Day 20. Brinkley, AR to Senatobia, MS. 113 miles. Today's ride was a smooth and easy 113 mile journey across acres and acres of Arkansas and Mississippi farmland. Early morning temps were again in the high 50s and winds stayed east and southeast all day. Our normal routine was altered a little this morning as we first loaded the van, and then pedaled to breakfast at Gene's Barbecue, .8 miles away. Our kind, grandmotherly waitress got every order exactly right and the cook pumped out lots of eggs, sausage, bacon and pancakes in short order. Great way to start a very long day! We hit the trail about 7:30 am and all 12 of us pedaled lightly again behind Martin and Jonielle. No one seemed in a hurry as we were rolling at about 14-15 mph into a 10 mph headwind. Our ride leader, Mike Munk, really doesn't like all of us riding closely together because he's always concerned that if one rider goes down for any reason, they can easily take out plenty of others. Nevertheless, we all glided down the land of plenty highways, bounded by fields filled with rice, soybeans, and corn. Along the way, Scott and I had a conversation about why we (the world) can't feed all our people. My bottom line is: we definitely can eliminate hunger, but distribution issues and corruption remain the real issues. The huge breadbasket we viewed for 5 hours today was overwhelming in its capability to produce food for the world. The last miles into the first rest stop I rode with Terry, Martin and Greg. About 20 miles after the first rest stop, we crossed the mighty Mississippi River near West Helena. Although I live only 16 miles from the Mississippi, I continue to marvel at its strength, power and grace. The expansion bridge is about a mile long and climbs upwards in an arc to about 200 ft. Since it is only 1 lane in each direction, I didn't spend too much time looking around, but I did get a glimpse of the river's grandeur 2 or 3 times. I later laughed when our Finnish rider, Kari, looked at me on the other side and said while pointing back at the bridge, ". . . too high!" After we crossed the bridge, Mike formed us up and took some Welcome to Mississippi photos. The next 20 miles, about 10 of us rode together on a revolving pace line. Imagine five riders riding parallel to 5 other riders. The line on the left accelerates past the line on the left and, in turn, moves one rider at a time to the front of the line on the right. Simultaneously, the line on the right is slowing and feeding one rider at a time onto the line on the left, only at the back of the line. What ends up happening is that the left line is constantly accelerating and the right line is continually decelerating. The benefit is that you have multiple riders breaking the wind at a time, making it easier for all 10 to move down the highway into a headwind. We rolled into the lunch stop together feeling rested and ready for our lunchtime sandwich and drinks. After finishing up Mom's delicious brownies, I rolled out of the rest stop following Ron and Kari. Ron gave me a scare as his front wheel bumped my rear wheel, and when I turned around, I caught him headed for a wheat field. He was really lucky he did not go down and got back on the road quite quickly. I stayed with these great guys for about 20 miles, until the pack of 6 started appearing in my distant rear view sunglass mirror (I can see behind me almost a mile back on flat terrain!). Since Kari and Ron were riding together and dropping back, I decided I'd accelerate and give my buddies behind me something to chase. This helps me push a little harder and I know I gave them a target to hunt down. Long story short, I had my mojo today and I pulled away and finished the last 20 miles about 20 minutes in front of them. The road into Senatobia was winding and undulating, far different from the ultra flat, straight road we'd seen for the previous 4 hours. By the end of my ride, I'd also caught Mike and Karen who had left 20+ minutes in front of me at the lunch stop. Since they knew where the hotel was located, I followed them to our lodging. Good thing too, since the hotel had changed names! Six of us ate lots of pizza and salad at Pizza Hut and reminisced about our ride thus far. Tomorrow is the last loooooooong day, 133 miles to Aberdeen, MS. Can't wait to get rolling! Stay healthy, Steve