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Paul Neal’s ride at one week: The Big Muddy is dead ahead

Paul Neal’s second ride across the country has had some good days and some bad (as he jokingly illustrated in the picture above). On Monday, the Rock Hill cyclist is making his way across the flats of the Mississippi Delta, scheduled for a crossing of the Mississippi River on Tuesday morning. A week into his trip, Neal, 68, has covered almost four states. He’s also a day ahead of the pace he set in 1967, when the then-18-year-old made it all the way to Los Angeles in 38 days.
Paul Neal’s second ride across the country has had some good days and some bad (as he jokingly illustrated in the picture above). On Monday, the Rock Hill cyclist is making his way across the flats of the Mississippi Delta, scheduled for a crossing of the Mississippi River on Tuesday morning. A week into his trip, Neal, 68, has covered almost four states. He’s also a day ahead of the pace he set in 1967, when the then-18-year-old made it all the way to Los Angeles in 38 days. Paul Neal

Funny thing about Paul Neal’s plan to retrace his 1967 bike ride across the country: 50 years of change can sure get in the way.

Neal, who left Rock Hill a week ago Monday, in currently pedaling across the Mississippi Delta with a major river crossing dead ahead. When he made his first trek as an 18-year-old in 1967, Neal crossed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, home of the famous Civil War battlefield. That’s no longer an option for the 68-year-old Neal. His original route has become Interstate 20.

So Neal’s trip planners swung him north. He’s scheduled to cross the Big Muddy at Greenville, Miss., the so-called “Heart and Soul of the Delta.” The city is also the backdrop for “Lanterns on the Levy,” Will Percy’s seminal and haunting autobiographical look at the early 20th century planter South.

The river crossing will take Neal into Arkansas, and eventually to Texarkana, where he will cross into Texas and pick up his boyhood route. He’s already a day ahead of schedule.

You can follow the ride – and Neal’s often colorful running account – here.

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Paul Neal’s ride at one week: The Big Muddy is dead ahead."

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