Brutal Day Two Done

Am camping at St. Bernard's State Park just outside of New Orleans tonight.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=29.861531853675842,-89.89659011363983

Shorter ride today: about 35 miles, but the last fifteen was pretty brutal, so rest day tomorrow, I think.

This morning was a mixed bag. Fixed my derailluer so I'm glad I'm travelling with my "Complete Guide to Bicycle Repair" book! Then my bike decided to take a dive as I was congratulating myself and as I tried to catch it the spokes ground into my calf and cut bleeding greasy holes into my leg. At least they're in a pretty pattern! Oh and did I forget to mention that my legs got severely sunburned yesterday? I won't include the picture, but they're bad.

It was hard getting on the bike after that - I mean physically hard. My butt's killing me, but still, it was an interesting day.

Started off heading out of Woodland Plantation this morning and had to head two miles south to catch the ferry. The ferry crew was pretty nice and completely free!

Then cruised north on SR-39 along the east bank of the river and in the picture you can see the levee on the right side. That's not swapped. That levee separated me from the ocean, the one between me and the river is way off to the left.

On 39 I flew - having at least a 10 mph tail wind I could practically coast up the road. I was getting sweaty because it felt like no breeze!

Eventually I crossed the levee and was on the ocean side. This meant I had swamp - not beach - on one side. And you can see in the photos that Louisiana has put fire hydrants in the swamp. They also put alligators in there, but I couldn't photograph them, they dove into the water too quickly.

That's also about the time that the wind decided to change direction. I had to fight a head wind most of the rest of the day. Between my sunburn, the head wind and my ass, I was getting really frustrated and was seriosly thinking about walking my bike for a while. I even took a few steps with the bike after crossing a really bad train track, but decided to give it one more try and made it to the park.

So I'm in my tent now posting this after a nap - I must still be tired, though because my writing style is pretty bad tonight.

I really like thermarest I got and the new tent is growing on me. My whole bike fits inside. I'll tale a pic tomorrow.

Been toying all day with the idea of biking in to New Orleans tomorrow, but as I write down today's adventure, I realize tomorrow will have to be a rest day.

Oh, and there's a pond with an alligator in it 10 feet behind my tent. Will get a pic of him tomorrow, too.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)