In case you hadn't noticed already the last two blogs were posted around the wrong way...that is "Alpine to Austin" should be before "Central to Eastern Texas"
So it was a day of mixed emotions leaving the comforts of Texas that we had grown used to over the past two weeks as we entered Louisiana. This also meant that we would begin to explore a new state and get to experience the "real south." You would think that there was a transition between the cultures as you entered the new state but it felt as though the differences were apparent immediately. There were seasonal flowers blooming everywhere that brought with it itchy eyes and runny noses. Unfortunately Alison suffered more from hayfever than myself. The air thickened with moisture in such a way that the slight movement of changing gears brought with it a rush of sweat from volcanic pores that had, up until this point, remained relatively dorment. Accents became thicker and at times difficult to understand. Vegetation and life sprung from every crevice and insects began to appear and bite. You know there are going to be interesting roads ahead when they need to be mowed more than they need a resurface. Perhaps Texas had made us a little soft, or perhaps that was just all the Blue Bell ice-cream we had consumed.
DeRidder was our first place to stay in Louisiana. It was a quaint town with the architecture beginning to show the signs of the various European (French, English and Spanish) influences that seems prominent through this part of the South. The following day we woke to the humidity and begun to pack up our damp things, acknowledging this would be the norm for the remainder of our trip. We continued our ride through many country roads with minimal traffic and minimal signs of road maintenance. The foilage was thick and the wild flowers romantisized the experience. It was relatively easy riding given that there was not too many hills to tackle. We passed through rice and/or crawfish fields (they would alternate the use of these fields) and entered the heart of Cajun territory near the town of Mamou. Cajun as we would learn comes from shortening/slurring of the term Acadian, which was used to describe the unwanted French who were relocated here from Nova Scotia some time in the 1700's. It was in a doughnut shop that we were informed that the famous Cajun cuisine was adapted more from the slaves used in the region and that this style of cooking (she referred to as Creole) was more spicy and flavourful. Regardless Alison and I were keen to sample all types of dishes, just as soon as we finished eating the half dozen or so doughnuts we had just bought.
We continued onward along old farm roads through many cute little communities, many of the streets still covered with Mardi Gras beads. Eventually, after making a wrong turn costing us an extra five mile or so, we came to our camp ground on the banks of a Bayou in Washington, LA. The check-in for the camping was a bar and somehow instead of paying our fees (which we would pay later) we found ourselves talking to the proprietor and drinking a beer. The place to eat in town was the Steamboat Warehouse (it was also the only restaurant) and we enjoyed our first Cajun meal. It was delicious! We ate catfish, gumbo, loaded potatoes and Cajun spiced pork chops. It was a good thing that we cycled 90 plus miles that day. We decided to add on a stroll that evening through the streets with some of the nicest colonial houses we had seen.
Reluctantly, the following day we had to leave but we were happy to find many similar communities lay ahead. One interesting comparison is that instead of the communities being called Counties they were now called Parishes. The reasons were becoming more evident as in some places there seemed to be more Churches than housing, each with their own notice board and message. We eventually came to Simmesport. Unfortunately this parish was not as affluent as some of the others we were in, as we were told by a local shop assistant. His views were a little closed as he continued in a rather racist manner describing why the parish was such a bad place to live. As soon as we could leave him to his thoughts we settled on the outskirts of town in a community park where cross-country cyclists tend to camp. Having a fair bit of time to waste we started our evening grazing. I am not sure how it came about but Alison decided to add 8 pieces of Southern fried chicken to our usual large serving of dinner. It was great to eat but the salt content was rather high. We ended up drinking about 4 litres of water so we wouldn't turn into raisins. The next day we would proceed to relieve our selves of this extra fluid as we continued toward the Mississippi River.
The river was high and dirty. I was almost expecting Huckelberry Finn to go floating past. We waited with commuters for the ferry to cross to the Eastern side of the river. On the other side fo the river we had a short road in to the town of St Francisville. We decided to have an early splurge for Alison's birthday here and it seemed like there could be no better place to enjoy a rest day. The cotton plantation industry has long since dried up in these regions but their huge mansions and houses remain. We stayed in a bed and breakfast close to town so that we could enjoy walks around town and bike rides out (that right we road around 30 miles or so on our days off) to the newly refurbished plantations. It would not quite be a true indulgence without good food. St Francisville did not disappoint. We had an awesome meal at a place called 8 Sisters (opened initially by, you guessed it, 8 sisters) and returned the following day for a repeat. Our breakfasts at our accommodation were also second to none and it was great to have something different to rolled oats. This also provided a great place to plan our next stage of the ride.
As our route does not take us to New Orleans, and this is certainly a place we were keen to visit, we had to find out how to get there. The route we took was to re-cross the Mississippi and follow the western banks then to cross once again as we neared the outskirts of New Orleans. The main impetus was to bypass Baton Rouge that has a bad reputation for being bike unfriendly, or so we had heard. The only sour note was that the route was going to add around 300miles on to our current tally. Our halfway point on the western bank was Donaldsonville. The ride was quite pleasant and the roads we researched were relatively quiet. For a small three-four mile portion there was some roadworks that forced us to hitch a ride in a utility vehicle to pass. As we neared our destination the skies began to darken to the east and rain began to fall. There was a huge storm threatening to unleash at any moment. We managed to pull in to a small motel on the north side of Donalsonville just as the rain turned in to a waterfall and the sky began unleash in a fury of lightning attacks. It was here that we would wait out a storm for a day or so.
Refreshed after a day of doing absolutely nothing except watch TV we felt anxious to get going again. With a break from the weatehr and the rain now turning to humidity we continued to New Orleans. It ended up being a pleasant ride in to the city as we followed the Bike-Levee Pathway all the way to Tulane where we were staying with some new friends at the University. Mel and the rest of the gang showed us a great time. We felt we got to experience New Orleans to the fullest and to relive the college days we enjoyed (well the college days Alison enjoyed anyway). If they say that there is a pork chop in every beer then during our stay I must have drunk a pig. The following day we would sweat it all out as we explored the most amazing architecture along St Charles avenue on foot and by rail-cart. The parklands, namely Audubon Park, were lush and thoroughly enjoyable. The city was alive with people, music and food. Even the urine and vomit smelling Bourbon street has some interesting sights to see and even more interesting people/vendors to watch. Some people here would even give the weird performers of Austin a run for their money. It was a great place to experience and a special place to celebrate Alison's Birthday.
It is an unusual feeling when you ride for such a long time and then take some time off. You begin to experience withdrawals. We could have easily enjoyed more of the hospitality offered by Mel, Isabel, Carolyn and Maddy but our legs were ready for more mileage and as we have done so many times before started to pedal once again.
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