In Mississippi

Arrived safely Natchez, MS today. Yea, one state done!

Unfortunately got bad news today: a good friend of mine was seriously injured in a climbing accident today. And I just heard this minute that the doctors aren't opimistic. So I don't really feel like blogging tonight.  So just the stats: 41 miles yesterday and 54 today. Weather: hot.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Day 7 - False River

This was posted on day 8.

Got off to a late start today because I couldn't sleep well last night. Funny thing how resting an entire day makes it hard to sleep at night :)

Still got in 78 miles today. 284 overall.

Decided to shortcut the MRT this morning and took route 1 instead of following the the levees around the ox bows of the river. And it was a great choice! With a wide, smooth berm and a strong tail wind I cruised close to or over 20mph for a couple of hours. I'm not deluding myself that I'm a fast bicyclist, because I barely passed a butterfly during that time. Still it was nice to make so many mile in so little time.

Saw a sign for Bayou Goula and laughed cause I thought it sounded like a fog horn: "ba-YOU-gou-la". I included the pic to show the weather I've had for the last week. Gorgeous.

Also saw my second MRT sign on route 1 - which was funny since I wasn't on the MRT at the time. The pic, though, shows on of the later ones. I passed 5 yesterday so they're getting better. Since with today's 5, that make a grand total of 6 signs so far.

Second part of the day was along 77, a curvey road with little or no berm, but beautiful scenery and hardley any traffic. It was really nice.

Like the last bike day, I had another detour, but this was minor in terms of distance, but again had to cross bridges (2 draw bridges, this time) that were closed to bikes - I'm just not sure how closed to bikes they were as one the bridge operators waved to me as I biked across.

I saw my first cemetery where the people where buried under ground - until now it's been in above ground crypts. 

And then a milestone: I crossed I-10! Woo hoo!

Continuing north I came to route 190 and north of 190 the road got narrow and traffic got heavy. Combined with a consistent head wind and just general tiredness by this time in the day, this area was kind of scary. Most trucks stop behind me when they can't pass due to on-coming traffic. Then you can hear their diesel engines kick in as they're finally able to go around me. One truck's driver shouted something at me as he drove by then pulled into the convient store at the end of the street. I could see him get out of the truck and wait for me as I approached.

"Let me buy you a drink" he offered as I approached. (whew, I wasn't in the mood for a fight). Turned out he was real nice. Kieth, was his name. Used to bike all over the area and was out delivering a little west of his usual area. Nice guy.

But the sun was starting to set and didn't want to be biking in the dark again. So I headed out - and on to a much nicer road (thanks, Kieth, for the heads up).

This area is known as False River, a section of the Mississippi (I think) that is now a lake. Reminds me of Chautauqua. That's the last pic.

As I biked, now only 10 miles from my destination I noticed the rear tire was really low. So I pumped it up. And it was really low again in about 5 minutes. So, with the sun going down, I was faced with changing the tire and biking in the dark or pumping it up three or four times and arriving during twilight. I choose the later.

Made it safely to Jim's Campground, which is really an RV park that allows tent camping. Met some nice folks there and was able to shower. Forgot to get a picture there or get the GPS coordinates. So I'll include the fantastic seafood restaurant I'm having lunch at now: 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=30.682754516601562,-91.46340250968933

They've got great cat fish!

Only planning on about 45 miles today, but primative camping tonight, so I'll probably post very little tonight to save battery.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Update Delayed

Sorry, I've got limited battery and signal tonight. Should be better in town tomorrow. So just the nuts and bolts for now:

Biked 78 miles today to just east of New Roads, LA (I can't get an exact fix) and am staying at Jim's Campground.  Can't beat the price, either. For you climbers, it's the Miguel's of RV parks - without the pizza. For you non-climbers, you'll have to ask a climber what that means.

Will have to fix a flat before headed out tomorrow, but don't know what the plans are beyond that, yet.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Posts out of Order, Rest Day, Stats

Had to fix yesterday's "Part 2". If I change the time, I loose the pics. So they're listed out of order. Sorry.

I'm pretty tired today and my feet hurt, so it'll be a rest day today.

Overall Stats
Distance: 205 miles
Days: 5 (4 bike, 1 rest)
Average: 41 miles/day

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Diversions and Detours - Part 2

As I followed the MRT north the traffic was supposed to get heavy once the levee trail ended. But it didn't.

And soon the reason became apparent. The road was closed due to a chemical spilll. The sherrif stopping traffic could have cared less. He said it could be closed a few hours, all day or a couple of days. He had no suggestions for alternate routes. In this area, there's sort of a low swampy area between the lake and the river and there are 3 roads across it. The spillway road, which I was looking forward to using and was closed, Airplane Pkwy which is a divided highway, and I-10. According to the officer I couldn't bike on I-10 or on the parkway. Know what I did? Rode the parkway. In front of other cops, too. Fortunately, the detour only added about 3 miles.

So, back on the trail. Next stop, the Edgard Ferry. Guess what? Closed. Alternate route? The big, scary bridge shown in the 2nd and 3rd pics. This was like an interstate with on and off ramps that looped around and was really high. It also contained grates which my bike could nearly fall through. See the 4th pic? That's looking down across my tire through the grate. Scary, huh?

Finally on the other side I stoppd at B&C Seafood for lunch, but I wasn't too impressed. On to Donaldsonville ...

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Diversions and Detours - Part 3

After leaving B&C it was a quick 38 miles (over some really bad road) to my destination for the day.

Until I was brought up short by a detour sign just a few miles from Donaldsonville. What to do, what to do? 

Well, I was sick of being told what to do so I biked ahead despite the detour and made it into town (the detour is only "sometimes"). And because of a miscalculation on my milage I was going to end the day at about 75 miles rather than 85 like I originally thought. Sweet! Especially since the sun was starting to set. So I followed my GPS to the hotel.

Know what was there?

Nothing!

I was in the middle of a bunch of fields. Sigh. So I called the hotel and the receptionist kept wanting to give me directions to where they were, but couldn't figure out where I was. I kept trying to get her to tell me where she was rather than how to get there, but she didn't seem to understand the difference! Arrgh!

After talking to some locals, it turned out that I'd biked about 7 miles out of town and had to head back - and it was really starting to get dark! I threw on my flashing lights and headed back to town.

Know where the hotel was? About 1 mile into the detour! Hahaha! Oh well. With the extra biking, 86 miles in total. Am in bed now and ready for some sleep.

See ya,

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Diversions and Detours - Part 1

Yesterday's milage revised from 40 to 39.

Good day today, made it to Donaldsonville, 86 miles:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=30.094095468521118,-90.9384137392044

Headed back to the levee trail this morning after stopping by a kwiky mart to pick up supplies. They didn't have what I was looking for but someone saw the panniers and told me all about their trips in Europe. I swear these things are as good as having a puppy - except they don't attract girls. :(

I've included a picture from the top of the levee looking towards the river. Kinda weird, huh?

When I left the hotel, my socks hadn't dried so rather than packing them wet, I improvised: see the 2nd photo? It worked well!

Most of the morning was biking next to the river. Levee on the left, industrial plants on the right and lots of machinery overhead.

Until the first diversion ...

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Great Day in New Orleans - Part 3

As I headed out of New Orleans I needed to find the levee trail from Audubon Park and I couldn't, so I had to lift the bike over some RR tracks, oh well.

While at the park, some guy pulled up next to me and said "I had a bike like that. I really liked it." I asked why he got rid of it, and he said, "It was stolen". I laughed and said. "It's not this one!" He explained his was blue, but he really missed it. He'd just moved to NOLA and had biked here from Virginia.

Later I stopped by Bicycle World and picked up some things. Met a guy named Oscar who works there and who's planning a bike trip to Cleveland this summer. DOES EVERYONE DO THIS LONG DISTANCE? He figures he'll need a month off work: 2 weeks to bike to Cleveland and 2 weeks to bike back. Sigh. Good luck Oscar.

Tonight I'm staying at a Comfort Inn - it's only 2 weeks old and is only $20 more than the local camping grounds (KOA's are expensive!)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=29.977295994758606,-90.28541922569275

Tomorrow is a long day so I'm going to get some rest.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Great Day in New Orleans - Part 2

As long as I was in NOLA I needed to stop at Cafe du Monde and get some beneighs - even though I wasn't hungry. Yum. I thought they were a lot like fair food, though. Still it was nice to sit out of the sun and take a break. The beneighs are served covered in powdered sugar and it was flying everywhere so apologies to the people downwind from me. And I forgive the people upwind from me, too.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Great Day in New Orleans - Part 1

Great day of biking today! Basically biked 40 miles across New Orleans today. I've included some pics across the town and the levee trail.

Even though it was a great day, things started rough this morning. My tent was wet and my clothes hadn't dried overnight. I moved everything into the sun, and while there the tent blew over and tore the rain fly a little bit near one of the supports. I think it'll still keep me dry, but I've probably shortened it's life. Still, at least the tent dried! So I packed it up. On the other hand, my clothes hadn't and today was the day I'd planned on getting more bike shorts. So it was either wet bike shorts (no deal) or non-bike shorts (sigh, oh well).

I'd been wearing my rain pants most of the past day to keep the sun off my legs, and with my tent packed away I had to go to the shower room to change clothes. And wouldn't you know it?! They had a laundry room there - and the the drier was available!

I hurried back to my camp site, grabbed my wet clothes and tossed 'em in! Woo hoo!

(As an aside, the drier didn't stop when you opened the door and I couldn't figure out how to get the drum from spinning. It's harder than you'd think to get get all your clothes out while the drier is still going!)

After fetching my gear and my dry clothes I headed out to of At. Bernard's Park and bike a few miles to Charlies Restaurant and had a big brunch: breaded veal covered in grilled mushrooms, melted swiss cheese and brown gravy; a sweet potato with butter, brown sugar, cinamon and pecans; and green beans cooked with bacon and lotsa garlic, yum! (and I was really full!)

I may not have been eating enough because after that meal at Charlie's I flew into New Orleans where, sometimes, the traffic was really scary. The route Bob maps out in the MRT guide is good, but hard to follow going North. I had to stop a lot. Thank goodness I could get a map on my phone, without it I might still be there.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)

Rest Day

Quiet day today. It was about 75 with very little humidity and very few insects. Spent most of the day chasing shade or on correspondence that I didn't get finished before the trip - and still have a bit to do.

Wanted to hop on the bike and go exploring today but had to keep reminding myself, "rest day", "rest day."

Shower washed my clothes this evening and am excited to head into the Big Easy tomorrow. Hopefully I can find something to eat there. Here's hoping I can find a restaurant!

I'll be campin just on the other side of the city tomorrow so it'll be a short day again tomorrow - 30 miles I think, and that'll give me some time in the city. Then a long day after that. Power situation for the phone looks good for the next few days, so I'll be able to keep up on the blog.

Love the tent and thermarest! You can see the pond I'm next to in this photo, but no sign of Herbert today. :(

Miss y'all.

-Chris (from his Palm Pre)