Found water first thing this morning at the next church down the road, only a mile or so. It had a faucet but the handle was missing. Don't know if it was a bit of a cheeky security plan or if it was genuinely an accident. But I brought a small pair of vise grips just for such an occasion. I pushed on, as the next town wasn't that far away. As it happens I went right by another Walmart in Ripley where I finally found some more hydrocortisone cream and used the wifi. It was a really small store and had more employees than customers. I also spent some time at a park eating a snack and charging some stuff since my my extra batteries are getting low. Will have to plug them in overnight soon somewhere. Today had a lot of good gravel roads but I was a bit surprised about how much pavement I was on still. I thought MS would be mostly dirt but it is similar to Tennessee. The Tropical storm in the gulf brought cloudy skies and renewed easterly wind which made a huge difference in temperature today. It was a really nice day, other than the horseflies, which love me apparently. I crossed another Interstate, and also crossed a BNSF railway line for the first time. Disparagingly referred to as "FNBS" by my favorite hobo YouTuber for their total lack of concern for expediency of the shipment of the goods they haul. Soon after, I began to apply that moniker to Mississippi as a whole because of the constant threatening presence of antagonistic yard dogs throughout the countryside. It was at least once every couple of miles that I had a dog race towards me at full speed, causing me to have to dismount. Most of the time I would slowly walk away and eventually they got the message. One yard had 8 dogs that at one point had me surrounded. I kept swinging the bike around not knowing where to position it as a shield. After a few minutes of inching forward I got away. Owners were there and couldn't have cared less. In fact they might have been encouraging them for all I know. Another time I had just passed a house and right away began a steep climb up loose gravel through a rather impressive kudzu tunnel that threatened to cover the road. Out of nowhere a big black dog snuck up on me and nearly bit me before I noticed it was there. Eventually after a while I reached a road closed sign because of a bridge out. I proceeded anyway of course. I wasn't the only one that was still using the road. This was a major road and they were in the process of replacing an old bridge. So it was paved and of normal width. I arrived at the bridge in time to see two trucks speeding away at over 60 mph in the opposite direction. There were some freshly planted fields on either side and someone had gone and ruined a lot of it by doing donuts everywhere, and it looked very fresh. I passed two more trucks on the other side heading the same way doing well over 60. This was a not an aberration as I had witnessed lots of crazy driving already. Thankfully all the ridiculous speeding I've seen so far was all going in the opposite direction. Lots of folks doing at least 20+ mph over the limits, on curvy roads no less. Today I was blazing down a loose gravel descent and a Ranger came around a sharp corner doing at least 45. I got got well out of his way with plenty of time which was good because he was slow to respond. Just out doing some Saturday morning rally driving I presume. As you do. In Mississippi. You know, after you've already finished burning your mattresses for the day. Eventually I made my way into the Holly Springs National Forest which is actually quite nice. Surprising that it's not trashed like the rest of the countryside. I scoped out a couple of marooned old cemeteries which included a bit of a bushwhack dead end. Got back on track and found a large pond out in the middle of the forest and I have the entire thing to myself even on a lovely Saturday evening. I take back half of the bad things I said about Mississippi. While listening to a recent episode of one of my favorite podcasts, I was served an ad for Mississippi of all things. It actually specifically mentioned "our pristine forests and rivers" and state parks and national forests. It wasn't just some well played ad that I'd heard before either, it was the first time I'd heard it before. At first I decided it was an amazing coincidence. But the tech giants know I live in Georgia, and I downloaded the podcast in Mississippi at the Walmart in Ripley. So iHeartRadio(overlords of the podcast in question) is smart enough to insert that level of personalization on the spot. Impressive.