Day 38: Lutcher to Baton Rouge

February 11, 2014

Dodie suggested setting the alarm for 4:00 a.m. I think her main motivation was to get out of where we were before any yahoos in a 4x4 ran over us in the tent. My counter argument was that if we were going to be up and riding basically in the night, then why would we set up the tent at all - just keep riding! A "compromise" time of 5:00 a.m. was set. This seems to have anyway become our normal time. I am not sure how I got conned into that!

It turned out to be irrelevant, because we were both up before 4. The reason was that the tent was being pelted by a torrential rain, and was somewhat floating - in about an inch of water. I tried to think what some of the adventurers, mountain climbers and such, that are in books I have at home would do in the situation. The water had not (yet) entered the tent, and a cosy sleeping bag was still on offer. We could shelter in there for some hours and wait both for daylight and for the rain to abate. On the other hand the water was rising and the rain showed no sign of easing. The decision was to beat it, and fast.

One of the good things about our tent is that you can take down the inner section while still leaving the fly up. In principle this allows you to protect the critical dry portion. That applies, though, to normal rain situations. With an inch of water on the ground, taking the inner portion down means dropping it in the water. Folding it there meant it absorbed the maximum amount of water, so it was dripping/gushing and now weighed 20 pounds. The same applied to the ground sheets and ultimately the fly. We could no longer fit these poorly folded and saturated items into their carry bag, so some bits just got strapped on the back of the bike.

Dodie had slept easy (until the rain started) because at 11 p.m. she checked and found the dog had gone. However, as I took down the tent, I found him huddled under one of the vestibules. Now we had a real problem. To understand this fully you have to know that Grampies while not vegetarians, or Bhuddists, will never harm anything animate or inanimate, if they can reasonably avoid it. The corollary is that they will never (if possible) through inaction allow something to come to harm.

So now the situation: The dirt levee top is unusable because of the downpour. The street is pitch black, shoulderless, and already has lots of traffic hurrying along it. For the Grampies, covered in reflectors and flashers, it is not a great situation. For a little black untrained puppy running down the centre of the road after them, it is near certain death,

We had to go, so we went. We also could not risk ourselves by going into the road to try to herd the dog to the side.However as much as possible we tried to keep him running on our non-traffic side. What we needed was a fenced yard. It's amazing how you can't find something like that when you need it. Plus, any fully fenced yards that are around normally already contain some sort of guard dog.

We did find one, and quickly donated one puppy to what we hoped would be a susceptible home owner. After the drop we made a run for it, including taking a left turn. The load lifted from our shoulders and we felt great. For about 60 seconds. Then, there was the dog again - it had found a way out.

These old timers in the McDonalds at Lutcher had good info about the weather coming up. They also spoke a few words of French with us, but said they had been forbidden to speak French at school and had now lost the language.

This bit of grass does not show the whole story of the horrible shoulder. Between the frequent cracks were large lumps and bumps

Speaking of a way out, we ourselves were actually on a retreat. With the levee not a viable path and River Road unsafe, we needed another way. So we were making for Airline Drive (LA 61)which we assumed would have a shoulder. But 61 is way bigger than River Road, and any dog protecting we did there would now really be impossible.

At the last minute, we spied a fenced yard! I picked up the dog and ran over to it. A quick heave ho and we made our escape! We sure hope the puppy "landed on his feet". Dodie has been worrying about him all day. But we did the best we could - though later in the day we passed an animal shelter. Maybe we should have sought them out by phone and asked them to come to the rescue. Hmmmm.

Now we find it - a great shelter, by a gas station

After evading speeding cars and trucks all morning, I was almost taken out by this out of control shopping cart train at Walmart. No kidding. The carts are pushed by a little gizmo called a Cart Manager, which is remote controlled by the operator. The remote failed and the train missed me by a foor before crashing into the building.

This Crawfish looks way more freindly than the one dodie had a stick fight with in France last year.

Amusing chickens and flamingos, near Prairieville

Meanwhile, our own rescue was not going that well. LA 61 started with a shoulder, but that deteriorated to a lumpy mess. In spots it looked like someone had been practising giant praline scooping, with tar. We bounced and joggled along at no more than 4 kph for a long time, all the while noting the cars zipping by on the relatively smooth pavement, a foot away. Finally we realized we would never get anywhere like this, and moved up to riding the white line. All the while we watched the rear view, to identify any driver who might not be pulling over. This was a four lane highway, it's not as if the cars lacked for room.

About now I was trying to get my mind around the contrasts in what we have been experiencing. On the one hand we have the principled actions of the Methodist musical director, the generosity of Bruce and Sam, and the elegant hospitality of David and Marieanne. We have the French Quarter, the skilled musicians, the wonderful cuisine. But on the other hand we have a society totally enraptured and enslaved by the automobile, by national franchise businesses, with people living hand to mouth, and with some so cruel as to kick a puppy out at a gas station. I also thought of Cindy Weber, struck off her bike by a careless driver in adjacent Texas, the driver not so much as receiving a citation. Mostly, I cursed whoever screwed up this shoulder!

The shoulder went from bad to worse to semi usable - starting from Gonzales. The rain abated and then came back strong. We stopped at Burger King to take on some needed fat and protein (the temperature started at about 2 C and never rose above 7 C during the day). In the Burger King, Dodie wrote up some postcards for the grandkids. She then approached first one and then another single male diner and asked (or wanted to ask) if they would just drop these stamped and ready to go cards in the mail somewhere/sometime, since we had no idea where to locate a post office or box. Both refused. It was not the difficulty of the chore, since they both said they did not want to hear the request and would not help with anything. A teenager nearby took the cards.

Naturally as we cycled from the Burger King we mused on what a downer that had been. This got fixed, though, by Brandon. Brandon had pulled his truck over got out, and good naturedly bowed to us, signifying that we were royalty of the roads. He turned out to be an avid cyclist and named the three cycling clubs in Baton Rouge. After an enjoyable UQ session, he went on his way, with a wave and a toot toot.

Now the traffic intensified, and the road featured many exits and entrances. At each one we either had to carefully either watch behind us for someone swooping off the road and across our path, or for someone swooping onto the road, or for someone stopped and looking for a left turn, without noticing us. It you watch carefully, and wave at the various people or look them in the eye if their windows are not tinted out, you can do all this safely. But, it's tiring.

So we made it to Baton Rouge, at least the fast food/franchise outskirts, and jumped into a motel. We spread out all our stuff. The photo does not really show the extent of the mess. Mainly we need that tent dry. It is not sure that by tomorrow it will even have done it. We cranked up the heat, and - it feels great!

A few photos did get taken today - stay tuned for them. Still need to upload photos from yesterday, now that we have wifi!

Watch those right turners, in this franchise ridden area of Baton Rouge

Motel room or drying rack? The forecast is for better weather. We sure hope so.

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN

Our friend Michel Fleurance in Nantes France is keeping track of where we have been, If you click on the link below, you will be taken to an entry that he made in our Guestbook, that shows an updated track. Give it a try:

CLICK HERE

Epilog: Check that downspout outside the motel. Hooray for not being in the tent!

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 2,147 km (1,333 miles)

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