
Day 38
(~54 miles; ~1000 ft gain- Strava malfunction)
I was nervous about how today was going to go based on our lack of motivation, tiredness, and soreness. We genuinely did not want to bike anymore; however, we crushed it! The day passed quickly, and the ride felt fast and flat. I was energized and hydrated, and I believe that catching up on quality sleep really helped (obviously).
The day was pretty, too. We biked through the Sam Houston National Forest and arrived in New Waverly. Dave put us in touch with Bob and Carol; Bob was his old roommate in college, and Marshall and Dave stayed with them the night before. Bob picked us up at the Dollar General and brought us to his house for the night, and he and Carol treated us so well! Bob made a spectacular homemade guacamole that had a spicy kick, and when we cleaned the bowl in record time, he made another. We were overfed, given beer and lemonade, had pizza, and ate strawberry shortcake. It was so nice chatting with them for hours; they are genuinely such kind individuals.
Day 39
(82 miles; 1276 ft gain, Strava map)
After having awesome morning coffee and a rare bowl of cereal, Bob dropped us back off at Dollar General. We hung around for a while because we witnessed a man punching and swearing at his 5-7 year old kid. We reported it to the police and watched as the vehicle sputtered and tried to drive away, but the car broke down in the parking lot. We waited a half hour before deciding to leave, and we hoped the authorities showed up.
It was another flat day of riding, and it was hot. With such flat roads, we pump out miles easily, but the adjustment to the humidity was hard. It helps listening to music, but often I get lost in my own thoughts as we focus on just pedaling and pedaling. We made it to our destination at Honey Island Grocery, and it couldn’t come quick enough. We were told by Marshall that Chuck, the owner, was going to let us sleep behind the store. We ordered some fabulous fried food (onion rings, fries, and tater tots) and checked the weather: thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon starting at 2 PM. I was pretty beat and didn’t want to push further, but we mustered the energy to go the extra 17 miles to Silsbee to account for the rain. The old woman at the register warned us: “Watch out for the thugs there, you know the blacks and Mexicans.” Chuck intercepted us on our way out in his all-denim attire. For an easy going old guy who laughs quickly, he started taking politics real fast. “My wife thinks he [Donal Trump] walks on water. I think he’s an idiot." We had to cut the conversation short before he got into an argument with Casey about billionaires.
The extra mileage wasn’t as bad as I thought: we arrived there in little over an hour. When we entered Silsbee, we started scoping for a place to sleep. There are a lot of churches there, and surely there would be a private nook or lawn available. We tried one church, sneaking around the back to see if we could camp there. Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious. But no luck, there was too much standing water. It wasn’t downtown, but we stopped at a church, New Hope, with a car parked out front. Luckily, the pastor, Terrance, was there: a large man dripping in sweat from cleaning the church. When we asked him if we could sleep in the grass, he insisted we sleep inside with the AC, and he said it would be safer. We found out that his parents had started the church, and he was keeping it going.
Pastor Terrance was amazing. He allowed us to sleep in the back room where there was a kitchen and giant TV. We insisted he didn’t need to blow up the Queen-sized air mattress.
“I’ll tell you what- I’m going to blow it up and if you don’t wanna use it, you don’t have to. How’s that?” We used it. He set up all of his movie streaming accounts and gave us free rein. We started watching “Mr. Nobody” before it became too late.
Casey and I made sure to call our respective boys, and events quickly developed leading to JJ and Uri flying to meet us in New Orleans the coming weekend. Tallying the math, that meant back to back 80 mile days for the next 5 days. Oof. But, we decided it would be worth it!
Day 40
(75.3 miles; 747 ft gain, Strava map)
It was pretty unbelievable. Pastor Terrance was so sweet to us: he brought us breakfast in the morning (egg sandwiches and orange juice) and gave us $50 for the trip. I tried to decline, but he insisted.
Not long into the day, I biked with a lot of force into Casey by accident. I was navigating on my phone, and she had a sudden stop in front of me. We smashed, and my knee was scraped open. It was pretty shallow, so it bled a lot, but there wasn’t any structural damage to either of us or the bikes, thankfully.
It was hot, humid, and swampy, something I suspected would be our norm for the rest of the trip. But, we did it fast, and we crossed into Louisiana! We did a little happy dance and turned back to Texas exclaiming “Fuck you!”, having been there for three solid weeks (though we actually liked Texas). And it was almost stereotypical: there was a ton of standing water, and forests had the entire bases of the tree trunks submerged in either murky, chocolate water or inky black water. It was the swamp. Such a contrast to our experience in the Arizona desert just a month before.
We finished the 75 miles around 2 PM and had the rest of the day to eat, grocery shop at Brookshire Brothers, and lay around. I contemplated catching up on the blog, but I was so exhausted to do anything. We did end up cooking a lot spaghetti with sautéed veggies, which was much needed.
Jen and Mandy were the sweetest hosts. Jen, Mandy’s mom, saw us to our rooms. We spent more time with her because Mandy worked as an EMT and was out late and left early. When Mandy did arrive, I liked her immediately. She spent 5 minutes unloading all of her field pants pockets and the pockets within those pockets while talking bluntly and humorously about her job.
Ailment update: So I have had a face rash on my right jaw since Navasota, my knee was weeping weird fluid, I was having strange tightness and tenderness under my chin, my elbows/hands were still hurting and sensitive (but I know how to ease the symptoms), and today I was having gastro issues after drinking a lot of chocolate milk. Casey was feeling pretty good and hadn’t had severe jaw pain issues in a while, though her neck was stiff. Generally, we have muscle soreness, which was to be expected.
About 2 hours after arriving to our WarmShowers host’s house, it started torrential down pouring, which is really wonderful when you are inside and sleepy. The power flickered on and off, a usual occurrence around here apparently. “We don’t adjust the clock on the oven anymore,” Jen said matter-of-factly. On the TV, there were news segments talking about hurricane preparedness and advising residents to start stocking up on food. This is exactly what I expected from Louisiana.
Day 41
(113 miles; 1105 ft gain, Strava map)
Mandy was gone by the time we woke up early in the morning. Jen had the three of us come together in a prayer circle as she prayed for our safety for the rest of the journey. We waved goodbye as we took off into the dewey, misty, damp morning.
Casey and I hadn’t been biking long when we each shared a Bluetooth earbud and started listening to the podcast “S-Town” (short for Shit Town). It’s a murder mystery podcast that took place in Alabama, but the story has an extreme turn that involves secrecy and hidden treasure. It’s a true story and was very fun to help pass the time on our very flat road riding.
And it became ever more apparent that we were in Louisiana. We biked through crawfish farms where there were giant plots of water with cages spaced periodically in a line. Crawfish covered the ground, mostly all dead, but one was standing upright and tried to snap at my shoes as I biked by. “Do you say crawfish or crawdads,” I asked the guy at the grocery store yesterday.
“Crawfish! They probably say crawdads or some other shit like that in Texas.”
I listened to some groovy Louisiana Blues music on Spotify and just cruised for the rest of the day. We crossed through Chicot State Park which was shaded and beautiful under the tree canopy. By the time we were approaching Bunkie, the sun was draining us (definitely me, anyway), and we were so hungry. But, we had hit 100 miles in one day!
We arrived to the Fire Station where we were told they host cyclists, but it was full: Dave, Marshall, and Doug were already there, and they took all the spots! So, Chief Nick invited us to stay at his house, and we couldn’t complain- it was air conditioned with a pool, and we had a kitchen and shower. His wife, Peanut, and their kid, were used to having cyclists in the house all the time.
Before retiring to the house, however, Dave, Marshall, Doug, Casey, and I all met at the local Pizza Shack and sat for a while eating and chatting. It was so nice to see the guys and catch up on the trip, and now Doug is part of the gang!
Day 42
(70 miles; 170 ft gain, Strava map)
Casey and I were sad to leave Mimi, the 22 year old bipolar cat who ended up snuggling with us, but mostly Casey, all night (We contemplated stealing her). We briefly saw Nick, Peanut, and the kid in the morning, but they were out the door before us.
There isn’t too much to report on for this day: Casey and I started brainstorming ways to get home. We are now almost 2 weeks away from being done, weather and rest days depending, and that’s crazy to think about! I’m excited to finish an epic journey, but I’m afraid for it to be over because I don’t want something good to end.
We made it to New Roads and didn’t have luck finding a sleeping spot at the gas station truck stop (we were advised against it) nor at the hardware store (they had a lot of break-ins recently). Not half a mile down the road, we ran into the fire department. Curt, the assistant chief, and Pedro, the chief, were very sweet and allowed us to sleep on their lawn behind the station. They even propped open select doors to give us bathroom and washer access.
We are getting very excited to get to New Orleans and see our boyfriends, only three days from now. A lot of people have warned us about the loo loos (crazies) in New Orleans, but I’m very thankful that we are staying with our friend (and my old co-advisor). It’s also Jazz Fest this coming weekend, and I’m hyped to eat Cajun food and listen to jazz. I’m not entirely sold on Zydico music yet. “It sounds like carnival music!” Jen disapproved.
Day 43
(71 miles; 638 ft gain, Strava map)
In the night, we were attacked by snails. Hundreds of them coated our tents, leaving little snail slime trails that zigzagged all around the surface. It took quite a bit of time to de-snail everything. Following this, Casey discovered that her food bag had been taken over by ants, leading to another food bag purge (the second of the trip).
We had a semi slow morning and said goodbye to Curt and Louis, another firefighter there who was much younger. It was 8 AM and already getting hot. The fog wasn’t quite burning off yet, but then sun had risen, making us sweat before we even started moving.
Louisiana roads on the whole are pretty crappy. There are cracks and uneven bumps everywhere with little to no shoulder. Drivers pass very close to you as they try to squeeze around, some of them honk right next to you, pissed you’re even there. There was also a lot of construction going on to the west of Baton Rouge, making it a loud and ugly ride for most of the morning. Casey did find a pink flamingo which she added to her bouquet of flowers on her bike, and a truck ran over my hiking pole, rendering it useless for my tent.
At a gas station, a random guy overheard Casey explaining what we were doing, and he came over to give us candy, Reese’s cups and junior mints, along with a religious card: “Somebody loves you!”
Baton Rouge was OK from the parts we could see. We wound through the suburbs which were either nice and manicured or dilapidated with Beware of Dog and No Trespassing and Keep Out signs. Mostly everyone was friendly, however; we had many enthusiastic waves and smiles from the neighbors relaxing on their porches. Some people just stared, probably confused. Casey and I were definitely the minority here, and we didn’t see any other cyclists. A lot of the streets were not good, but the main downtown was clean and city-like with multistory buildings. We didn’t get to see too much on the route, so I don’t know if there are any good bars, coffee shops, galleries, etc; it mostly just seemed like corporate businesses.
We took a small detour to a thrift store so that Casey could find a skirt for the weekend. With luck, she found one and a hat to go along with it. The lady working there was so excited that she took our picture: the thrift store is in operation to help and support women, so she wanted to share the photo on her social media.
Outside the store, someone approached me and asked me “Why are you doing this?", and I’m starting to not have an answer anymore. People need an explanation that makes sense, so they’ll follow up with “Is this for charity?” (I.e. there is no other logical explanation for this than to raise money for something).
“No, we just had free time and wanted to,” I started saying. I mean, I do have free time, and I do want to see part of my country I’ve never seen before. I could have driven a car, but I also want to see what my body is physically capable of, and I want to try something that is beyond my current known physical and mental boundaries. It gets kind of ambiguous, so I just keep it short: “We just wanted to.”
As if we need any reason to take a break, we made a pit stop at St. Gabriel’s Grocery and Deli where we landed some decent Italian pasta salad. The sun was actually getting painful on my skin, and I did not want to continue biking in the heat.
After being narrowly missed by some assholes in sports cars, we clocked in a 75 mile day and called it quits behind a Baptist church on the side of the road. It wasn’t my favorite place because it was next to a driveway that had a lot of scrap metal and junk, so I was concerned about our bikes; however, there was a water spigot, and it was getting late. I took the opportunity to rinse off all the grime, sweat, and dirt, so I could feel not entirely disgusting.
It’s the little things.
Day 44
(76 miles; 186 ft gain, Strava map)
It was 3:30 AM when we were awoken by a screaming woman.
“COME HERE, BOY! COME. HERE!” She yelled over and over again, followed by a general shriek and scream. Like, she actually released a scream. This lasted for probably 10 minutes as she kept repeating and screaming. I actually thought it was a parrot because of the repetition, shrieking, and bizarre timing, but then she started shouting something in southern redneck speak that we couldn’t decipher. We were quite alarmed, unsure of who she was talking to and what was happening. These are the creepy swamp people I was worried about! Eventually she got in a truck and drove off, passing us without noticing. Casey stayed awake afterwards, exploring scary swamp stories on the internet. On our way to New Orleans, the roads lead to many factories and power plants. It was heavily industrial, dusty, and busy with cars. The morning fog was beautiful as the sun tried to show through, creating a hazy golden orb that eventually burned the fog away. We did manage to save a turtle on the road who had made it halfway before he called it quits.
New Orleans is very pretty, from the parts we saw today! We passed Tulane, and there were huge parks with towering trees covered in vines that looked like they belonged in Alice in Wonderland. The road quality was still kind of bad in some areas, but it was clean and flowery. The houses in Uptown were large, often with pillars and balconies. We went to a thrift store and picked up cute clothes for the weekend. It’s so interesting to thrift in areas where the styles and culture are different; you get such variation from what you’re used to at home. I finally found a pair of overalls, a rarity in Ithaca where overalls are snatched up fast.
Sarah, my co-advisor for graduate school, hosted us, and she is so wonderful, easy to talk to, and fun to hang out with! I hadn’t seen her for a few years (it’s been years??). Her puppy, Gizmo, is an attention-seeking Corgi, and is adorable and fabulous. And yes, he has his own Instagram page.
Day 45
(Walked 8 miles)
We picked up JJ and Uri from the airport in the morning and had a great time exploring downtown New Orleans! We walked the streets in the French Quarter, stopped at the Golden Lantern bar for some beers, went to Oceana to get the “Taste of New Orleans“ (crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, and red beans over rice), walked down Frenchman’s Street, and enjoyed some jazz at Maison.
Bourbon Street came to life! There were so many interesting people and street performers. At one point, a small brass band started playing and created a miniature parade down the street. It was loud, hectic, and extremely sensory overloaded. However, none of it seemed ritzy; if an entire area could feel like a dive bar, it would be the French Quarter.
Casey and JJ had stayed in a hotel near the French Quarter while Uri and I returned to Sarah’s house via the street car (which is very charming!)
Day 46
(Walked 8.7 miles)
In the morning, Uri and I went to a really wonderful coffee shop, The Silver Whistle. It was a small café that had actual servers coming to bring you coffee, and it felt very old-fashioned European. It had a checkered floor, wooden ceiling, and great caricature paintings of old cars. The coffee and pastries were delicious: the mark of a great café is when they can make Uri’s cortado correctly.
We moseyed slowly down the side streets, making our way to Mid City where we would meet Casey and JJ. On our way, an older homeless man, named Kelly, was passing us on a small pink bike and stopped us, simply asking us for directions to get to a certain street (someone took his money, and he needed to find the guy). After chatting with him, he asked politely if we could get him something to drink. (Yesterday, when a young guy asked me for money to buy a drink, I offered to directly buy him the drink instead. The guy quickly declined and walked away.) However, Kelly was so grateful to just get a soda, and he didn’t ask for anything else, though we offered to buy him whatever he needed. He had told us that he was trying to see his daughter Kelliyah, whom he hasn't seen in 8 years, so before we parted with him, we gave him $35 of the money that the pastor gave us back in Silsbee. Kelly nearly started crying. “Are you serious?” He asked multiple times and then shook our hands in gratitude. I’m really glad to have been able to pass along the pastor’s gift, and we had good feeling about Kelly (never once did he even ask for money). In the store where we bought Kelly’s soda, Uri got invited (in Spanish) to a cook out, and then 5 minutes later, a guy on the street gave us a flyer to join a Mother’s Day cook out later that afternoon.
We met Casey and JJ at Sweet Soul Food, a vegan restaurant that makes cajun dishes. It was a no-frills place where you choose a couple menu items that they put in a box for you. The orange “chicken” cauliflower was amazing, and we also bought the gumbo and Mac n Cheese. All of it was incredibly delicious, and I need to make it when I get home. We found out that Casey and JJ had a good night at the hotel, except for the needle with heroin they found in the drawer.
The four of us walked to City Park and spent time watching the ducks and geese on the water. We walked through the sculpture garden nearby which was surprisingly large and had impressive pieces. The day was very low-key and relaxing, with no agenda or expectations. We were just happy to be together.
Jazz Fest was happening this weekend, so Mid City was bustling with activity and people, and we could hear the muffled performances at the race track. We didn’t go, but it made for a great day filled with happy people everywhere. Instead, we walked the side streets and admired all the multi-colored houses, enormous trees with ivy, and tropical plants. It was sweaty and sticky and we got sunburned, but it was so nice to be with the boys!
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