9th April
Lake Village lies on the curving shore of picturesque Lake Chicot, a 20 mile channel long since abandoned by the River Mississippi and forms Arkansas' largest natural lake and the largest oxbow lake in North America. McDonalds was nearby and opposite, a place called Lillos and it was raining storm hard. I’m not a hero. Had I not already booked a room ahead I would have stayed. It rained hard all day until the last 30 minutes. I waited as long as I could, watching for the slightest turn of the weather. I step out and ride away. I am saturated to the skin before my first corner and stayed like that until I got in at six o’clock.
On the Road
Once I got wet I couldn't get wetter. A bad day on the bike is still better than a good day at the office.
Nice lady asks me how I am. Nice, my first conversation in Mississippi. At 30 miles to go I ate a BLT sandwich at the Peasoup Cafe. rain stops. I finish my meal. I set off in the dry. It starts to rain again but I cannot get any wetter. It's fine.
A Bit of Information
The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans within that were ethnically cleansed by the United States government. As part of Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River after the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Cherokee removal in 1838 was the last forced removal east of the Mississippi and was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush. The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their newly designated Indian reserve. Thousands died from disease before reaching their destinations or shortly after. A variety of scholars have classified the Trail of Tears as an example of the genocide of Native Americans; others use the term ethnic cleansing.
Map of the Day
Postcard from Home
Then I get this little film from home. My lovely wife who I haven't seen for nearly 7 months when I get back never forgets me and reminds me that I have a home to return to. Come to my Mach festival www.machfestival.co.uk