Sunday February 21, 2015

Cold day again, we started the day with our light jackets on and within the first 3 ks we changed jackets to our ShowersPass. The day got colder as we progressed westwards.

We made a wrong turn in Hamburg and ended up in Mansura, it added a few ks to the day. However, by making the mistake we saw that there was a civil war battle in Mansura. Early on the morning of May 16, 1864 the Union forces approached, and skirmishing quickly ensued. At Mansura, Taylor (Confederate) massed his forces in an open prairie that controlled access to the three roads traversing the area, where he hoped his artillery could cause many casualties.  After a four-hour fight (principally an artillery duel), a large Union force massed for a flank attack, inducing the Rebels to fall back.

On a bike you spot the strangest things hidden along the side of the road.

In Cottonport we saw the mighty oaks, they were planted in 1823 and were huge.

We noticed a war memorial, most of the names were French, I thought Acadian French settlers. I found out later (from Chief Joey) that this area was not settled by the Acadians that were removed from Canada, but immigrants from France.

We would have missed all of these if we had followed the correct route. Sometimes it is good to go the wrong way.

Today was horrendous for loose dogs. We would come into a village or town and I would hear the first dog, this was the “alerter” dog. He would bark, and let all the other dogs in the area know that there were two cyclists coming through town. The other dogs would be lying in wait for us. Some of them would be loose and give chase, the others would be tied up and would bark furiously at us letting us know that if they were free they would be in on the chase. Some of them would wait until we were almost past their yard and then bark like heck, just to see if we would fall of our bikes with fright. It seemed to be one big game to them.

We spotted a truck with 4 dogs in it and one dog loose on the other side, the owner of the truck was there. I went wide, the loose dog jumped at Ralf and caught his bag cover and tore it. The owner apologized but Ralf was not pleased. Fortunately the dog didn’t bite Ralf’s leg or tear his pannier. I am thinking we should get some Halt – pepper spray.

We arrived in Bunkie at the Fire Station just after 12:30, both of us were cold. Joey the Fire Chief arrived and got us organized with towels and a really good hot shower.

The Fire Station in Bunkie are warmshowers host and are also listed in the available accommodation on the ACA maps. They were a great bunch of guys. Chief Joey told us that they depend on volunteer fire fighters and the more volunteers they have, the lower the house insurance costs were. Like many small towns in Canada and the US they depend on volunteers but Joey said the younger people were not volunteering as often as people did in the past. Bunkie Fire Department covers 12 square miles, they have 4 paid fire-fighters, plus the chief.

Chief Joey’s responsibilities also include Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. We watched him preparing for the incoming weather – freezing rain. We could tell that he did not want to close the schools on Monday morning but as other municipalities called in that they were closing the schools, and after a conference call, he notified the authorities that the schools would be closed. The freezing rain is not supposed to arrive until later in the day on Monday. However, the kids may be on their way home from school when the freezing rain is due to arrive. Joey said that the people in Louisiana do not drive well in the rain, so freezing rain is a nightmare.

I had a great afternoon learning a new card game called Bourré (Booray), it is a Louisiana gambling game. I just watched and did not take part although a couple of the guys saw that I picked up the rules pretty quickly and wanted me to play. It was a fun afternoon laughing and joking with them. They offered to share their dinner with us and they served us a wonderful gumbo. This gumbo had shrimp in it, but they set aside my gumbo before they added the shrimps. The gumbo was a protein packed meal, chicken, spicy sausage, fresh home-made sausage, in a thick sauce, served over rice it was lovely.

It was so nice to be chatting to locals, instead of being in a hotel room.