Louisiana Rain

Louisiana rain. You could smell it from 40 miles away when we woke up this morning. We knew this day was coming and forecasters were accurate that Wednesday morning, the low would not have moved on and there would be plenty of rain. Because we rode more than originally planned the last 2 days, we only had 60 miles in what looked like a soggy day. As it turned out, the first hour was cold and wet but we slugged our way northeast toward the Louisiana border. Upon reaching the border, the rain had backed off and the temperature was trying to climb. Curt waited for Peter and me at the border knowing that we had spent a lot of time riding through Texas. Texas gave Peter one last small gift in the form of a metal spike, smaller than a needle, but large enough for a flat. As it turns out, so far, Texas is the flattest state – we got more flats in Texas than all the other states combined. We lunched at the local joint in Merryville and noted the change in menus to more shrimp and fish – a big change from TexMex and bar-b-que. Magically, as we came out from lunch the sun greeted us signifying my previous 50 or so visits the state were possibly a fluke – it rained almost every time. We finished our shorter ride just in time for the rain to begin keeping my record intact. Clear weather is forecasted for the rest of the week, so we really think we dodged the worst of it.

Well the terrain didn’t change much over the state lines. There have been more forests than I expected and coincidentally, a lot more logging going on. We have seen a hundred or so huge trucks carrying logs in all directions. It all became clear when we approached De Ridder LA and passed the Boise Cascade paper mill – the largest in the world. De Ridder is one of the larger small towns we have been going through lately, which seems to be more common as we move east. Lots of fast food and regular American staples and fortunately a welding shop which our trailer desperately needed as the bike rack was beginning to wilt. Curt found a guy that could fix it, but of course for cash only. We were told at breakfast this morning not to talk to the folks round here – just keep to ourselves. The most striking, and unfortunate, difference is the sites from hurricane damage. We noticed hundreds of FEMA trailers placed in fields and empty lots – many of them never used. Other badly damaged buildings and houses that will never be restored. We expect to see more of this as we go east and south.

Tonight we are supposed to re-connect with all the other cyclists in Merryville, which we passed through earlier today. The town is doing some special cyclist support dinner trying to establish itself as a regular stop on cross-country rides. We’ll see; everyday is an adventure and this could be interesting. When we were in Merryville for lunch we asked where the center of town was since we could only see their diner and the gas station across the street. She told us she didn’t know there was one.

Thanks for following us….Carl

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