Day 5

Riding Marksville to Erwinville on Tax Day (and I filed an extension ;-)

After a restful but short night at Paragon Casino and Resort, I got up at 5:30, wide awake and started getting ready. I moved the bike around and started loading it up, and yes I ask about valet parking the bike (for other Jeff) and was told they had never been ask but since they were not allowed to valet motorcycles they felt they would not be able to valet my bike either. That settled I headed for breakfast at the buffet. Breakfast was nice and I tried to eat healthier than I had done last night, more fruits and balanced that two steaks.

I got on the road a little after 8:00 headed for New Roads or beyond with the goal of getting far enough that my wife could meet me for a night at home in my own bed!
After a very helpful stop at the Avoyelles parish visitor center and LSU ag center I got back on the road.

When I entered into Simmesport I ran into some of the Southern Tier riders I had been hearing about. At the dinner Joel and Nate, two college age young men were patching a tube. The Southern Tier ride is a ride from San Diego to Florida, about 4000 miles in total. I ran into three Southern Tier riders the month before at Avondale (our local Boy Scout camp). They had tented out at the Scout reservation and we fed them dinner and breakfast the next day. One of the riders Tony was from the UK and raising money to purchase a special bike for a handicap kid in England. You can track his progress at www.bike4gus.com. Anyway, Joel got his tube fixed and we all three crossed the Atchafalaya bridge together (safety in numbers). There route took them off of LA1 at the foot of the bride but I had made arrangements with them to meet them back in St Francisville that night with some new tubes.

You see a lot of thing on the side of the road while riding your bike. Some things discarded, some things dead, some things lost. Road kill is an interesting think (except for the smell). You can tell a lot about the area from the road kill. In the country you see a lot of wild animals, and the farm lands you see more birds, in the city you see domestic animals, but now that I am in the Atchafalaya basin I saw a flattened bull frog. This was no normal frog for those who have not seen one of these frogs. The things are big and served for dinner in Cajun country. If you laid this frog on a 13” dinner plate he would hang off both sides!

Not far down the road while stopped at a filling station for some water and a bathroom, another one of the Southern Tier riders showed but. His name was Dave and he was riding a recumbent bike. A recumbent bike is a bike with a chair and you sit like you are sitting in a sports car seat and the peddles are in front of you. He had a wind shield on the front and then a bike sock that completely covered him and extended to the back of the bike with only his head sticking out. The sock was in the design of an American flag. What a wild looking setup. We road together for a few miles until his route took him onto a rural road and I stayed on LA1.

We met up again after crossing the Morganza spillway. When I got ready to cross the spillway I looked at the two lane road without a shoulder to ride on and said a little prayer, asking God to help me get across this thing safely. There was some traffic on this road this morning but most were going fast. Most people will give you plenty of room but if another car is coming in the opposite direction, some will cut you close rather than slow down and pass when it is safe. Well I got started on this one mile plus bridge and was passed by a few cars and trucks when an SUV came up behind me. There were some cars in the opposite lane and was thankful they were waiting for an opportunity to pass me. After they passed I got over as far as I could and the SUV did pass. I soon relived that they were riding behind me for the rest of the bridge at 13 mph as a blocker. When I ask for safe passage, I wasn’t asking for a defender but that is what God send me! Once over the bridge they passed and we waved. I took a short break to take some pictures when Dave showed up on his recumbent. I later found out that the two Canadians I had met earlier called him Captain America. Our routes parted again and we said good bye again and I headed on down LA1 towards New Roads.

Back to the things you find along the road, I have seen some things that you wouldn’t expect, things that folks lost and wish they hadn’t. I found a set of keys above Natchitoches and gave them to Scott at the visitor center. Then there was the wallet I found near Shreveport that only had a faded receipt in it and I through away at my next stop, but just below New Roads I found a Motorola cell phone. It was in remarkable condition considering the spill in much have taken. It was still on but there was no signal for there carrier. I keep riding expecting it to ring any time, which would have been fun. I had decided how to answer it when it did ring, something about ‘hello, I a lost phone…’, but I passed a Parish Sheriff issuing a traffic violation and gave it to him, so much for my fun with answering the lost phone.

I made it to Erwinville where my JoAnn meet me and we had dinner at Camile’s dinner. This is a local restaurant that has been here every since I can remember but I had never eaten there. I had heard it was good and wanted to but the one time we had made the drive from Baton Rouge to have dinner on my birthday, they were closed (Monday). So we went into this old style dinner and I had a seafood stuffed potato with crabmeat top. Quite good but more than I could eat even after riding 60+ miles.

After dinner we went home where I took a long soaking bath and got dressed to head to St. Franciville to meet the Southern Tier riders who were camped just outside of town at Green Acers Campground. We picked up some Abita beer and headed up LA 61. JoAnn’s mobile bike parts and repair delivered Joel’s order for some new tubes and patch kits, and the use of a floor pump to the other riders. We visited for a while and traded email addresses. What a crew they made and the amazing thing is they just meet up on the route. There was the two collage age Canadians, Joel and Nate, Dave and Mark from California (but didn’t start together), and Carl from Alaska. Dave, Mark and Carl are retired. I guess who can take off this sort of time but retired or collage age folk. For more information on the Southern Tier ride or other tours see http://www.adventurecycling.org/.

Stats
64.88 total miles
26.9 mph max
* crossed 300 total miles in New Roads