Take the Scenic Route

What a great day today is!! By tonight, all my children will be home. The eldest made it about 2:00 this afternoon. The traveling missionaries will be later, probably around 9 or 10. When the eldest arrived at the house, however, Mr. H and I weren't there. We were at marker E on the map below. (if you'd rather be able to see lots of detail about the roads, click this link)

That's where Penn's Catfish in Petal is located.

Today I took my first road trip on my own bike. Mr. H and I headed out on a scenic trip to Hattiesburg. We actually didn't have any reason for that particular destination other than the distance it was from our house. Usually when headed to Hattiesburg from George County, you just get on Hwy 98 and go 'til you get there. I wasn't too sure about traveling that road today. Surely it would be busy with Easter travelers. So Mr. H mapped out a road less traveled for us.

From Hwy 63, we went west on Sally Parker Road and several others. We eventually ended up on Hwy 29. What a beautiful road! It leads to New Augusta, which is on Hwy 98. All I had to do was cross over 98 without actually having to travel along it.

Just across 98, we didn't stay on 29 for very long. Old River Road runs west just north of New Augusta. It's a great road, too. It leads to Petal. From there we went on Hwy 11 to Hattiesburg. Hattiesburg Cycle is just south of the junction of Hwy 11 and US Hwy 49 (on the frontage road, so I didn't have to drive on 49, either)

We really didn't need anything from Hattiesburg Cycle. It does have a lot of bikes and helmets, so we mainly just looked around. It was more of a leg stretching stop than any thing else. We were hungry by that time, so we headed out to get some lunch.

If there really was a "destination" for this trip, it was our next stop: Penn's. They have some of the best catfish there. Since it was after 2 when we arrived, it wasn't crowded at all.

After a great lunch, we got back on the bikes and headed east on Hwy 42. We followed 42 to Richton and from there to Hwy 63. I travel parts of 63 every week, but hadn't been on that part. It runs down through Sand Hill and Leakesville, where I have been before.

The weather today was just gorgeous. It is such a nice change from the endlessly cold weather we've had this winter. I think everything has bloomed in the last week. Wisteria is everywhere in south Mississippi.