Monday,3/2 was a planned rest day and it turned out to be perfect timing. Our bodies needed a rest. My bike needed some maintenance, basically two new tires and some new tubes, to hopefully cut down on my propensity for flat tires on this leg. Most importantly it poured rain all day and it would have been impossible to ride.
Our accomodations were unique. It was a B&B in an old plantation that was in the same family for something like eight generations. It was a land grant from the Spanish government in 1798 when this part of our country was part of Spain. Mark and I shared a cottage and Matt joined us after his much delayed flight arrived. According to Matt, the Baton Rouge airport has the fastest luggage pickup of any place he has ever flown. Also went to a Lebanese restaurant in St. Francisville. First time for everything, I liked it. Neat little town. Reminds me of the Eastern Shore. According to Matt, I snored so much, he moved to te couch at about 2 am to try to get some sleep. He’s insisting I use Breath Right the rest of the trip.
The temperature was about 52 degrees when we left Poplarville, plus it was rainy and cold. After riding about 1.5 miles, we decided to stop in at the Hardee’s fast food restaurant to get out of the cold and rain and also get some real breakfast, since none of had eaten anything substantial in our cabins. All of the Poplarville locals were extremely friendly to us, asking us where we were from (and then commiserating with us over recent Eagles trades) and where we were headed. In the Hardee’s I took this picture, the only one I managed to take today.
The guys at the Hardees Restaurant in Poplarville, MS. All of the people in this fast food restaurant were incredibly warm and friendly to us. Maybe they felt sorry for us because of the awful weather we were riding in?
The main things that happened today were that Mark unintentionally hit a dog on his bike, but somehow managed not to fall off his bike, which was amazing! The dog came out of nowhere and Mark did not have time to get out of the way. The dog really looked stunned, but otherwise appeared unhurt. And I broke another spoke, which Matt again helped me tape off and loosen the adjacent spokes so that I could continue riding. This happened around mile 20 of a 78 mile day, and we got in too late for me to take the wheel into Mobile for spoke repair. So I am going to roll the dice and ride tomorrow and hope I don’t break another one before getting to Mobile. I’m guessing I have another 50 miles to ride before this leg ends, after which I will get the wheel re-spoked at Drexel Hill Cyclery.
But the really best thing that happened today was getting picked up by Beth in Vancleeve! That was the end point of our ride today, and the plan was for Beth to pick us up in Vancleeve for the drive to Lucedale. After warming up in the New China II restaurant for only about 10 minutes, Beth arrived, we loaded up the bikes, and ordered Won Ton soup for the ride to Lucedale – and boy did that hot soup hit the spot! But the warm ride in the car with Beth was the best part of the day for me!
The temperature dropped throughout the day, ending up a tad over 40 degrees at the end, which felt even colder than that since we were wet from getting rained on. Tomorrow’s weather should be dry but still on the chilly side. This is our last night in Mississippi since tomorrow we will get to Mobile, AL. I am positively impressed by the friendliness of Mississippians, which has been true of people in every state we’ve biked through!
We left just after 8 a.m. this morning and it was already 70 degrees when we left, with a predicted high temperature in the low 80’s. I used sunscreen on my face and should also have applied it to my arms and legs. This was our last day of riding in warm weather – both Thursday and Friday will start out at about 30 and end up at about 50 degrees. It was also humid today, so we were soaked in sweat in no time at all. Our roads were mostly good, with smooth surfaces and wide shoulders, at least until we got into Mississippi. There the shoulder on MS 26 disappeared and there was just too much traffic, so we decided on the fly to change our route, which added a few more miles but they were on safe roads. We ended up riding 74 miles and made it to our destination, the Shallow Fork Lake and Cabins, at around 2:45 p.m., so we averaged just under 11 miles an hour for the day. There were lots of hills, especially when we were headed east. But aside from that, the ride was not very remarkable, so here are the photos for today’s ride.
Getting ready to depart from Amite City, LA. We usually meet at the car at 7:45 a.m. and it always takes us at least 15 minutes to depart.
Mark at break on LA 16.
Matt at a break on LA 16
Tim in his Alabama Biking shirt at our break along LA 16
Sign indicating we were entering Pearl River County in Mississippi, just after we had crossed the Pearl River. At first we thought this would be our only notification that we had entered Mississippi, but a few miles down MS 26, we encountered the sign in the next photo.
Welcome to Mississippi sign along MS 26. I certainly didn’t know that Mississippi was the birthplace of America’s music. Do the people in New Orleans know that?
Mapping the alternate route on the way to Poplarville, MS. Once we crossed into MS the shoulder disappeared and so we needed an alternate and safer route.
Logging truck along MS 26. We have been seeing dozens and dozens of these trucks every day once we left Conroe, TX, including today. I never knew that this regions of the country is a big resource for pine lumber.
Pine trees along our alternate route into Poplarville, MS.
Model T car outside of Swallow Fork Lake and Cabins. This was our landmark to finding our lodging for tonight.
Swallow Fork sign along Oak Creek Road, leading us to our cabins.
View from the deck of Beth and Brian’s cabin at Shallow Fork Lake and Cabins.
Swallow Fork Lake
View from the back of Tim, Mark and Matt’s cabin at Shallow Fork Lake and Cabins.
Tomorrow’s ride to Lucedale, MS will be colder and probably wetter, but we will be as safe as we can!
After a nice big dinner of gumbo and a shrimp po-boy, I still woke up hungry and knew that we had a long day ahead. So I dove into a gluttonous breakfast of eggs, biscuits with gravy, yogurt, and bacon at the hotel. I was stuffed, but ready to ride!
We rolled out of the hotel and into a thick thick fog. It made yesterday’s morning fog seem like nothing and it was a bit disconcerting actually because the visibility was so bad. The road was rolling hills and we made quick work of the early miles. By the first stop the fog had lightened considerably and by lunch it had burned off and the day had heated up. It eventually hit about 80 degrees and I got a bit sunburned.
Through Loiusiana we were on LA 10, and the road was full of logging trucks but had a nice wide shoulder of 7 or 8′ and the trucks often crossed into the opposite lane to give us an even wider bearth. We crossed the Pearl River into Mississippi and the road turned into Route 26. Along with changing names, the new road also had no shoulder. None. Nada. Still full of logging trucks blowing past at 55mph, and now they were passing way to close for comfort! We decided to get off Route 26 ASAP, so we made the first possible turn and followed the suggested bike route the rest of the way. Taking the back roads meant that we had to follow detailed directions and look for turn at certain mileages, but it was really fun to see the backwoods and we saw only a handful of cars for the next 20 miles. We had a couple of dog encounters, but they were all pretty lazy and gave up the chase quickly.
We rolled into Poplarville after a 74 mile day and are enjoying a couple of beers on the porch of the great cabin where dad, Mark and I are staying tonight. All in all another great day, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Again the rain held off and we only got sprinkled on a few times. Tomorrow is going to be a different story…forecast says rain and a high of around 40. Wish us luck!
Round 1 of breakfast
The fog burns off as Brian and dad roll up on the nice wide shoulder
Rest stop as we hit Mississippi. The smiles mean we hadn’t noticed the disappearing shoulder.
Today Tim’s son Matt joined us after flying into Baton Rouge last night, getting picked up by Tim, and then assembling his bike in all of 20 minutes – what a rookie! 🙂 Seriously, it was great having him with us today, if for nothing else than to listen to him make fun of Tim, starting with his chain saw snoring last night! Who knew? None of the rest of the Sullivan brothers snore, right Nancy? 🙂 But having Matt along really made me wish my son Chris could be with us also. Maybe next year, Chris, for part of the ride?
We started out in a heavy fog, and I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened to us on one of our rides. We were dressed a tad on the heavy side, since the temperature was hovering right around 50 degrees, plus or minus. But at our first stop, we all started shedding clothes, and we didn’t regret it as it warmed up to slightly over 70 degrees by the end of our 68 mile ride to Amite City.
The only mildly concerning thing that happened today was that one of the spokes on my back wheel broke, but Matt taped it to adjacent spokes and loosened the spokes closest to the broken one, to keep the wheel as true as possible. And it worked fine to get me the remaining 40 miles into Amite City. We didn’t have any flats and we made great time today, thanks mostly to Matt, whose young and fresh legs kept us all going at a fast pace. And it didn’t hurt at all that we had had a rest day yesterday (thanks again, Beth!) , so we were all more rested than normal. We were able to complete the 68 miles in just over 6 hours, when normally it would have taken us about 7 hours.
And the other thing that made the ride go faster for us was that we sang oldies for a good portion of the ride. One of the ones Mark, Tim and I all sang (Matt must have thought we were nuts, but so what) was from the Righteous Brothers. Remember this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEkB-VQviLI
And we sang other oldies also, and at one point Mark pulled up “Unchained Melody,” also from the Righteous Brothers, because I just couldn’t remember their other really big hit. Of course, many of the songs we sang along the way were from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Elvis. Tim sang one that none of us recognized, but he is slightly older than us, which could explain it. Curiously, Matt didn’t sing at all. Hmmm….. guess he was too busy laughing at us. 🙂
We counted 43 Bud Light cans by the side of the road and 8 Dollar General stores along the way. There may have been more of both, but we just lost count after that. After we got to the hotel, Mark, Beth and I did laundry, after which I went to a bike store in Hammond, LA named Graycat Cyclewox to get my spoke fixed, my wheel trued, and a new back tire. I also picked up a bright yellow-green cycling jersey so that when and if I take off my yellow jacket tomorrow, I will still be very visible to drivers.
Ok, enough talk – here are today’s photos. Hope you enjoy them.
Pool at Butler Greenwood Plantation B&B. The building Beth and I stayed in was right next to this inviting pool, but it was just too cold and rainy to enjoy it.
The boys strip off layers at our first rest stop on LA 10. We stayed on LA 10 for most of today’s ride and it treated us really well! It had a nice wide shoulder and gently rolling hills.
One of the really quaint towns we passed through today was Jackson, LA. This train car was right outside an Antique Store there, and I thought it looked really nice.
Historical marker in Jackson, LA. Tim loves historical markers and reads every one he can find, as Matt pointed out to us (as if Mark and I didn’t already know that!).
Volunteer firehouse in Jackson, LA
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Louisiana Scenic Byways Road Sign along LA 10. We saw about a dozen of these signs today, which were usually accompanied by the sign in the next photo.
Zackary Taylor Parkway sign along LA 10. During the ride Matt asked if any of us knew Zachary Taylor’s nickname. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it is “Old Rough and Ready.” Taylor was the last U.S. President to own slaves. Does anyone know why LA 10 is also named Zachary Taylor Parkway?
Clean laundry on Beth’s bed at our Holiday Inn Express in Amite City, LA.
Mark and Bike Store Owner Mike discuss tomorrow’s route to Poplarville, MS
Tomorrow we ride to Poplarville, MS, so tonight is our last night in Louisiana. After taking 19 days to get across Texas, it’s hard to believe we have biked through Louisiana so quickly! But Louisiana has been nice to us also and let’s hope tomorrow’s ride goes well for all of us again!
A neat town we rode through on LA 10 which is called a LOUISIANA SCENIC BYWAY.
Brian and I drove to this bike store in Hammond. Great store and Mike, the owner is a wiz. He replaced the spoke, trued the wheel and installed a new tire in no time at all.
A view of the traffic on today’s route.
Everything looks like it is at flood stage as it has rained non stop for a few weeks. The locals say the mosquitos will be bad this year.
Yesterday was a rest day and Tim and I drove to a bike store in Baton Rouge to replace worn out and flat tires and tubes. We didn’t see much of the city and what we did observe kind of reminded me of Camden, NJ but my impression is based on a brief visit on a cloudy, dreary day in a bad part of the city.
The place had quite an inventory of tires and tubes in all sizes but not much else. No clothing or warm rain gear. Helpful staff, though
Tim’s son, Matthew has joined the ride. He flew into Baton Rouge last night after a long day of travel. It was great having another rider. He has passed his audition and has graduated to full membership in the Brothers Bike Ride club. Actually, he led a pace line of the four of us most of the day and we averaged about 5 mph over what we usually ride. I loved the fast pace and we got to Amite before 3 pm, right before the skies opened up and dumped buckets of rain. Tim actually let me pick the route for today’s ride. He kept trying to change the course all day long but Matt and I stuck to the original planned roads (straight on Rt. 10 E for 56 miles and then 7 miles on 51 S ). I kept telling him that the diagonal road he thought was better had dogs lurking everywhere so we stayed on Rt. 10. The only mechanical mishap was a broken spoke on Brian’s back wheel. Matt wrapped it around another spoke and taped them together and we were able to continue riding. We distracted ourselves by trying to sing old rock n’ roll classics from the 60’s and it helped. Brian and I had to carry the tunes. Tim and Matt don’t sing so good.
Hello all, Matt here, long time reader, first time blogger. As you may have picked up from the other recent posts, I’m joining my dad, Mark and Brian for the second half of this leg. I flew into Baton Rouge last night after a day of airport delays, landed in intense fog, and was surprised to deplane into a brand new terminal (seriously, the fresh paint was literally still drying). It was close to 8pm and I still had to assemble my bike when we got back to the B&B, so I hustled down to baggage claim to see my bike case coming out third in line. And it was intact. Wow! Greatest airport experience ever. And thanks TSA, I guess my distrust was totally misplaced – sorry…for now. My dad picked me up and we drove back through the fog to the B&B.
Mark was still up, and my dad serenaded us with some of his famous reading out loud while I put my bike together in the living room of our small cottage. After that we set out our gear for today and turned in for the night. I was sharing a room with my dad and Mark had a room on the other side of the living room. After a few fitful hours of being serenaded by “chainsaw Tim’s” (yes, that’s his new nickname, feel free to use it) snoring, I gave up and slept on the couch. Oh well. Our 3 kids at home don’t let us sleep either, so it was par for the course. TRuth be told, he’s actually snoring right now napping in his bed!
After a quick breakfast, we met up with Beth and Brian, and headed out through the awesome trees draped in Spanish moss and out onto the highway. The first things that I noticed were the almost tropical smell in the air, and the amazing noise from the frogs. They didn’t croak like the frogs we hear in our area, but almost chirp like birds – lots and lots of them at once. It was actually really cool! I was hoping to see a gator or snake but had to settle for the sound of frogs and beer cans instead. Brian wasn’t kidding when he said there were Bud Light cans everywhere. There was one every 100 yards in places and shockingly no any other brands were well represented. Mark and Brian counted the cans for a while but then decided to sing songs instead. Oh my. Music must not be in my genes, and that was confirmed when my dad’s decided that it was his turn to sing. whatever it was that he launched into left nothing but quizzical looks on Mark and Brian’s faces. They actually accused him of making it up.
Anyway, the riding today was great. The roads went through pretty varied terrain with the one constant being the watery ditches on either side the entire way. I don’t know if they are usually dry, but yesterday’s rain had filled them up and it spots we seemed to be riding on a causeway between streams. I’ve never been to this part of the country, so I enjoyed seeing the swamps (even without gators) and was impressed by the courtesy of the drivers (we’ll get to the exception to that later). I’m used to the east coast drivers in their constant rush and the number of drivers that waited for a safe area to pass and then went as far into the other lane as possible was refreshing!
We stopped about every ten miles for a snack, and only saw one set of historical markers, so we made good time through today’s 65 or 70 mile ride. At every stop my dad tried to convince us to take some dog-infested shortcut, but we soldiered on and weren’t legitimately chased a single time today. Only a couple of dogs showed any spunk and none of them actually came after us. Rain was a constant threat, but we only got drizzled on a couple of times. We had an annoying headwind for the last 7 or 8 miles, but the weather otherwise was very cooperative. In fact, just as we were checking in, it started pouring outside, so the luck of the Irish paid off in spades today! The only noteworthy exception to the courteous drivers was the numbskull that passed us and immediately turned right in front of me to get to Wal-Mart. Luckily, I saw her turn signal (it was right next to me as she started to turn) and put on my brakes in anticipation of her idiocy. Crisis averted!
here are a few pics from today:
The Spanish moss at the B & B.
I think my dad was letting go of some swamp gas here.
Louisiana scenery. Rolling hills. Ditch of water. Logging trucks. And three brothers having a great time together. Note the Share the Road with bicycles sign. And thanks Louisiana drivers for doing so!
Partial selfie!
The pouring rain that just missed us and will hopefully be gone by morning.
Day 4 was a Saturday. I hadn’t slept well because my room was opposite a Wal-Mart, and the bright lights from its parking lot filtered in through a crack in the blackout curtains of my room. I woke up early from a dream in which David Letterman had invited me to see a taping of his show. We were in a restaurant with a red and white checkered table cloth. He said he’d get me a good discount on the tickets. There was more to it, but it was mostly about my imagined sense of 1980s New York at night. The dream felt kind of like this:
I can hear Tim saying, “What the hell was that?” Or maybe “what the f*@% was that,” but that’s tomorrow’s entry.
A truck pulls in for an early-morning delivery
Anyway, Wal-Mart. I have very mixed feelings about Wal-Mart. In each new town, it’s always a relief to find one because I know our basic needs will be met. Bananas, bandanas, band-aids, beer, things that don’t start with B: we have bought all of these in Wal-Marts throughout the south. And as I’ve mentioned before, there is a definite comfort imbued by well-known brands when you’re in a foreign city. In fact, the bikers are taking a somewhat unusual route this leg because I’m wary of staying in non-chain motels.
But… oh, you can guess the rest of my snobby, liberal, city-dweller feelings. Blah blah homogenization loss of character minimum wage red states poverty disenfranchisement infrastructure education opportunities. Hillary ’16.
Another cold one! Mark does not look happy about it.
The guys headed out on another long, unpleasant ride. I worked for a couple hours in the Best Western, then started for Ville Platte.
I was expecting it to be the Louisiana equivalent of Brawley. (I’m linking to some greatest hits here, Steve.) But it actually wasn’t so bad. Right before I got to the next Best Western I saw this place:
The logo uses Cooper Black, a font not seen in the wild very often these days
My thought, obviously, was, “I have to see what this is.” My theory was that it was a Wal-Mart competitor and that I’d be able to pick up some snacks.
But Dirt Cheap is actually more like a Goodwill, without the good will, and without any standards at all.
A tantalizing display of things that are 60% off
So, just imagine aisles and aisles that look like this, each with its own uniquely random crap. Here’s another example:
Perhaps you would like old toothpaste, some plastic bottles, a bra, or some other stuff
While it does not seem to have a Wikipedia entry, here is some background from the About page of its website:
The first Dirt Cheap store opened in 1998, in Petal, Mississippi, and has since grown into 57 stores and counting. Today, Dirt Cheap is a standalone company purchasing its own merchandise and exhibiting its own unique selling strategies.
Indeed!
I felt a little bad taking pictures and tried not to be too obvious. People were actually shopping in here, though the aisles of miscellany were generally empty of anyone. Most shoppers focused on the racks of clothing, which were arranged in a somewhat more civilized manner.
I left soon after getting the general idea, the refrain of AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” cycling through my head — actually I was saying it out loud over and over under my breath — and went to, yes, Wal-Mart for the snacks I’d set my sights on.
Then, because it was still a little before check-in time, I headed to the state’s pride and joy, Popeyes® Louisiana Chicken. There were kissing cop cars in the lot, and I immediately got nervous, because Silvester’s registration, like my many bottles of seltzer, expired long ago — in fact more than a year ago. (You gotta feel for Silvester; he hasn’t been given the love he deserves.) Starting in Arizona, with a few exceptions, we’ve been traveling through essentially lawless lands. But in Louisiana, the landscape shifted. There are cops. And I have no idea what will happen if I get pulled over in a rental car with expired tags. Maybe I’ll find out tomorrow!
So I pulled into a spot out of sight for the police cars, providing I left before they did, because I was right next to the only exit. I hurried in and placed my order.
Wouldn’t you have been less obvious if you’d gone through the drive-thru?
Sort of! I would have had to drive right past the cop cars in order to get in line. Like I would have been two feet away from them.
But the whole process would have been faster.
That’s true.
Did you really think the cops were in their cars and not inside, enjoying a leisurely meal of Popeyes unpossessive chicken?
Yes. I mean, I couldn’t tell!
Did you park at a weird angle that made it look like the driver of the minivan was a nervous person and/or scofflaw?
Yes.
There was no one in line, so my three-piece chicken tender meal was put together instantly. I decided to eat it in the car so that if the cops spotted Silvester’s tags I’d be there, ready to cooperate and play dumb. On my way outside, I saw two policemen in a booth in a relaxed posture, laughing over their chicken and ice teas. I had nothing to worry about, probably. But I decided it was too late to turn back.
I took another photo with the sauce in the proper orientation, but my phone didn’t save it so you get this
I set the box awkwardly on my lap and dug in. I consider myself a chicken tender expert due to vast baseball park experience, and these were not nearly as good as I’d hoped. But the fries were great, and, spoiler alert, held up well in the fridge overnight, which fries never do. I don’t know if that means they aren’t real fries or real food or what and I don’t care. I did not eat the biscuit because I’m trying not to over-calorize.
This was my view as I ate lunch and has inspired Day 4’s band name: Bunkie 22. Bunkie 22 would be an annoying ’90s band in the vein of 311 or Blink-182.
The pinky orange “Sweet Heat” sauce got all over my bleached chambray shirt, and in my nervousness I’d neglected to take napkins, and in my vainness I’d neglected to take photos. I just let it set on in to the fabric, telling myself I’d be able to deal with it soon when I got to the hotel. This was difficult for me. Five minutes later I pulled in to our next Best Western, covered the seven or so splotches with my sweater, and checked in. Once in the room, I immediately changed into a t-shirt (because it was like 65 degrees, a temperature my skin thought it might never feel again). Bar soap took the stains right out.
The Best Western in Ville Platte seemed like it might have been furnished by Dirt Cheap, but it wasn’t all that bad, except for an overly strong smell of commercial grade soap. I’m more sensitive to smell than I thought; it really has the power to disrupt my experience of a place. And later the new manager kept asking me if everything was okay, and I kind of wanted to give him all my notes, i.e., you need to get all new furniture and linens and you need get this weird smell out, but I mostly wanted him to stop asking, so I just said yes over and over and smiled falsely and agreed to write a positive review on TripAdvisor which I can’t in good faith write.
Dad and Tim went to church late and were back about half an hour later. We walked across the parking lot to El Charro for dinner. It was decent! I had steak tacos.
This place made some effort with their decor and I appreciated it.
Our lonely Best Western. By morning the parking lot was almost full. I am pleased with this photo.
Back in my room, Dad and Mark blogged while I helped Tim map out the route for the next day. Tim asked if we could turn on the Weather Channel and the TV was tuned to AMC, and AMC was playing Jaws, so we watched that. Then the guys went to bed and Jaws 2 came on and boy, it’s not very good.
Best Western hallway in the Kubrick style
Hotel Art of the Day
“Modern” “abstract art” 24″x18″ Best Western, DeRidder, LA
Hotel Art Score
4/10. I don’t know. The best thing I can say about it, to tie things back to the ’80s, is that those raised boxes remind me very slightly of the abstract shapes in some music videos from my childhood. But it’s not bringing anything to the table as art, and it didn’t have anything to do with the room’s bland decor, so looking at it just made me feel cranky. But it’s not completely terrible. I just don’t like it.
At breakfast at our Best Western in Ville Platte, we all discussed the fact that we all had crazy dreams on Saturday night – maybe that was an omen we should have paid more attention to at the time. I was able to remember 2 of my crazy dreams. In one of them, I was a rookie playing for the Phillies and I was being interviewed by Harry Kalas. I kept making references to Joe Hardy of “The Year the Yankees lost the pennant” fame, except that I was using my own body and not that of a 20-something kid after selling my soul to the devil. Harry didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. In my second dream I was teaching at Villanova before the days on Distance Learning and On-line courses, so I was using a blackboard and white and yellow chalk, except that I was giving a lecture on the U.S. Constitution and not the Engineering Math I usually teach – all very strange…..
We got going right around 8 a.m. and it started raining almost immediately and rained for about 20-30 minutes, at which point Tim located some shelter which we decided to use, even though it was early in the ride. It drizzled off and on, more off than on, for most of the day, but it was nevertheless a very memorable day. Tim had mapped out a route using roads not on the Adventure Cycling Association maps, because their maps would have had us biking 108 miles, and our route was only supposed to be about 80 miles – it eventually came out to 82 miles, quite a savings! But after biking over a 4 mile long bridge with no shoulder, we figured out why our route is not the ACA recommended route. What was most memorable about the ride was the bridge with no shoulder, biking over the Mississippi River (which was really quite awesome!), three flat tires, and Beth’s rescue of Tim, who finally had enough of changing flat tires.
One more memorable item from the day’s ride was all of the things we saw on the roads we biked, which included lots and lots of road kill, lots of discarded Mardi Gras beads from last week’s Fat Tuesday celebrations, and an almost unbelievable number of empty Bud Light beer cans – don’t people from Louisiana drink any other kind of beer?
Ok, enough talk – here are the pictures from the day’s ride.
Tim consults map at 1st rest stop. We were really just trying to get out of the rain for a few minutes. Mark put on rain paints (which is why he is bent over) which naturally made the rain stop. Thanks Mark!
View of Interstate 49 near its intersection with LA 190. Before this trip I never even knew there was an I-49!
Wall Mart Distribution Center near I-49 and LA 763. Every single town we have been in on this leg has its very own Wall Mart!
Tim and Mark at end of 4 mile long bridge along US 190. It really seemed like this bridge was never going to end. Fortunately, since it was a Sunday, the traffic was light and all of the LA drivers were very courteous!
Cemetery in New Roads, LA. I am guessing the water table is high throughout all of southern Louisiana, because even here (as in the Big Easy), all of the burial sites are above ground.
Tim inspects tire for one of our numerous flats. We had a total of 3 flats on Sunday’s ride.
Approach to bridge over the Mississippi River along LA 10. This bridge was built in 2010 – before that everyone, bikers and drivers, had to take a ferry into St. Francisville, LA.
Mark and Brian and Mississippi River. I know everyone else has posted this picture, but it’s a good one, so I want to post it too!
The “big muddy” at the top of the bridge overlooking the Mississippi River on LA 10. It is really wide here and incredibly muddy!
Another flat – this one on LA 61. One of the things about riding on wet roads is that your tires hold onto sharp things they would normally push aside – hence you’re prone to getting way more flats than you normally would riding on dry roads.
Photo of Live Oaks with their Spanish Moss on grounds of Butler Greenwood Plantation B&B. Sorry it’s a bit blurry ….
Mark and Tim relaxing after we made it to the Butler Greenwood Plantation B&B. This place has been in the Butler family for about 8 generations, since the 1790’s!
Tim reads from Conquering the Borderlands at Tim and Mark’s lodgings at B-G B&B. Those are Mark’s size 14 sneakers on the far right of the photo.
We finally made it to our lodging quarters right around 5 p.m., about one hour after we should have made it. Monday was an off “rest” day, which I used to catch up on work, and I did have a productive, though not very restful, day. It turned out to be a really good thing that we didn’t ride today because it rained “cats and dogs” all day long! Matt (Tim’s oldest son) flew into to Baton Rouge and Tim picked him up around 8 p.m. and Matt will be riding with us the rest of this week. Tomorrow we ride about 75 miles or so to Amite City, LA. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and it won’t rain.
Ducking under an awning 15 minutes into the downpour.
It was with a good deal of trepidation that I began riding today. It was cold and raining and we had lots of miles again today. The Adventure Cycling maps route from Ville Platte to St. Francisville is over 100 miles. Tim (the mapman) found a different, more direct route using Rt. 190 East. Brian and I always defer to Tim when it comes to directions. Well, there is a reason why you should not use 190 unless you are riding on a Sunday with light traffic. It’s called the Atchafalaya River Wildlife Refuge and it was 4 lanes of high speed hell with no shoulder for 5 miles.
It was completely unexpected and like dummies we just got into it and there was no turning around so we blasted on through. I tried to keep the three of us together as I was leading but Brian fell behind and Tim wasn’t waiting around for stragglers. I kept hogging the whole right lane so trucks would move over and they did. Brian kept falling further and further back so finally I gave up and just like Maverick in “Top Gun”, I left my wing man behind. It was the noise that distracted us the most because there are metal expansion joints every 100 feet. Cars on both sides of the road hit one every 10 seconds and provided a constant banging in our ears. It was scary noisy. When we reached the end, there were lots of smiles and high fives and stained shorts to go around. Tim and I were incredulous to hear that Brian actually stopped to fix his saddle bag in the middle of the bridge. He’s nuckin futz!!
I didn’t realize that we would be crossing over the might Mississippi River on the ride today. Wow. What a milestone. We saw some other cool stuff, too. We saw a River Otter that must have been hit by a car. They are like dolphins. You hate to see them harmed.
I think those flooded fields are actually crawfish ponds and not rice paddys. There are Mardi Gras beads littered everywhere. Lots of cattle ranches and farms but no dogs bothered us today. Water and swamps and bayous abound with bald cypress trees standing in the water. They say there are many snakes here but they will leave you alone if you don’t bother them. Well “duh”. However, it is pouring rain as a write this and there isn’t much dry ground. I remember an episode of “Naked and Afraid” (a brutal survival show where people are dumped in jungles or deserts or deserted islands without clothing or tools and left alone for 21 days) in a Louisiana bayou and all the snakes went to dry ground whenever it rained. We need to watch where we walk today. What about the alligators?
Other than the Atchalafalaya Refuge, the ride was great, with lightly traveled roads or roads with decent shoulders. There is a huge Walmart distribution center and even on Sunday, Walmart trucks come and go. Churches are everywhere; Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal and all other Christian types in all sorts of old and new buildings; store fronts, stand alone metal sheds, old wooden buildings and the occasional standard brick building with steeples.
We eventually turned onto Rt. 1 along The False River and rejoined the Adventure Cycling route near New Roads. Unfortunately, when the roads surface is wet, bicycle tires get sticky and it’s hard to see debris. I got one flat right before the Mississippi and Tim got two flats right after the big Bridge. Bad way to end an otherwise good day of riding. We are staying in a B&B called The Butler -Greenwood Plantation, built in 1796 and is still occupied by the descendants of the original owners. The house has a formal Victorian parlor but isn’t open for tours anymore. Huge oak trees draped with Spainish moss and formal gardens from the 1840’s make this one of the few remaining Antebellum gardens in the state. St. Francisville is one of the oldest towns in Louisiana. It was established near the site of a monastery built in 1785 on land granted to monks by the King of Spain. This part of Louisiana was not granted to the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase. It was part of Florida still ruled by Spain. In 1810 planters attacked and captured the Spainish fort in Baton Rouge and 74 days later American troops arrived and declared West Florida and St. Francisville part of the original Louisiana Purchase.
Today is a rest day for us and thank goodness as it is pouring rain. We completed another map section and tomorrow we will begin Map 6 on the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier ( there are 7 maps in all). We will do some bicycle maintenance and get ready to reach Mobile in another 4 days. I will also be making a “Name that Tune” playlist to test Beth’s classic rock knowledge. God Bless Spotify!
Oil derricks are in this state, too.
Worst rest stop in the world. But good privacy for when nature calls.
It always seems like we ride next to railroad tracks. It’s been like that since Arizona and Texas.
The end of the bridge across the Western edge of the Atchafalaya Refuge. This was one long stretch without any road kill. Animals would have a hard time climbing onto the concrete surface and we certainly didn’t wish to join that club!
The Route 10 bridge over the Mississippi.
Top of the bridge over The Big Muddy.
The Butler-Greenwood Plantation main house. Tim and I are in a small 2 bedroom cottage with a full kitchen and Beth and Brian are in a pool house with an upstairs bedroom and a downstairs bedroom/living room. The pool is nice but the water is unheated but with all this rain it’s gonna feel like we are swimming anyway.
Must be an entrance to some of the formal gardens. I don’t want to bother any snakes so there will be very little exploring today.
