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| Not the Mississippi |
Today’s post is supposed to come with lots of exciting pictures of me crossing the Mississippi. This is not the case for reasons that have taken yet more years off my life, but for most of today it was a good day.
Woke up to the news that Bin Laden has two bullets in his head at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, which was nice. It certainly livened up the motel breakfast room, which was a rare pleasure. General opinion was chest thumpingly proud, and with good reason. But I said no religion or politics on this thing, so seeing as this crosses both lines, I’ll leave it at that.
The ride to the Mississippi was cracking. Flat solid roads that rise up periodically on stilts over the Bayous and swamps. The land's rich green in all directions, and with thick forests on all sides the wind’s sting was kept at bay, even if it brought the loud and gritty logging trucks too. The weather was cooler and less humid. And it was easily my most comfortable sorts of roads; dual carriageways with wide shoulders and little traffic, so everyone gives you a wide berth even though you are protected behind the rumble strips.
It was dream riding really, and even the 3 miles or so on an old causeway with no shoulder was not that scary. First traffic was light so with my naff helmet mirror is was easy to spot cars and trucks coming. Then 500m in a guy just rode right up behind me with his hazard lights on, and basically gave me an escort the whole distance. At the other end he gave me a cheerful toot and a peace sign, and was off on his way. He looked like a business man in a decent SUV so I’m sure he had better things to do, but he was just a decent dude. Not sure if it’s a southern thing, or a Louisiana thing, but there is a lot of this kind of behaviour round here.
After a fantastic Cajun lunch I suddenly realised I was about to cross the Mississippi. I have no idea how that fact slipped my planning for the day, but I pushed on excited.....if only I’d known.
The crossing at Baton Rouge looks cool, there is a huge railway suspension bridge with the roads hugging either side. However it wasn’t till I was a good way up the very steep on ramp that I realised the shoulder didn’t just narrow it disappeared, as the dual carriageway narrowed too, which was even more noticeable as traffic increased significantly on the bridge. This is one of only 3 crossings in the area, so it makes sense.
Not that this is going to keep my mother happy but I guess I just thought bugger it, if today’s my day “over the Mississippi” has a ring. It was an exhausting heart burstingly terrifying 3-4 minutes, and again not something I ever plan on repeating. When I did get a chance to look out over the river it looked magnificent, if blurred as sweat poured into my eyes.
Unfortunately things did not improve the other side. First I had to ride on so far to find a genuinely safe spot that the bridge was obscured, hence I have no photo record of this milestone. Then there's Baton Rouge. The advice available online is pretty clear, don’t ride in Baton Rouge, I’d like to add my voice. It’s up there with London for the toughest cycling city on earth.
The problem here though is unique. When Katrina hit, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated here, many never left. As a result the city is bursting at the seems. The traffic is that of a city many times larger than what's here. There is a huge project building roads but this is still a long way off, and instead the roads are insanely clogged, right out to Denham Springs were I’m staying. Clogged with tetchy drivers who were pushing to get home in rush hour, and the majority of who were on their phones. I’m really no advocate of health and safety as a general rule, but the ban in the UK is very bright.
Denham Springs is a decent enough little town, but I’m having the same problem here that I’ve had across Louisiana, and I’m embarrassed to say was most acute in the very poor neighbourhoods I passed through in Baton Rouge, the accent is virtually impenetrable. I actually rate my ability to tune into accents, but the accent down here is just so full on, that on more than one occasion I’ve just been left smiling inanely in the hope that was the correct response.
As this usually happens when I’m wearing a huge white bike helmet plus mirror, aviators, a fluorescent waistcoat saying Lehman Brothers, and have both knees bandaged, they probably assume the manic grinning is part of a wider mental breakdown. After the efforts on the Mississippi they may be right.
Route - Eunice - Krotz Spring - Baton Rouge - Denham SpringsBreakfast - Rice Crispies, 2 bagels and an apple in Motel.
Lunch - Cajun baked Chicken, rice, beans and salad - Willie B’s, Krots Spring. Kind of lunch food you pray for. Delicious, full of energy and not a drop of frying oil. Spot on.
Supper - Shrimp Ettoufeh - Don’s Seafood. Not the best meal I’ve had in Louisiana, but still good. For the first time in a while had pudding, now need to lie down and sleep off what looked like half a Strawberry cheesecake.
