I've reached my destination town of Columbia, MS for today. There isn't really anything within reach of the remaining daylight so I'm arranging to camp at a local family campground tonight. I got stopped a few times on the highway by random patrols, not that I think they thought I was the convict, but they wanted to check in on me and just make sure I knew not to plan to sleep in the woods around there lol.

The AM was pretty cool, I spent the morning biking through country roads thinking I'd be able to avoid the highway that the convict was theoretically hanging around on.

Turns out, those country roads quickly became dirt paths. So, highway it was!

I came across this tree plant, I think they manufacture planks. It was like a FernGully moment, I've never seen so many dead trees before. This picture doesn't even start to capture how many there were as you drove past the plant.

I was also surprised by the sheer amount of trucks loaded with trees driving by in both directions, just driving by the plant I saw either 2 or 3. Not a single one drove into the plant either, just right on by. Who knows what they're doing.

As the afternoon rolled in, it started getting hot in the sun. I had to get some wet bandanas on to help me from getting too hot in the head! (Don't I look happy?)

Florida water is an amazing thing! I have no idea what it's made of, but it's used as a cologne by some people, it conducts heat much better than water alone, and evaporates slower. You mix a cap full in some water and dunk your bandanas in it and they feel cool to the touch even after an hour in the sun!

I had to go through two checkpoints on either side of the correctional facility which the convict escaped from, the cops at one of the checkpoints were nice enough to let me take a selfie in front of them

They were stopping every vehicle and in some cases pulling people over to search their cars.

Right now, I'm sitting in a nice cafe in the quiet downtown area in Columbia. Once I'm done here I'm going to head over to the campgrounds which is maybe 15 minutes away.