Day 23. Tuscaloosa to Prattville, AL. 117 miles. With no rain and a slight tailwind, today's ride was fun from beginning to end. All of us carried rain gear to be on the safe side, but we never needed it. It took about 5 miles to wind our way out of Tuscaloosa with temps in the low 60s and overcast sky. I knew there was 6000 feet of climbing so I didn't expect to have much company today. Most of our folks went out easy and saved their legs for the climbs later. Since I love the hills, I climbed away from the pack on the first big hill and never saw any of my team mates the rest of the day. I did ride with Karen Bauer, one of the ride leaders, for about 10 miles after the first rest stop. We talked a bit and pedaled easy enough for me to get my legs and breath back at the same time. I really enjoyed the first 30 miles: rolling, lush green hills and lots of horses, cows and dogs. Today, one of the recent winners of the "Weiner Dog Nationals" (look for this reference on You Tube), "attacked" me and almost came under the middle of my bike. None of the really big, bad, and aggressive dogs even paid attention to me. The little Dachshund didn't even care that I was 6'3", 200+ lbs of man on a big bike. Fortunately, he came to his senses about the time I pulled away. The terrain today was plush, verdant and accommodating for a vast array of cows, horses and even goats. While the living conditions for most of the humans was humble, the animals were living large. From 32 miles to 82 miles, I ambled along, double checked my cue sheet and somehow, I missed the lunch SAG stop. I'm still not sure where the van was sitting and yet I'm pretty darn sure I rode every highway on the planned route. Instead, I stopped about 10 miles past the "alleged" SAG stop, in a town called North Kingston. The lady in the store behind the desk had her "Sunday-go-to-Church" hat on while wearing a T-Shirt. And it was a nice T-Shirt. As I did a shelf check in this 600 square foot store, she and I discussed our ride, where we were coming from and where we were going. She kindly filled my water bottles and I bought a "lunch on the road": honey bun (yum), 1 banana, a fig newton two pack, an orange soda (my standard at the lunch SAG) and a cold bottle of milk. After checking out, I sat on the front porch in a chair that had been there since 1937 and remembered how much fun I am having on this adventure. Yes, I actually do have peasant tastes and I could not have been happier or more comfortable for that 15 minutes. After my short rest, I pointed "Clyde" (yes, I named my bike after the famous Clydesdale horses)toward Prattville. An easy 27 miles came fast and I rolled into the Hampton Inn about 1:30 pm, ready for a McDonald's milk shake and strawberry lemonade. The nice roads and great weather made this a really fun, enjoyable ride. For dinner, I decided to go next door to the Bass Pro Shop, a hunter, fisherman and sportsman's paradise. And when I saw our Finnish rider, Kari, come out of his room, I invited him to join us. I thought this would be one of many "quintessential American" experiences for Kari. We walked into this bigger than life retail store and he was mesmerized. We took LOTS of photos next to the Nitro Bass Boats, wandered through the field of camouflage items. We then went upstairs to see the rifles, pistols and compound bows, all perched below an aviary and zoo of turkey, deer and hog targets. Kari asked me, "how close do you have to be to shoot a turkey with a bow?" We hunted down a Bass Pro expert and he gave us all the info we wanted including a demo on a turkey call that Kari used for a video for his 18,000 blog followers in Finland. It was classic! After the "full Monty" tour, we adjourned to the instore restaurant and had a great meal of fried catfish. Kari absolutely loved the entire event. Tomorrow we head to Columbus, GA! Stay healthy and have some fun today! Steve