Graber cycling

We had a great breakfast at the holiday inn and cycled along the beach towards Biloxi, MS. it was a clear and cool and calm morning. We made good time as we continued along the coast.

We stopped at a bike shop that was right on the route and picked up a few things. They even had free beer on tap for long distance cyclists!

Our luck ran out with closed bridges. We tried to go one way and this time the bridge was completely gone! Workers were there fixing it but we had no way to cross! Backtracking added another 4-5 miles. We pushed on to Grand Bay before stopping for lunch. About 55 miles in. Another 30 miles that included the long bridge to Dauphin island got us to our campsite.

A cold front came through yesterday so the day broke clear and in the 50s. We were up early and left Holly and Bert’s place by 7:00 am.

We found a small local coffee shop for breakfast before continuing on our way an hour later. Getting out of the city was tricky at times as it is with all urban areas on bicycle. But after a few corrections we were on our way on route 90. We crossed many bridges today. The first one was the highest and had a lane closed so we stayed in the closed lane as long as possible before having to ride with traffic for about a 100 yds. We then crossed several bridges that were completely closed to vehicles because of deteriorating conditions. But we were able to get around the barriers. It would have added another 160 miles if we would have detoured.

Around noon we caught up with our cyclist friend. Karl, again and rode together for a while. He is staying in the same holiday inn. This will be our last one because I have run out of points to get rooms for free.

Off day in New Orleans.

We walked down to the nearby bagel store for some delicious freshly baked bagels/cream cheese.

We both purchased day passes for the city. We then hopped on the st Charles st streetcar for a ride to the French Quarter. while searching for a bathroom for Craig we decided to get on the ferry using our day pass and went over to Algiers point. Walked around the neighborhood and found a coffee shop with a bathroom and bought a pound of coffee for our hosts. Bert and Holly.

The next goal was to score some beignets at the Cafe Du Monte. They were delicious!!! On to the Napoleon house where I picked up a muffuletta sandwich to go. After talking to some NY Rangers fans Craig wanted to go watch the hockey game at a sports bar. We found one after a long walk and stayed there for the whole game eating my sandwich and having some drinks. The capitals lost unfortunately.

Holly and Bert recommended a vegan restaurant that Craig really wanted to try so we finished our day there. We hopped back on the streetcar and soon were back at the house.

Gonzalez, LA to New Orleans. 81 miles

Another hotel breakfast and we got a good start at 8am. We knew we had to go at least 80 miles today and needed an early start.

It was about 8 miles south to get back on the bicycle route. We rode on some busy main roads again but with some wide shoulders. About half of our total mileage was on the Mississippi River Trail which the majority of the time is on the Mississippi levee. We had excellent weather, cloudy and 80s with hardly any wind.

Arriving in New Orleans by four we had some time to kill so we rode through the Audubon park. Then we stopped at a local bar for a beer before arriving at our place for the next day or two, a warmshowers host in the city.

New Roads, LA to Gonzalez, LA. 69 miles. Flat

A nice hotel breakfast got us on the road by 8:15. It was pretty hazy and foggy when we crossed the Mississippi River in the first 10 miles. We were on major roads with wide shoulders most of the time today. A different experience than the quiet country roads as of late. The noisy traffic made it hard to talk to each other.

A lot of petrochemical plants and industries were along the route today.

We went through Baton Rouge and connected with the Mississippi River bike path. It was on top of the levee by the river. We also saw the LSU campus nearby while we stopped for lunch on by the bike path.

We couldn’t find any campsites that would work along the route so I booked a holiday inn offroute with my points. We have a warmshowers reservation for tomorrow and Sunday in downtown New Orleans so we can spend a day sightseeing.

Bunkie, LA to New Roads, LA. 71 miles. Flat terrain

A quiet night at the fire house was followed by coffee and oatmeal for breakfast.

We were all set to go at 8 at I looked at Craig’s rear tire and noticed it was flat! After spending 30 minutes fixing that we were on our way.

It was humid and cloudy again. Fortunately not sunny so it wasn’t too hot. We have found that the Louisiana side roads with little traffic often are poorly maintained with grass growing between the cracks in the middle of the lane. we were also on State road 1 several times today and the shoulder was also really poor. 9 miles of misery!

Most of the day we spent going through farmland and along a few small rivers.

Oberlin, LA to Bunkie, LA 71 miles. No hills.

We had a good nights sleep at the Oberlin fire station. The building we were in was actually the old firehouse now used for trainings and offices. We rolled our sleeping bags out in the garage area which is now the training area with tables and some appliances. Very clean. It was very quiet apart since it was apart from the new firehouse.

We were very full from the night before when we were at a sports bar watching the capitals hockey and eating too much while they won. the full bellies allowed for only coffee and some Belvita biscuits before setting off at 8:30.

Humid and overcast made for a soaking wet jersey again for me. No hills at all. I had a problem from the start when one of my bungie cords holding my tent on got wrapped around my back derailleur and while it didn’t cause any damage it took a while to untangle.

We encountered some heavy traffic and roads with no shoulders until finally reaching less traveled ones through the Chicot state park.

After we took showers at the station we walked down to a local pizza place for dinner. We were pretty hungry so it tasted great!

Merryville, LA to Oberlin, LA. 56 miles. 725 ft(basically flat all day)

We decided to leave our comfortable little cabin early and head over to the local restaurant for breakfast before setting off. It was delicious and got us off to a good start.

It was cloudy and muggy again. It didn’t take long for me to become soaked it sweat. Craig was dry🤷🏻‍♂️

There were a lot of logging trucks that passed us and also a lot of bark and stuff on the shoulder. At one point we finally came upon a wood mulch plant that explained all of the truck traffic.

We had to fight a fairly strong cross/headwind most of the day so we called it a day at the Oberlin fire station where the station chief, Ryan, welcomed us and showed us the interior of the old station where we could sleep inside. Showers and a kitchen were also available! These small towns are amazing.

Kirbyville, TX to Merryville, LA. 73 miles. 800 ft.

We have entered Louisiana!!! Finally finished Texas after 19 days. That state is so big!

We left our RV Park campsite around 8:15. Although we liked it a lot the mosquitoes made it hard to be comfortable. I actually started riding around the RV park while waiting for Craig before leaving just to keep them from biting me. We had gone first 30 days without any insect problems! We are now in the swamps of Louisiana

It was pretty cloudy all day. But humid in the morning. We stopped for some donuts at 10am and I was drenched in sweat

The terrain was a mix of farmland and the Big Thicket heavily wooded areas. No hills to speak of so we made good time and got to Merryville by 4:00.

It’s a very small town that has built. Small cabin in their town center for cyclists along with a bath house. The maps we use has a phone number to call and they share the access code. It is wonderful! And free

Double lakes campground to Silsbee, TX. 82 miles. 1400 ft climbing

We got a later start this morning due to Craig changing a tube that had a slow leak. Also this was the last time we would see janet so we loaded up all of the provisions that she had in the car. Figbars, Belvita’s, instant oatmeal packets, and nuts.

It was very humid and for the first time on this trip didn’t need a windbreaker. I quickly broke out into a sweat. We began around 9:30

Winds were mild and not a problem until later in the day when we decided to continue past Big Thicket state park another 20 miles to Silsbee where we camped at an RV park. It was 6:30 when we arrived and were immediately attacked by mosquitoes. We found that they were mostly near the pavilion so we moved away to ‘survive’.

This area of Texas had huge storms last Wednesday with up to a foot of rain and a lot of the roads were temporarily closed due to flooding. However, by the time we passed through today the waters had subsided enough that we had no problems.