St. Francisville to Hammond, LA (87 miles) Wednesday, April 14, 2010

As we left today, we said good bye to our self-contained riders, Doug and Kathy.  They are following the Adventure Cycling route, and we see them periodically.

Our group lined up for a photo before we left this morning.

We enjoyed our ride today, even though we had a head wind most of the way.  The roads were good, flat, and it was not too hot.

We took a ferry on our route.   Lois Natziger, Suzanne Howze and I rode across together.

At dinner tonight, Sue Hersman was happy to see her son, Mike, who was visiting from New Orleans.  It was a 50 min drive from where Mike was working there as a volunteer to help those in New Orleans still trying to reconstruct their homes from Katrina.

Tomorrow will be an easy day; only 55 miles to Bogalusa, LA!

St. Francisville, Louisana (0 miles) Rest Day Tuesday, April 13, 2010

We all felt we needed this rest day after an 83 and 86 mile days.  Although we are separated from the larger group into two different locations, we have enjoyed the quiet at ours.  There are seven of us here at the St. Francisville Inn.

Breakfast was wonderful.  Too much to describe, but very elegant.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.

I was able to catch up on my photos for this blog, do laundry and get my bike gears/chain cleaned.  Linda held her yoga class in the patio area.

Sue and I walked over to a cemetery in town.  There were many very old gravestones, some dating back to the 1830's.

Otherwise it was a relaxing day for everyone at both locations.  I sat on the porch swing, worked on photos and gave Lorrie a call.

We were picked up at 6:00 pm to go out to dinner.  We are on our own on rest days, but the larger group is 3-4 miles from anywhere they can go to eat.  So Carol picked us up to go to the only restaurant in town that was open.  Seemed a lot of businesses are closed on Tuesdays for some reason in this town.

When Sue and I walked back in time for dinner, she snapped this one of me for fun!

Carol picked me up at our B&B so I could join the others going out to dinner.

We have an 87 mile day tomorrow to Hammond, Louisana.

Lafayette, LA to St. Francisville, LA (86 miles) Sunday, April 12, 2010

The ride was enjoyable today.  We rode through the back roads, wooded in many areas, houses with an acre or two right on the road.  For the most part, the roads were smooth, although the repair jobs on some areas were rough.  We had head winds today, but the heat did not set in until 2:00.

We needed to cross the Mississippi, and the bridge was 3.2 miles long, no shoulder.  It was two lanes wide, however, so Carol and Linda met us at the beginning of the bridge for an escort across.  We all lined up, two by two, and kept at 12 mph with the van and trailer behind us with the flashers on.  It was really fun because we don't usually ride in a group like that.  The next time we do that will be on our last day.  The St. Augustine Police will escort us in to the end of our ride at the beach.  That will be 14 riding days from now!  There have been some photos taken of us in front of the van, and I will add that when I can.

Once we crossed over the Mississippi, we once again spread out.  We stopped for a lunch at a place called, "Not Your Mama's Cafe."  They had a lot of fish, crayfish, and shrimp dishes.  Someone told us the onion rings were great, so Sue and I tried some.  Big mistake!  I am not used to all that grease, and I was regretting those for the next 30 miles!  My stomach is not used to all that grease!

With any long day, we are always happy to see the Sag Captain and the "Bo Peep" Subaru.  She shows up about every 20 miles, and we are able to get water, energy bars, fruit, sun block, repair tools, and even t-paper!

In order to get to St. Francisville, we had to take a ferry across the Mississippi again, this time it was only a mile wide, and it was fun to do!

We arrived in St. Francisville a few miles later.  Our group has been split up in two; 13 went to stay at the Butler Greenwood B & B, and 7 of us went to the St. Francisville Inn, also a B & B.  They are very different, and unfortunately, 3 miles apart.  I was one of the 7, and we have all been enjoying the quiet of the small group.

http://www.stfrancisvilleinn.com/    and    http://www.butlergreenwood.com/

We were shuttled over to Butler Greenwood for dinner.  I think I went to sleep around 8:30 pm!!