ST: Day 16

Daily Miles: 52.7

Total Miles: 850.58

Max: 20.5

Avg: 13

Time on the bike: 04:01:43

I had an early start just before sun up. Everything was damp and wet which is par for the course here in the southern US. I don’t care for it. Not at all. 

Everything was in a fog as I made may way along the Mississippi Levee bike path, which took me out of New Orleans on my way towards Baton Rouge. 

There was a lot of industry today along the River. I passed several refineries and tank farms which brought back memories of my prior employment.

I stayed on the bike path until 10 miles from Lutcher, where I’m staying tonight. I made my way onto highway 60 after the bike path ended which was just terrible. There was a shoulder but it was filled with gravel and garbage and sand and broken apart pavement. It was so bad I had to find an alternative way to Lutcher and took a secondary road instead. 

I’m at a warm showers place tonight, in some guy’s work space. It smells real musty and wet and isnt that great but I got a roof over my head tonight for these incoming storms. Dale, the host, is a nice guy though and works at the Shell refinery nearby. I think there’s some significant mold issues in his shop. 

Just before town I stopped at a McDonalds and some truck driver stopped and talked with me. I told him about my journey and he seemed really impressed. He walked away to his truck and then came back and handed me a 20 dollar bill. I refused and told him he didn’t need to do that but he kept insisting and made me take it. I’ve been on the receiving end of many acts of kindness but this was a first for me.

There are two other cyclists here who have been traveling all over the world for the past ten years. They know this guy Lorenzo who I met cycling on the Comtinental Divide Trail near Pie Town, New Mexico. Small world. 

I’m not really liking the roads or scenery (or lack thereof) in Louisiana. I thought a lot about backpacking today. It’s so much different than cycle touring. I can’t get away from people and cars and the constant drone of traffic out here. Maybe I’m really just not much of a cyclist. I don’t know. I thought this trip was going to be way different than what the reality of it is. In a lot of ways, I’m kind of let down. I’m not sure if I’m happy out here doing this.