Today started with the Weather Channel informing me that there was to be a record high across Louisiana, it seems everyday somewhere in the US is having glorious weather and records tumbling apart from the Sunshine State and West Coast. Today was a big stage, however flat as a pancake and a SSE crosswind that would still assist in giving me an average speed of 18/19 mph. From Deridder to Baton Rouge it was all East on the US 190.
The road was very easy going as we passed what seemed the whole of the state was at one form of worship place or another, it seems like in the cartoon Family Guy, Jesus is Alive and well somewhere in the US?
The humidity was frightening and either through irrigation or recent rainfall the area is swampy and fields I could only describe as similar to paddy fields, harvesting what crop I don't know. I saw a few craft that wouldn't look out of place in the Everglades and it did make me think of the film Waterboy - everything from the houses to the locals. Caroline had a local ask her something of which she just smiled and nodded!!!!!
The route headed due South for 10 miles and the head wind slowed me down for an hour, but I knew the heading would soon be easterly to get me back on track. The roads from Opelousas all the way onto the northern bridge across the mighty Mississippi on the outskirts of Baton Rouge were shocking, I had one puncture which I saw coming but couldn't do anything about and the loss of my magent for the speedo. This is always frustrating as i ride to the data, I found my self doing bunny hops on my road bike to avoid wrecking the wheels - both sets will need to be serviced after this adventure.
The frustrating thing when riding the freeways is the state of the shoulder, usually quite good, however today it was unrideable. There are some locals usually in pickups, this one particular idiot was driving a heavy duty pickup that gave me a wide birth then accelerated with the speed of a striking slug to coat me in a cloud of V12 smoke, the embarressing thing was I nearly overtook him!
A good day the only climb was the ramp up the Mississippi bridge. The day has ended on my first taste of Catfish and Alligator, we will see how i feel in the morning!!!! My thoughts are with the turtle crossing a 2 lane freeway - is the grass greener on the other side? Hope he made it!
Lessons learnt today:
Jesus is alive and well in Louisiana as well as all the other States
New roadkill - frogs/toads
Different language and dialect with a definate English origin
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