Day 45: Lids

Yes, we know you're wondering about this title.  Let me explain....sometimes the miles just seem to go on and on and there's not a whole lot that one can entertain oneself with.  We amuse ourselves with counting lids that we see along the road (the tops that have blown off ice chests and plastic boxes).  Lids and buckets and roadkill.  Sometimes we rate the days -- "that was a 20 lid day".  We have daily events that occur also -- the first skunk of the day being my favorite.  Buckets are fun -- very exciting to see a 5 gallon orange Home Depot bucket or a gallon ice cream bucket.  Roadkill is always interesting -- we've been seeing quite a few squashed Amardillos here in Louisiana and more possums (Texas hill country had a lot of racoons).  This is how we entertain ourselves when the miles go on and on and/or we want to get our minds off a strong headwind or a steep hill.

So, that being said, today we rode from Bunkie to New Roads via highways 29, 114, and 1.   It was really good that we had bonked out in Bunkie last night, because in doing so, we avoided staying overnight tonight in the dreaded Sportsman Inn in Simmesport (terrible reviews from Karen and Norm, online, and locals in Moreauville).   It was a fairly pleasant ride alongside many sugar cane fields.


Some of the roads were pretty bumpy, especially Old Highway 1 between Hamburg and Simmesport.  At Simmesport, we crossed over the Atchafalaya River then decided to remain on new highway 1 all the way through Innis, Morganza, and on into New Roads.   We had a really great tailwind for some time, but there was a big blue tractor behind us on the shoulder, chasing us down.  But with the tailwind, we were able to stay ahead of him, not slowly having him catch up with us with his crushing bucket (like in those bad dreams).  And finally, in New Roads, I was able to buy a bottle of sparkling wine ("champagne") to celebrate getting through Texas!!

We are staying tonight at Neal's Cypress Inn.  We walked to dinner at "Hot Tails", a wonderful crawfish/seafood house.  It was heaven -- we sat at the bar, had real draft beer that wasn't Budweiser, and feasted on very fresh fried okra, jumbo fried crab claws (my first ever -- yum!!), and BBQ shrimp NOLA style (absolutely fantastic!!!!).  And  pecan cobbler for dessert.  Besides the great food, our wait person, Brooke, was most attentive  and engaged us in good conversation about her life in this region and travel that she would like to do.  She also introduced me to a new term, "coonass", referring to her boyfriend!

Total miles today: 61.4
Time:  4:07
Avg:  14.91 mph