Day 8 (Earth Day)

Thibodaux to LaRose

Got up and packed and was able to roll out of the Deauville Motel about 9:00 AM and planned to seeing some of Thibodaux before heading south on LA1. Like Donaldsonville, Thibodaux sits on Bayou Lafourche and LA1 for the most part follows Bayou Lafourche from this point south.to Leeville where all the waterways and marsh run together. Thibodaux is a more lively town and like Natchitoches the may be because it has a university to help keep the town alive. I first went to the chamber of commencer and got information about Thibodaux and the route south.

After leaving I first went to Jean Lafitte National Historic Park. I had two chance meetings while there, the first was with Dave, a deputy with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's office. We talked about riding and I found out his interest was driven by the fact that he trained bike cops in the area. He said they road about 40 miles a night but that was a lot tougher the the 50 to 70 I was riding a day with my load. He told me about them riding both down and up stairs, through the high crime areas and some of there experiences. He ask me about my experiences so far on the trip and told him how nice everyone had been. He was wearing a Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo shirt and said he has some more at home and to help me 'fit in' in Grand Isle offered me one. He lived on LA1 and gave me his phone number so I told him I would drop by when I passed. The second chance meeting was when I met a photographer from the Thibodaux Daily Comet news paper, Abby Tabor who had come to take some photos of the trees that the library upstairs was giving away as part of Earth Day. He ask me come back by the news paper which was also right on LA1 to talk about my ride. When I got parked and inside Abby introduced me to Lloyd Nelson who sat down with me and we talked about the ride and why I decided to make it. You can find the article at: http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20090423/ARTICLES/904239939?Title=Baton-Rouge-man-bicycling-the-length-of-La-1.

After our discussion I was on my way this time to find a place for lunch. I had ask several people got different answers from each but settled on Fremin's which was on 3rd street in an old drug store. The building dated back to 1878. It was across from the court house and had a good lunch business. All the tables were full so I ate at the bar. I chose the daily special of Chicken Roulade which was s chicken breast stuffed with shrimp and baked and served with a cream sauce. It was very good and I would recommend Fremin's to anyone in the area. The waitress Rhonda was very helpful and even met me at the door after seeing me get my water bottles and start to walk back inside. She had been riding her bike to work until it was stolen several months earlier.

After lunch I headed out and made my way for LA1 South. It was getting late and if I didn't want to get caught on the road after dark I needed to make some miles. When I passed the landmark Dave, my sheriff friend had told me I gave him a call and he was waiting for me in his golf cart at by the road with two shirts and a hat. I only had room for one shirt and the hat and we talked about his house and the work he had done to restore it, it was over a hundred years old. I took me on a tour of it before I headed out. Dave even left me with his mobile phone number in case I needed help down the road. The good will of people amaze me.

My next stop was a planned stop in Lockport at Effective Solar Products. I had met Aaron at the ISA show the week before, during one of my off days. We had discussed solar charging of things like cell phones and how we could mount something on a bike to do this. My ride would be over before something like that could be purchased but for future rides it would be handy. He gave me a tour of the shop and we talked about solar for homes and field instrumentation. It happened to be Earth Day, and I didn't plan it that way but some many things on this trip just fell into place at just the right time I though that being at a business on LA1 that sold solar power products on Earth Day for just about perfect.

I rode on to LaRose and not finding a campground within 10 miles decided to stay in a motel for the night. I got a room at the Apple Inn.

From the motel I can see a sign, 44 miles to Grand Isle!

Stats
43.48 total miles
23.9 max (coming down a bridge)
7.5 hours on the road, lots of visiting along the way...