miles, that is. Spread across 2 days and 10 hours, Elizabeth (sister), Benjamin ("promise-ring-giver" to Elizabeth) & I biked our asses off ( & hips, shoulders, bunions, and backs -- and everything else that added up to cause pain between us), but surprisingly we never woke up sore. Go, us!...right? well.... 
considering the fact that I am to be studying for the GRE now, I sorely missed my goal last week. Except my math-whiz of a sister was kind enough to turn our timings, distance and expected arrivals into math quizzes for me. Yeah, she loves me enough to make me study for the GRE while fighting a headwind & wiping sweat from my brow. Thanks, EJ...I think. I did learn, however, that 50% (1/2 or 4/8) of my Cliff Bar alottment + 2 hours of riding left = stomach pains & plans of how to knock my sister off her bike to steal the "terrible" Macadamia Nut Crunch/White Chocolate thingy she had in her pack. (Moral: Carry the food yourself & never listen to Benjamin on what tastes bad!) 
What started out as a 4 day ride from Jackson to Natchez and back, turned into a "we can leave on Friday after our class", to a "it's supposed to rain in the morning. Let's see what happens", to a...."let's go to the farmer's mkt. and ride the loop to Canton and then bike the Trace tom". Needless to say, 'God laughs in the face of plans'. Nonetheless, it was a fun, sweaty, challenging and memorable 2 days of biking.
The Natchez Trace proved to be a perfect biking spot. There isn't much to see -- that is if you don't appreciate rural MS -- but far less traffic than anywhere else and perfectly paved roads the whole way. (There definitely were 'rolling hills' whether you noticed or not! ) One day, I'll do the whole thing. For this go-round, the first day we road from Elizabeth's front door to old town Canton, and the second day we road from Elizabeth's front door to some sketchy "we be out uh ketchup" gas-station in Port Gibson, where Benjamin retrieved our sweaty selves 7 hrs later with 2 cold beers in tow. ... not to mention loud music, that I'll never forgive him for.
Overall, I've come to appreciate having days where the only agenda is to have fun. We probably all have far less of these days than we actually need for a truly balanced head-space. Thank you, EJ & Benjamin, for such a fun weekend, as per usual. ( I can speak directly to you now that I know you're like the 3rd and 4th confirmed readers of this blog! )
Fun memories:
grilled salad. hookah pipes & completely drug-free laughing fits. having a completely full morning of running, biking, grocery shopping and breakfast by 9:00 a.m. the official kick-start to my new ricotta/yogurt addiction. homemade flax seed bread. capresse. "I can tell by
looking at your eyes that you're somebody special." pink flamingos. blown up pumpkin "not canned". V-E-C-T-O-R. 
chicken farms. Tadpole Road, flying spit & cash-only cheese. making mozzarella. dinner sailing cruises/ antipasto platters. The Friendship Cruise Ship. Relationship Drama over "some tall skinny bitch/Warhol woman" pizza. Outdoor Symphony inside a church. sleeping on 1/5 of a queen bed 2/2 Monty. tick, tick, and tick on the 
application to-do list. shortening pumpkin bread. seasonal beer. orange label madness. restoration hardware. Rainbow grocery. Thanks, guys! It was so much fun.
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