Our first full day in Louisiana started out cold and warmed up nicely by afternoon. We covered 78 miles and finished a little before 4pm. Brian and I went to 4pm mass at Sacred Heart. We saw lots of rice paddies, smoke from fields being set on fire, wide load trailers on flat bed trucks and farm equipment that took up the whole road.
The extra wide trailers forced us off the road onto the grass at one point and the farm equipment had to pull off the road to let us by. The smoke from the deliberately set fires covered the road which caused Mark to start whistling “Smoke gets in your eyes” by the Platters. That tune stuck in my head for about 30 miles. Thanks a lot Mark.
Dogs were not an issue today. Brian got chased by one dog who didn’t bother with Mark and I. The wind was sometimes a challenge, depending on the direction we were heading and whether we were in the middle of rice paddies and totally exposed. All in all a good day.
Tomorrow may be a different story. 80% chance of rain starting in the middle of the night and lasting throughout the day and into the next. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s blog. This would be a first for us if we have rain all day.
Break time. No place to get inside to warm up today.
The mornings are the worst. I didn’t sign up to ride with frozen water bottles, toes and fingers. My face looks like I wash it with beet juice. But we keep slugging away and we will make it. Oh, did I tell you that it won’t be in the 30’s when we start tomorrow ? Overnight low temp is 50! It will be raining all day but heck you can’t have everything. I just got my rain gear out of my bike case from Silverster so I’m ready. Speaking of Silverster, I saw a red minivan on a shoulder of the road ahead while riding today and I thought Beth was waiting with hot chocolate for us but then I remembered that last year’s car was red. All the years rides are coming together. The riding, the cars and the hotels are one big Deja Vue.
Today was 50 shades of grey. The sun came out for about five minutes. It was cold until the last hour. I’m not having as much fun as any other Leg. So spank me.
We saw flooded rice fields and cows and squashed turtles. And egrets and herons and pine trees and logging trucks. Only one dog chased us. The dogs in Louisianna are either chained or fenced or too tired to bother with bicycle tourist. Tim had half a flat because he just likes to stop and pump up his tire for something to add to the fun. If he does it again, I’m gonna spank him!
So here today’s pictures. They ain’t much different from the other days.
It was cold again at the start of today’s ride – only 34 degrees and it felt it! It warmed up eventually, but it took a while and the sun was rarely out, which meant it took a lot longer to warm up. The day’s ride was a mostly flat 78 miles but I thought the wind was tough – it seemed to me that it was in my face most of the ride. Here are most of the photos I took today.
Pine trees lining LA Route 29. This is what a lot of the scenery looked like today and the last few days.
Bessie at Cattle Ranch along LA 104 in Evangaline Parish, LA. Mark and I named this cow Bessie and promised her that if she would turn to look right at us, we’d give her this individual photo, which she did!
Bessie and her friends at Cattle Range along LA 104 in Evangaline Parish, LA
Church bulletin for Sacred Heart Church, Ville Platte, LA. We did the 78 miles in about 7 hours and 45 minutes, arriving at our hotel at 3:45 p.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church started at 4 p.m. (see it on the bulletin?) and Tim and I took a quick shower and were a few minutes late, but we made it and said a prayer for Mark and Beth …..
El Charro Mexican Grille, Ville Platte, LA. This is where we all ate dinner after Tim and I got back from church. If for any reason you find yourself in Ville Platte, LA, this is where you want to have a meal – it was excellent!
El Charro Mexican Grille, Ville Platte, LA. Tonight, we are the only ones staying at this Best Western Hotel. It’s nothing special, but it is clean and perfectly fine.
In the hotel room after dinner. Mark is blogging and Beth is diligently helping Tim map tomorrow’s route.
Tomorrow’s ride will be close to 90 miles, most likely, and according to the weather apps on our phones, much of it will be in the rain. Say a prayer it doesn’t rain too much of the day tomorrow.
Mark wants Tim and me to describe the day’s ride, which I totally understand because we’re all exhausted and really just want to go to sleep. It was an 84 mile day that took a few minutes longer than yesterday’s 89 miles. It felt colder than yesterday and the wind was unrelenting. Plus there were the dogs! It seemed they were just waiting for us to ride by so they could chase us.
It felt as though the dogs were just waiting for us to ride by so they can could enjoy chasing us!
We got chased 6 or 8 times today. After a while I gave up trying to outrun them – you can’t! According to Mark, a young dog can run 25 mph, which is really hard for us to do, especially riding into the wind.
Mark and Tim at Burger King in Buna, TX, our first rest stop of the day. We each had a breakfast sandwich and a nice, hot coffee!
Hot black coffee! I almost never drink my coffee without at least a little half & half in it. but these last two days in the cold riding weather have made me crave piping hot black coffee!
By noon we had make it to Kirbyville, TX. There we met Jacqueline and Ralph Winter, who are from Ontario, Canada and having been traveling by bike (England, Ireland, New Zealand, Cuba) for the last 14 months!
Mark basking in the windless sun in Kirbyville, TX
Tim savoring the sun at lunch in Kirbyville, TX
Mark having a snack near Bleakwood, TX. We stop about every 10 miles or so, especially in the afternoons when we start to get tired. At every stop we’re eating and drinking, because we really need to nourishment.
Photo of the Sabine River on the border of Texas and Louisiana.
The Brothers at the border of Louisiana. After having ridden in Texas for part of Leg2, all of Legs 3 and 4, and again for part of Leg 5, we finally made it to a new state!
We were about 25 miles from our hotel at this point, and they were very tough miles! Tomorrow we’re supposed to ride 75 miles to Ville Platte, LA. I’m betting it turns out to be closer to 80 miles, but maybe it will be warmer – that would really be nice!
Thank you to all who voted! (Sorry you missed the poll, Laura, but good name!)
Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Silvester. He has trouble shifting into second gear and I think his front driver’s side tire is going flat, but he’s been a reliable companion so far.
Hi
What’s there to say about Day 2?
I had a couple of productive conference calls in the morning.
I picked up an auxiliary cable at Wal-Mart because my new bluetooth thingy doesn’t work. But the cable isn’t so great; it sometimes works and sometimes is all fuzzy-sounding.
I went to a Barnes & Noble and bought The Martian for Tim and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold for myself. Let’s ignore that there is a crushed bike on the cover of the Le Carré.
I saw two baby donkeys. They looked like the below but were a little bigger. They were the equivalent of teen donkeys, maybe.
That face!
Why didn’t you stop to take a picture of the donkeys? I don’t like it when you use other people’s photos, it seems like you’re lying.
I know, sorry. The roads were pretty crowded and the timing just didn’t feel right.
What was your dinner like?
We ate at a sad-looking but packed Italian place in a strip mall that had carpeted floors, fluorescent lights, and no liquor license. The food was pretty good, though! But not good enough for me to ever want to eat there again! Because atmosphere is at least fifty percent of my enjoyment of a restaurant! And I want to drink wine with pasta! And I will never be in Lumberton again!
Why aren’t you being more interesting?
Shut up! I’m using exclamation points, isn’t that good enough? Also I already told you, I have too much work.
But aren’t you going to regret not recording your days in minute detail?
Probably. I’m going to do my best and that will mean whatever it means.
What else happened yesterday that took time away from your blogging window?
This white/gold vs. blue/black thing. Everyone is already sick of it and so am I! But I spent at least an hour trying to see it both ways and discussing it online with Chris and Andy. I experienced something of an existential crisis prior to being able to see it as blue and black because I take seriously my ability to perceive color accurately. It seemed like something was wrong with my brain, and that upset me. But then I grew magical dual-sensing abilities and got over it and went to sleep. Wired has a nice analysis, if you’re interested.
How was your room at the La Quinta?
It had good feng shui and felt very cozy. Its branding was much classier than that of our last La Quinta, and it had high ceilings, a carpet with an inoffensive pattern, and a pleasing dusty orange accent wall behind the bed. The art was a good size for the room and had nice frames. And the bed was comfortable. Nice job, guys. (Art to come in tomorrow’s post.)
How does one pronounce La Quinta?
La Keenta. Not La Kinta, Sullivan bros.
Did you come up with any band names today?
I did, thank you for asking! Today’s band name is Safe Mode. I came up with it when my phone got stuck on its boot screen and I kept pressing things and eventually it started in safe mode. It’s still not back to normal. This is a bad month for me and technology.
I’m bored. Can we look at photos now?
Fine.
The lavish pool at the Holiday Inn Express. It had a 1960s Catskills quality.
Bundled up against the cold. The guys tore off as soon as I took this; they wanted to get it done. It took them nine hours.
The view from Silvester’s parking spot. I thought it was a little pretty and a little ugly and I hadn’t taken many photos. The building at left is a Wal-Mart.
Today’s lunch. So when I saw this concept of wrap “bites” in the airport, I thought it was stupid and funny, yet appealing — it’s like having appetizers for lunch! But I guess it’s actually a standard thing now(?). Maybe if I’d worked in an office in the past few years roll-up lunches would seem normal to me.
Dad walked into the frame of this photo of a guy wearing a jumpsuit at the last second. I thought at first that the jumpsuit was some kind of fashion statement, but it’s just his uniform. The photo still amuses me.
Hotel Art of the Day
A winding path Holiday Inn Express, Lumberton, TX Watercolor? / 32″x24″
Hotel Art Score
8/10. The style reminds me of something I’ve seen in indie animations; it feels fluffy, its slight blurriness giving it a sense of motion. It’s nearing the edge of being too colorful but doesn’t fall off the cliff. For a hotel painting it’s delightful. I feel like it’s inviting me in to that far-away farmhouse and I’m effectively invited in to my hotel bed.
Art Art Score
6/10. It’s a little precious, but it’s real art. The style of the clouds feels incongruous; I keep being drawn to the sky when it’s not what I want to focus on.
Glad that ride is over. Just as demanding as yesterday even though a little shorter. The wind was consistently a headwind. We started out at 8am again and saw our breath for the first hour or so. We have every layer on that we brought and barely stay warm enough.
I thought I got my second flat but after we changed the tube, we figured out my valve stem was unscrewed and the air was leaking out every time I hit a bump. I will buy some extra tubes when we get to our first bike store which won’t be until Baton Rouge on Mon.
I guess it’s fair to say we gutted it out today. Lots of dogs again today. It got to the point everytime we came up on a mailbox, we start searching for the charging dog(s). Only one or two were aggressive to the point of trying to nip us. Not fun–it really gives me an adrenaline rush when I start peddling as fast as I can to outrun it.
All of us are going to bed by 8:30. We know we can cope with the long daily rides, if we have lots of sleep. That’s the plan plus a daily supply of Advil. Looking forward to Matt joining us. 83.5 miles today; another 70 plus tomorrow.
As expected, it was cold this morning when we left our hotel – it was only 28 degrees and we could see our breath vapor whenever it hit the cold morning air. We had a long day ahead of us, so we left our hotel at just about 8 a.m. The day was pretty uneventful. We decided to take the road less traveled, which would eliminate most of the traffic. The price we paid for that was having to deal with all the dogs that wanted to chase us. We got chased about 4 times that I can remember, and the last two times Mark tried to tactic of yelling “Stay!” to the dogs, to get them to stop. It worked for him and when I tried it, it worked for me also!
We rode a total of 89 miles today. It eventually warmed up to 52 degrees around 2 p.m. when we had stopped in a town named Thicket. It was back in the 40’s by the time we made it to Lumberton, just before 5:00 p.m. The lobby of our LaQuinta was nice and warm, and boy did that feel good! After showering, we each had a post-ride beer in Beth’s room, went out to a delicious dinner in an Italian restaurant, paid a visit to the town’s Wallmart, and then went back to our rooms. I plan to finish this blog, take a look at work email, and fall asleep!
Here are the few pictures I took today.
Tim checking directions on his phone not too far out of Conroe. It isn’t even 30 degrees at this point in the ride!
Tim at the McDonald’s Restaurant in Cleveland, TX. It had warmed up to 36 degrees at this point in the ride.
Blooming tree along Farm Road 1293 between Thicket and Honey Island, TX. The roads were flat today, which was great. But the scenery, for the most part, was pretty forgetable.
We have 80 miles to ride tomorrow, in weather similar to what we had today. And tomorrow, we finally leave Texas, where we have been riding since the end of Leg 2.
I wish I could remember how many nights we have spent in Texas. I have a tremendous appreciation for the state and its diversity. Today was like riding thru the Jersey Pine Barrens. Pine tree forests on both sides of the road. The terrain is now flat as a pancake and the roads are straight as an arrow for mile on end.
Not many photo ops today. We have been too cold to stop and even when we take a break, we keep moving around to maintain body heat. It finally warmed up around 3 this afternoon and we started peeling some of our layers.
Lots of dogs chased us today. We altered our route to stay off main roads but the drawback on the back roads is the dogs that chase us. Not too scary; we might be getting use to it but I admit I don’t enjoy having a dog charge me. Have to think about the trade off when we plan our route. Adventure cycling warns of lots of loose dogs in Louisianna, Swell!!
It was along day–our second longest this leg but good to get it out of the way. 89 miles didn’t feel too bad. Mostly a cross wind today. Sometimes a little assist and some times a little headwind. I am going to sleep well tonight. Good night.
Hello, and welcome to the fifth edition of the Brothers Bike Ride, or the Brothers’ Bike Ride. Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, potato, potahto, tortilla, tour-till-ah.
This may also become known as the Beth Has Too Much Work So She Can’t Really Blog edition.
Calm down, it’s okay. We’ll get through this together, somehow. Maybe with little airport bottles of wine from Kroger and lazier prose. See below.
The northeast has been holy-#$%* cold this winter. Yesterday morning it was seven degrees as I stood waiting for my overly solicitous Uber driver. It’s gotten to the point where anything over 25 feels warm. “Oh, it’s nice out, it’s just below freezing,” is a sentence I’ve said in seriousness many times this month.
The cold, gritty streets of New York City, on the way to La Guardia
So I was looking forward to 45-degree Texas weather. But you know what, it feels really cold here, too! It’s a different, wetter cold. “It gets into your bones,” the clerk at the grocery store told me earlier today, and he is right.
At the airport, I had a conversation about my clogs with a lady in the restroom (Her: “I haven’t seen clogs in a while” / Me: “I think they’re coming back” / chatter about virtues of clogs), bought lunch for the plane which I couldn’t resist eating while I waited, then hustled to make it to a gate change in a lamer part of the airport.
I am only going to eat lunch that comes in little rolled-up pieces on this trip. This was a very OTG experience.
Band name I came up with on the flight: Airplane Mode.
I deplaned in Houston at the same gate from which I’d flown home in October, and it felt like I was moving back through time, undoing my steps. It’s stranger to visit a place just twice instead of just once; you only begin to penetrate whatever facade it struck you with the first time, so it leaves you in limbo, the romance lost but the deeper knowledge ungained.
Still, we did Navasota so much better the second time around, staying at the pretty nice Comfort Inn with its chocolate chip cookies and having dinner at La Casita, the one good restaurant in town.
La Casita, Navasota, TX
After dinner, Dad put his bike together faster than ever because he was relaxed, and everything is easy when you’re relaxed.
We got an early start on Wednesday, leaving at 6:30 to pick up Tim and Mark in Houston. It rained for most of what turned out to be almost four hours of driving. But Tim confidently told us that the rain would be gone by noon, and it was.
Departing for Conroe under sunny skies. Tim points out our Nevada license plate.
I got to Conroe, a pleasant little town, a little after 1, and went to the grocery store to pick up snacks for the guys and lunch for myself.
You thought I was kidding about the little rolled-up pieces.
I don’t recommend making meal choices for the sake of a weak punchline.
The guys arrived just before 3, warmed up with showers (or a bath, in Mark’s case) and came to my room for snacks. Tim and I planned tomorrow’s route, then we all walked across the street for an early dinner to the Texas Roadhouse, which was bizarrely packed at 4:30 on a Wednesday.
WHERE’S THE BEEF?
Dad and I took an after-dinner detour to the Kroger to pick up a seltzer, some chocolates, and heck, why not, a four-pack of tiny bottles of Woodbridge Cabernet. Then we each retired to our rooms to write. And here I am, my mini-bottle long ago finished.
Taking Care of Business: Name This Minivan
This year’s minivan is silver. He’s been through a lot, with over 61,000 miles and some dents to his side. He is male; I’m feeling that pretty strongly. Write in other names as you like, please.
Voting will close some time tomorrow night.
Let's do this:
Silvester 55%, 6 votes
6 votes55%
6 votes - 55% of all votes
Metallica 27%, 3 votes
3 votes27%
3 votes - 27% of all votes
Touch of Grey*9%, 1 vote
1 vote9%
1 vote - 9% of all votes
Sullver - a combo of Sullivan and silver.*9%, 1 vote
1 vote9%
1 vote - 9% of all votes
Silver Bullet 0%, 0 votes
0 votes
0 votes - 0% of all votes
Total Votes: 11
February 25, 2015
- February 27, 2015
Voting is closed
Silvester 55%, 6 votes
6 votes55%
6 votes - 55% of all votes
Metallica 27%, 3 votes
3 votes27%
3 votes - 27% of all votes
Touch of Grey*9%, 1 vote
1 vote9%
1 vote - 9% of all votes
Sullver - a combo of Sullivan and silver.*9%, 1 vote
1 vote9%
1 vote - 9% of all votes
Silver Bullet 0%, 0 votes
0 votes
0 votes - 0% of all votes
Total Votes: 11
February 25, 2015 - February 27, 2015
Voting is closed
Hotel Art of the Day
Three Fronds Digital print, 15″x15″ Comfort Inn & Suites bathroom, Navasota
Hotel Art Score
5/10. It’s pretty bland, but I find those two tips touching each other humorous. The unusual composition is the best part; the fronds themselves aren’t that fun to look at. I think this might have been made in Adobe Illustrator.
The piece is part of a leafy branding campaign by Comfort Inn, echoed in the shower curtain and other art and maybe in the linens, I can’t remember. It’s not a bad direction to go — it’s certainly less offensive than La Quinta’s weird circles. Leaves have soothing shapes.
Art Art Score
3/10. I was going to give it a 2 but it gets an extra point for having a personality behind it.
