Gooooood morning Mobile!!!  
Today I left the hotel around 8 and headed a few blocks down to St. Francis and Royal St, this is the official start to the URR as well as a location of the old slave markets.  
I trucked out from there, getting a bit lost trying to figure out how to get across the bay but eventually found it. I seriously waste SO MUCH time in cities being lost. Stopped off at the Mobile Battleship Memorial Museum after crossing Mobile Bay. I mean…who doesn’t like battleships!?!    

 I stumbled upon a Rite Aid a bit further down the road and went in to get some chocolate milk. (Super awesome recovery drink while riding) Everyone is so polite in stores. Certainly not like the Bay Area.
Rolling hills, then flat, then rolling hills…repeat. The hills were the right amount of up. And nothing seemed to be above seven percent grade yet. Then at mile 24.8 my first dog chase! I expected this reading reviews of riding in Alabama. This little guy almost got himself killed. He came dashing out from his yard and ran across the highway to charge me and was nearly hit by an oncoming car. It’s crazy to me that folks don’t keep their dogs safe. Then about 10 miles later again, this time 2 bigger dogs. Dudes meant business! Luckily they had to run backwards to get out of the fenced portion of the yard and I was on a downhill. They certainly gave it a valiant effort though, taking chase for a while sounding like they wanted to take my leg off. At lunch I stopped at the Stagecoach Cafe, it was an easy decision given it was the only game in town after leaving Mobile and I didn’t expect to see another restaurant till tomorrow. Stagecoach was in Stockton. Stockton, AL that is. Parking lot was full! (I mean…there’s nothing else so of course it was full) Lots of after church goers. I got take out so I could sit out front on a bench and eat outside and review maps etc. I saw three sherriffs pull in, wanted to ask them a few questions but they looked eager to get in and eat so I sheepishly turned back and went back to sitting on my bench. It was absolutely perfect weather out and I stayed much longer than expected. So long that the sherriffs came back out after lunch. I thought, perfect, they’re fed and happy and that’s the perfect time to interrogate them about the area. I walked over to one and show him my map and asked if he knew of any camping along the way. My map indicated no camping and no motels aside from where we were but wanted to go another twenty to thirty miles ideally to keep my finish pace. All three took a look at my map.  

One sheriff said: Little River! Could camp there.

Me: Oh great, is that a campground or just backcountry lands or what? 

Sheriff: There’s a bridge. 

Me: ??? Huh?

Sheriff: You could camp under the bridge. 

Horrified me: Like a homeless person???

All three chuckled and I couldn’t tell if they were kidding. I asked if he was serious and he confirmed he was totally serious. I asked if he planned to go out there later and arrest me for camping under a bridge. Ha! They all promised they wouldn’t arrest me (“Ain’t nobody going to arrest you ma’am”) but to stay on this side of the bridge since the other side of the bridge is a different county, different sheriffs. They said to call if I needed anything. So nice! Oh man. This will be interesting I thought to myself. I hit the road destined to go sleep under a bridge. What has my life come to? 

I stopped for a minute at a convenience store a few hours past my lunch stop.. There was a post office that was the building next door, smallest post office building ever!   

I parked my bike up against the post office. After getting a Gatorade, I sat up against the post office and somehow fell asleep. So…to rewind…last night was the worst hotel experience ever. I paid to stay in a fancy hotel so I’d have space to rebuild my bike and good sleep for my first day. Hotel was gorgeous and even hosting two weddings. Well…apparently the wedding goers were done partying at 3 AM and all the sudden the room next door became the after party. Took about 20 minutes for the hotel to shut it down. I lost quite a bit of sleep over that. So a post office nap felt amazing! After waking up, I got back on my horse and kept pedaling. I enthusiastically came up on my Little River and the bridge to find my “campground” was flooded! They had flash flooding a few days earlier and I guess it didn’t dawn on them there would be no camping under that bridge unless I brought a raft. Which I DID want to bring my alpaca packraft but didn’t.   

So, I pedaled around and found some woods a little before the bridge but a bit beyond where the flooding stopped and made home for the night. Right before going to sleep I realized I have NO IDEA what kind of animals they have around here. Not where you want your mind just before snapping your eyelids shut…good night day 1!