Day 46: Amite City Horror....

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

....well, it IS almost Halloween.  Tonight we are in Amite City, and no, it's not really a horror.  In fact, we are  splurging on Comfort Inn tonight, but ate frugally at Waffle House (yum, yum, pecan waffle and hash browns).

After leaving New Roads this morning, we rode over the Mississippi River!!!!

Ol' Man River, The Big Muddy, the Mighty Mississip

We stopped in Clinton and had lunch at "Johnny B's", and thanks to Johnny B (the owner), we went off the ACA route, taking highway 63 then 16 to Amite City (pronounced "Ey-mitt").  He knew his roads well!  Beautiful ride today through crisp autumn woods.  LA is very beautiful this time of year and the temperature was a nice 70 degrees with low humidity.

We almost got shut-out on lids today; finally saw one late this afternoon. Smelled our first skunk after noon.  Saw two new items on the roadside we hadn't seen before -- an umbrella and an ice cube tray!  We met Perry of Perry's Bike Hostel just before Jackson (we were going to stay there last night but bonked out earlier).  She was headed into Baton Rouge and spotted us on hwy 68, turned around to see if there was anything we needed.  We also rode past the Dixon Correctional Institute today -- nice looking country prison!!

Total mileage:  78
Time:  5:13
Avg:  14.95 mph

Happy Birthday, Steve!  (Rick's brother)

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

Day 44: More on Mamou, Bikin' on the Bayou, and Bonked out in Bunkie

Sunday, October 28, 2012

When we last left you, readers, we had arrived at the dream-come-true hotel room over a bar.  After settling into our room and a nice cold shower (really, the water never got hot), we wandered downstairs to the bar to get a drink.  And guess what?  IT WAS CLOSED!!!!!  Apparently it was only open from noon to 4, and would re-open later for the Halloween party (later being 9 p.m.).  So, thirsty as we were, we wandered up the street to find another bar just two doors up.  Wow -- this cajun country is pretty weird.  At the "6th Street Tavern", we had a choice of 5 fine bottled beers -- Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller, and Miller Light.  Hmmmm....we were entertained by a "newlywed" couple.  Apparently the guy (a local Cajun) had come to town this day, and met his "bride" and they got married on a street corner (seriously, this is absolutely what I gleaned from their drunken conversion).   She was very excited to meet his family; he said his mama was dead to which she replied that he should take her to his mama's cross and that she wanted him to be proud of her.  And then there was the OTHER Cajun guy (playing pool) who came over and said something (we couldn't understand anything he said),but he touched Rick's jeans and then his own jeans, and smiled and gibbered something to me....not sure what that was all about.  So after only one beer at this FINE establishment, we headed down the street to the convenience store (the Cajun Grocery) where we purchased a 6 pack of Louisiana made beer - Abita Amber -- and headed back to our room.  By the time the party got underway downstairs, we were half asleep and tired enough that the noise from the party didn't interfere with slumber.

The next morning we woke up ASPHYXIATED from the cigarette smoke of the bar filtering up through the ventilation system.  Although we remained lethargic most of the day, we did have a beautiful ride along the bayou and past Chicot State Park.

   After about 44 miles (into a 20 mph headwind) we rolled into Bunkie and there was the All Star Inn, next to Ricky's Dugout Bar & Grill and a 24-hour convenience store - Score!! (The Dugout ended up being closed so we dined on Shrimp Entouffee and Turnip greens, from the convenience store, heated up in our room's microwave).

Hey, and how 'bout those Giants, sweeping the World Series!!!!  Even Rick's dad was pulling for the national league team!  What a great end to a windy day!

Total miles:  43.71
Time:  3:31
Avg:  12.43 mph

Day 43: Cajun Country!

Today we rode through Louisiana backwoods and rice fields  (highways 26 and 104) from DeRidder to the little town of Mamou, the home of the famous "Fred's Place".  Fred's is a honkeytonk that is only open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (yes, 8 am in the morning to just a couple of hours after noon).  If you check on TripAdvisor, you'll see rave reviews about the place.  However, we didn't arrive in Mamou until 4 p.m. so we missed it, darn!

BUT...when we arrived at our lodging for the night, the Hotel Cazan, it was Rick's dream come true -- a hotel over a bar!!  And tonight is their Halloween party night!  People are coming from all over to this place for the party -- should be fun, which is why I'm blogging early tonight!

Total miles today:  63.9
Time:  4:21
Avg:   14.69 mph

Day 42: GOOD-BYE TEXAS!!!!!

FINALLY, today at 1:30 p.m. we crossed over.....from Texas to Louisiana.  Oh what a feeling!  We'd been slogging our way through Texas for 3 weeks and today, it's in the rear view mirror.

Hello Louisiana, land of ettouffee' and jazz!  Never mind that our first meal in Louisiana tonight was at a Mexican restaurant next to our motel.  DeRidder apparently is not the culinary capital of LA.  Oh well, gumbo and ettouffee' will have to wait for another day.

It was a lot cooler today as a cold front is passing through.  It's amazing what a difference of 20 degrees can make in this moist environment.  Yesterday (in the 80s) we were sweating like pigs; today (in the 60s) we were wrapped up like pigs in blankets.  The next several days are supposed to be cool and clear.  The hills have definitely subsided and we're making better time now.

The landscape now has become dense with underbrush and shrubs and small trees (i.e., thickets).  Various sizes and shapes of houses are dotted throughout -- from large brick houses (I think they look like mortuaries) to tiny run-down shanties.  It's quite a mix.  I keep looking for the speakeasy down one of the dirt roads that run into the woods....

Total miles today:  73.48
Time:  5:12
Avg:  14.13 mph

Day 41: Flat & Fast

FINALLY, today we got to do what tandems do well -- mostly flat terrain.  It was great!  We jammed along, keeping mostly a 15 mph average (keep in mind we are still towing our 100+ pound non-pedaling passenger).  It's amazing how fast 60+ miles goes when you're not laboring up hill after hill after hill.

We got a late start out of Shepherd Sanctuary this morning, about 9:30 a.m..  I was thinking we'd have a long day ahead of us but it turned out seemingly short.   We went east on highway 223 to Dolen, then 787 through Romayor and Votaw to Thicket, then 1293 to Honey Island and Kountze, then 69/287 and 327 to Silsbee.  We had called the Red Cloud RV Park in Silsbee this morning to inquire about camping availability to find that our friends, the Adventure Cycling tour group, would be there tonight as well.  We passed Ed and Cathy on the road today, rolled into the camp about 3 p.m. and snagged one of two available cabins.  Rode about a half mile to the Walmart and got dinner for the night - seafood jambalaya, cheese bread, and southwestern salad, and of course, plenty of beer.  Rick played horseshoes with some of the ACA guys tonight and then we watched Game 2 of the SF/Detroit World Series with several of them in the park's community.  And YAY!!  SF won again!!!!  A "thumbs up" day today for sure.

This is our last night in Texas.  Tomorrow we will ride highway 96 to Kirbyville, TX, then 363 and 190 into DeRidder, Louisiana.  Tomorrow night I'm drinking champagne to celebrate crossing Texas.  It's a BIG tough state.  Rick commented just yesterday there's rides across Iowa (RAGBRAI) and a lot of states, but have you ever heard of a ride across Texas?????

Total miles:  64.3

Time:  4:19

Avg:  14.9 mph

Days 39 & 40: Bad & Good (UPDATED WITH PHOTOS)

Day  39 (October 23):  We rode from Navasota to Cagle Recreation Area campground in the Sam Houston National Forest, about 5 miles west of New Waverly, TX.  This was a bad day for me, and I can't even say exactly why except it started out with a crappy breakfast of bad fried donuts.  (Just to show you, kids, breakfast IS the most important meal of the day!!!!)  I was in a bad mood after breakfast; it subsided for a bit during the middle of the day reared again when we pulled into this campground in the afternoon, with NO ICE & NO BEER.  (I had bought a bottle of cheap wine at WalMart in Navasota, but without ice, it wasn't so good either.)  So....WHAAAHH!!!!

So, Day 40:  GOOD day.  Rode into New Waverly and had a great breafast at the New Wavelry Cafe (Pecan Waffles!!).  We met Al from Vancouver, WA there, who had cycled down the Pacific Coast and then taken up the Southern Tier route.  Interesting guy....

Later that morning we came across John of Brooklyn, who was traveling east to west.  He'd started in Brooklyn, cycled down to Georgia, and then crossed down to the Southern Tier route.  A young man, on his own  He said he'd had company from Brooklyn to Georgia, but was now on his own, and I think he was missing companionship!!!  We told him about La Loma del Chivo in Marathon; hopefully he'll stop there and be as surprised and pleased with that town/ & place as we were.

We had lunch in Coldspring, TX, at "The Hop" burger and shake joint.  Of course, not eating meat, we ordered the shrimp, fries & hushpuppy baskets, AND chocolate shake/malt.  Wow, they give you a LOT of shrimp!!!  It's amazing what a difference getting good, decent food is on this ride.  Just east of Coldspring, we bought a 24 oz Heinekein and had pulled over to a picnic area to drink it when this woman pulled up in a gold sedan.  She was very nice and explained to us that she and her partner run a camping place for cyclists up the road in Shepherd, TX.  We had seen it listed in the ACA map, but were leaning towards a motel.  (I was sick of camping after last night with NO ICE!!!).  She said they had cabins also, with electricity, and bathrooms and showers, and that it was much nicer than a motel.  She also told us where the grocery store was on the way to their place, and promised ICE.  So...

We went to the Shepherd Sanctuary just east of Shepherd, TX.  This is undoubtedly, for me, the BEST overnight we've had so far.  Take the eclectic environment of the commune in Marathon, and upgrade it about 5 notches in care and cleanliness and you have the Shepherd Sanctuary   As I write tonight, we are sitting out on the deck outside the "barn" (communal kitchen), with red Asian lanterns glowing, wind chimes softly blowing in the breeze, the temperature absolutely perfect, and crickets chirping.  A little earlier this afternoon/evening, the hummingbirds were out in full force.   I was able to cook a real dinner in the kitchen -- baked cod in cream sauce over red potatoes, and sauteed zucchini & yellow squash with jalapeno.  Beer for Rick and Lime-a-Ritas for me (ON ICE).  I am SO happy.

Peach and Connie here are very hospitable.  Connie was the one who stopped and told us about the place and showed us around when we first got here.  Later Peach got home and we had such a great conversation with her about important things like politics and religion.  It's really wonderful to have a beautiful night like this around intelligent, friendly people.

So....bad & good, from one day to the next.  That's how it can be.  I tend to stick in the moment and when I'm unhappy, I'm really unhappy.  But then again, when I'm happy, I'm really happy.  And so it goes..  And Rick doesn't understand this, since he has more control than the rest of us mortals....

Total mileage:  45. 85
Time:  3:25
Avg:  13.42 mph

PHOTOS OF THE SHEPHERD SANCTUARY....

Our Bungalow

Through the looking glass....

Shepherd City Limits

The "leakey teepee" at the Sanctuary

The Barn community kitchen and patio

The bottle bin -- Peach is going to make a glass house one day