Northport to New Orleans, Day Five
I awake at the Inn on Day Five to a flat tire. Within the next two hours I have a total of three flats, leaving me with only one tube.
On this day I experience Louisiana swamp weather -- rain ALL DAY. I ferry back across the Mississippi at St. Francisville and travel through New Roads, across Bayou Gross Tete, through Plaquemine and am about to cross the highest bridge I have ever seen -- the Sunshine Bridge, ironically -- into Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
It's raining, I'm tired, there's no shoulder, it's rush hour. What idiot would bike on this bridge? The expansion joints are so wide you have to stop and walk your bike over them. The railing is so low that if a car hits you and doesn't kill you, the fall over the bridge rail will. Well, since I'm writing this you can tell I made it.
I get to the Best Western Motel just across the bridge. I walk in looking pretty forlorn. I can see by the expression on the desk clerk’s face that things aren’t going to get any better. I tell her I've had three flats, I've been in the rain all day and I've risked my life on that bridge...and she STILL has no rooms. She does call the town’s only other motel, which is another five miles down the road. I get back in the rain and move on.
This motel is old but clean. I go to a nearby restaurant (Cafe Lafourche) and have the best meal of the trip. Things have a way of working out. I covered 100 miles that day, although I did have to ride a little extra to get that century.
Donalsonville's claim to fame? It’s the home of Dr. F. M. Prevost, who performed the first Caesarian section in 1824. Maybe you can use that sometime on Jeopardy.
Lesson from Day Five: Same as Day One.
I awake at the Inn on Day Five to a flat tire. Within the next two hours I have a total of three flats, leaving me with only one tube.
On this day I experience Louisiana swamp weather -- rain ALL DAY. I ferry back across the Mississippi at St. Francisville and travel through New Roads, across Bayou Gross Tete, through Plaquemine and am about to cross the highest bridge I have ever seen -- the Sunshine Bridge, ironically -- into Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
It's raining, I'm tired, there's no shoulder, it's rush hour. What idiot would bike on this bridge? The expansion joints are so wide you have to stop and walk your bike over them. The railing is so low that if a car hits you and doesn't kill you, the fall over the bridge rail will. Well, since I'm writing this you can tell I made it.
I get to the Best Western Motel just across the bridge. I walk in looking pretty forlorn. I can see by the expression on the desk clerk’s face that things aren’t going to get any better. I tell her I've had three flats, I've been in the rain all day and I've risked my life on that bridge...and she STILL has no rooms. She does call the town’s only other motel, which is another five miles down the road. I get back in the rain and move on.
This motel is old but clean. I go to a nearby restaurant (Cafe Lafourche) and have the best meal of the trip. Things have a way of working out. I covered 100 miles that day, although I did have to ride a little extra to get that century.
Donalsonville's claim to fame? It’s the home of Dr. F. M. Prevost, who performed the first Caesarian section in 1824. Maybe you can use that sometime on Jeopardy.
Lesson from Day Five: Same as Day One.
posted by Olivia at 10:34 PM
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