Great ride today--cooler, less humid, good roads, and pleasant countryside (71 mi). Early in the ride we had a rather bizarre incident--one of the riders had the bolt holding her seat in place snap in two, her seat fell apart, and she went down. I never heard of such a thing happening.
We rode a long stretch thru the DeSoto National Forest, which was largely pine forest. Coreopsis, crimson clover, and purple verbena again, and occasionally the yellow and the blue irises which grow along water. In one case, someone had planted water lilies inthe ditch next to their drive. In the afternoon, I stopped at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Preserve, but didn't get to see any of the approximately 120 cranes. It is nesting season and they are pretty much out of sight. These cranes do not migrate, and the ones living hete are the only ones living in the wild anywhere in the world.
One of the great things about biking is the sensory perceptions as you ride, which you don't get driving along in an air-conditioned car--the sound of birds calling back and forth, of cows mooing, and dogs barking; and the fragrances of honeysuckle and other flowers, of pine trees and the smell of fresh cut pine when the logging trucks go by, of water and damp earth, of horses and, of course, less pleasant smells--exhaust, dead animals, skunks, etc.
LOL, I have to agree with you about the road kill and skunks - and you are spot on about how much richer the environment is on a bike. There is a hawk on one of my routes that "follows" me from one section of telephone wire to another - we would probably have never noticed each other if I were in a car. I am pretty sure he doesn't see me as "lunch".
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