February 12, 2014
Day 39: Baton Rouge to New Roads
This was our day for rejoining the ACA route, after our New Orleans escapade. In fact, ACA has a Baton Rouge optional spur, and last night's stop was on that spur - that is, on US 61. Despite yesterday's bragging in the blog that with care one can survive US 61, this morning the intense noise and the charging cars were too much for us. so we bailed out onto a route devised by Google Maps. It was a teeny bit quieter, but the roads had no shoulder, so overall the stress level was about the same.
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We had thought the forecast had a warming and drying trend in it, but in fact the temperature never rose above 5, and was generally more like 2 or less. Combined with a strong headwind, the wind chill was a real factor. I broke out one of the few chemical handwarmer packets we had brought from what is supposed to be the frozen North. This helped a lot, but since there was only one, it had to get shifted from one glove to the other, and back, At 11 a.m. we ran across an IHOP. We knew we were soon entering a very barren stretch of US 61, and besides in the cold we had already burned up the low quality motel free "continental" breakfast.. It has been a pleasant surprise that IHOP and also Denny's can be relied on for quality basic food. At IHOP, $20 brought us two satisfying meals.
The barren part of US 61 was truly empty. The next place either for supplies or a motel or camping possibility was about 60 /km distant, at New Roads. However, with the headwind our progress was pretty abysmal. After a while Dodie began to think we would not make it. The surrounding lands were all wet and/or swampy, not promising for a wild camp.
The one good thing about the headwind was that it was coming 100% right at us. So we set up Dodie to draft right behind me. That way, we more than doubled our speed.
We made it to the New Roads city limits just as night fell, but that did not put us into a motel. The first one listed by ACA was out of business or non-existent. When the GPS said we were on top of it, we still saw nothing. The next one had a sign, but we could make out no motel. Third time was the Cypress Inn. The lady was very polite and bike friendly. Since the only available room was up a flight of stairs, she set our bikes up in a ground floor room that was being renovated. Unfortunately our "no smoking" room smelled strongly of smoke, and the room generally was of low quality. The cost with tax of $72 was definitely high end for this little place in a little town. However, the heater works great, and right now that is worth a lot!
So now we are back on the main ACA route. That fact may be the most exciting part of it. The very few photos from today reflect that the camera was hiding from the rain and would have in any event had to be operated by frozen hands. Mainly, though, there is just nothing out here. We know there is lots more to discover, though. So we will rest up and tomorrow, get on with it!
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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:
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 2,226 km (1,382 miles)
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