Saturday February 21, 2015

I woke up early as usual, but went back to sleep for an hour. We still managed to be on the road by 8:45. The weather was warm, but overcast. We were back in our shorts and light jackets. The forecast was for rain by 1:00pm and it was right, the showers started at just after 1:00, but fortunately for us we were already in the motel room.

We are back on the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Southern Tier route again. The first 30 ks we were on SR1 with a wide shoulder. The road was fairly quiet and we had a great tail wind. At Innis, a very small town, we made a right turn to follow the levees and a quieter country road.

The levees were about 25 feet high holding back the Mighty Mississippi, although both Ralf and I commented that the Mississippi will go where she wants to go regardless of the various man-made structures to hold her back. It was a nice route with small cattle holdings and large crop fields.

After following the levees for about 20 ks we had to make a left turn and went straight into an horrendous head wind, suddenly the legs stopped turning and we went from an easy 27 kph to a hard, struggling, leg pumping 13 kph. Once again 10 ks into a head wind – I might have mentioned before that I don’t like headwinds! But, I guess we have to take the good with the bad – 50 ks of an awesome wind and only 10 ks of hard pushing on the pedals we cannot really complain, although complain I did while trying to keep my bike and me in a straight line. Fortunately for the last 5 ks the wind was almost at our backs again and we sailed into Simmesport at 12:30 pm.

There wasn\’t any towns along this road, a few farms and a lovely old church – the oldest church in this County.  It looked just like any church in England.  The stained glass windows were made in England.

We passed an historic plantation house. White hall Plantation House, circa 1849.

There was also a structure that was being demolished, it looked very strange from a distance.

When we stopped in Morganza for a restroom break, I chatted with three older southern ladies, who asked where we were going. One of them said “Well you must be a very fit young lady”. When I told her how old I was, she said to the other “Ladies we have to take up cycling”. They all had to be in there 70’s.

We are staying in the only motel in Simmesport and it leaves a lot to be desired, it is grubby and smells damp, but it is cheap. We are having pizza and beer for dinner tonight.

Ralf headed to the Piggly Wiggly to get some eggs for breakfast. He asked if they had croissants! The answer was “crois what”?? If you have ever heard Jeff Foxworthy describe his relatives going to Maui with their Piggly Wiggly bags, I think Ralf just experienced some real Louisiana folk.