to Montgomery, AL (61 miles)
Total miles: 2259
Tomorrow (plan): Tuskeegee, AL
We had breakfast with Jim and Clara at the motel, and then they got on the road to Tyler. After loading up the tandem, we departed at 8:30 AM. There was no rain, but it was a foggy, humid morning, and we were expecting that it would rain during the day. After about an hour on the road, we experienced a steady drizzle which actually felt pretty good. As the rain began to fall a little harder, Susan put on her rain jacket; but I decided to wait, since I knew that I would wish I didn't have it on as soon as I heated up after climbing the first hill. US 80 in this area is a divided four-lane road, and it has a good surface most of the way. There is little if any shoulder, but the traffic was light. We were riding on the historic route of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march of 1965, and we saw markers designating the areas where the marchers camped along the route. At about the half-way point we began to encounter roller-coaster hills of the type we last experienced back in north central Texas, and the SSE wind made the climbs even tougher. Because the severe weather was predicted to hit the area in the afternoon, we wanted to reach Montgomery as soon as possible, so we only stopped for lunch by the road and ate the fruit and energy bars we had carried along with us. We arrived at the southwest city limits by about 2:00 PM, early enough to be ahead of the rush hour traffic as we made our way to the northeast area of the city, arriving at our final destination by 3:30 PM. We are being hosted by Anita Taylor who, along with her husband Dick, is a member of Warm Showers. Dick is currently on a cycling tour of the east coast, from Key West to Maine, and Anita graciously agreed to host us. After we came back from eating an outstanding meal at Anita's favorite Mexican restaurant, Susan put in a load of wash while I updated the journal. Although our original schedule calls for a rest day here in Montgomery tomorrow, we have decided that we will keep riding if the weather is good, as the weatherman currently predicts. We'll see what tomorrow brings.