Two easy days in a row! I averaged 12.6 MPH over the 50 miles from Donaldsonville, LA to Baton Rouge, LA. I started with an up-and-over the Sunshine Bridge. Once again, thank heavens for patient drivers! And do you remember how I was able to hit 36.6 MPH coasting down the bridge on the trip into town? On this trip, what with the headwinds on the bridge, I barely topped 20 MPH. But I was not pedaling so it was all good.
Most of the first part of the ride was pretty uninteresting riding. Then I found myself next to a gorgeous garden. The sign said that I was at the Houmas House Estate and Gardens. The historical marker noted that the original land grant was sold in 1774. I stopped to poke my nose into the gardens but decided $20 was too much money for the few minutes that I would have been there.
There were chemical plants from many companies, some I had heard of like Shell and BASF. At one point, I saw the yellow stack of a ship poking over the levee so I parked the bike and hiked up, hoping to get a view of the ship. Nope! But I got a great view of all of the docking equipment.
I kept seeing cylindrical mud structures in the grass and in the drainage ditches. They looked kind of like miniature versions of the termite colonies that I have seen in nature documentaries of Africa. An image search taught me that they are crawfish chimneys. There is a crawfish living down there somewhere under each one of these, maybe a couple of feet down.
I rode past Whitney Lane so I took a picture and sent it to my friend, Whitney. It was her first street sign photo so yay for that. Now that I am at a computer and can look up where I took the photo, I can tell you, Whitney, that your sign is just south of Bowden, LA and the road that I was riding looked like this.
Then I found my own sign to be happy to see. It is always nice to have confirmation that I am not (too) lost (yet). I think that this was my only bicycle-specific sign all day.
Love bugs in vast quantities accompanied me pretty much all day. At least they do not bite. I much preferred the Western Cattle Egret flock that escorted me for about a mile on the previous day. It started as a group of five. When I got close to them, they took flight, headed up the trail a few hundred feet, and settled down to wait for me. Each time I caught up to them there were a few more birds. The whole flock kept doing this for about a mile, until there were 20 or 30 birds. The last time they took flight, they circled around me for a bit and dispersed.
Lunch found me at the sports bar in a casino. It was the only restaurant on the route. The valet parking guys were super nice, inviting me to park my bike behind their podium so that no one would mess with it. Inside the restaurant, my waiter, Damien, remembered driving past me on his way to work. I feel like a complete casino-failure since I ate a healthy salad and left without either gambling or drinking any alcohol.
When I rode away from the casino, I was on top of the levee so I could actually see the river. Partly cloudy skies, tailwinds, not too hot, a level path. It was my idea of heaven.
The scenery was nice even when the trees blocked the river and the clouds rolled in.
Through one gap in the trees, I got a good view of a ship at anchor. Maybe this is the sort of ship that I had tried to see at the beginning of the day.
On this section, I rode past some old river navigation bouys way far from the water and behind the treeline. I wonder when the river was this wide.
Just a few more miles brought me into Baton Rouge. I rode past Louisiana State University and onto the nice path along the river in the downtown area.
Just before I left the path, I caught this shot of the I-10 bridge.
I rode a few blocks to a FedEx store and shipped home a couple pounds of stuff that I did not need with me. Then it was just a couple more blocks to my hotel. Then a shower. Then some Creole seafood pasta for dinner.
Jump over to St. Louis to New Orleans to read the rest of the posts in this series and see a map of where I have ridden.
Maybe the birds wanted you to join their flock! Love the crawfish chimneys! I look forward to your travel log every day.
Traveling raw & solo helps your curiosity to explore your surroundings. You are living the life you create & making it real. Thanks for sharing this adventure.
Roy and I have enjoyed touring the homes on River Road — including Houmas House. I missed seeing your map today.
Woops! Thank you for pointing that out. I have added the map.
In total agreement with everyone. It is fabulous riding the route with you everyday. Keep your stories coming, they are wonderful! And I do think that flock of birds wanted to be your escort.
Dad loves birds. The flock was maybe him, LOL. I missed yesterday. I’ll be saddened when this is over.
I love the trip, I’m glad you are doing all the work. I wish you could have filmed that flock of birds you told us about.
Me, too. But the egrets would not let me get close enough for any good photos.