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| Thursday, 16-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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New Orleans!
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Morning on the Mississippi
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Last Motel Parking Lot Dinner
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Last Sag Stop
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Oak Alley Plantation
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Spanish Moss
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Rural Garden
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Celebration Picture
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The Mississippi in Itasca State Park
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The Mississippi in New Orleans
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September 15 - Everyone arrived safely in New Orleans yesterday! Our last day of riding was 50 miles and it was rather uneventful with some rough roads, but we had some nice winds that helped us toward our destination. The entire ride was on the River Road which goes along the levee. There were a few plantations of interest to tour or just stop and look at for a few minutes. There were many, many chemical plants that pipe their products over the road to tankers and ships on the Mississippi. Needless to say, they do not add to the scenic beauty of the area. We rode by the sugar co-op where all those trucks are going to and from. I think everyone was pretty intent on just finishing the ride. We had a great champagne cocktail party followed by dinner in the French Quarter. It was a great way to celebrate the end of a 2000 mile bike ride!
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| Tuesday, 14-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Natchez to Donaldsonville October 12 - 13
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Sugar Cane
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Harvesting the Sugar Cane
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Returning For Another Load
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Dinner on the Levee
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Smallest Church
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| | View all 9 photos... |
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The last two days we have covered about 175 miles on Louisiana roads. Those miles have presented a number of challenges to most of us. The good news is that the gentle winds have been favorable! I would say that about 100 of those miles have been on roads that were difficult -- mostly because they were very rough or in a few areas they were busy with traffic. Many of the miles were along the levees that border the Mississippi. I have found that I prefer to share the road with logging trucks rather than trucks that are taking harvested sugar cane to wherever they take it from the fields. That may be because the levee roads are narrow, rough and dusty. It has been interesting, though, to see the sugar cane harvesting. A highlight today was seeing the smallest church in the world...the Madonna Chapel in Bayou Goula. It is just eight foot square and was built in 1903. An annual Mass is celebrated there in August. The varied life styles on the levee roads are quite interesting. Don't know what the roads will bring tomorrow except the end of our journey!
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| Saturday, 11-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Natchez MS
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We are having our last rest day in Natchez MS. Four days of riding in Mississippi have brought many challenges including long mileages, narrow congested roads and rough surfaces. The days have also brought some nice scenery and points of interest. Yesterday we rode 50 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It follows the 500 mile pathway that travelers used during the late 1700's and early 1800's between Natchez and Nashville. In places the trail eroded deeply into the land giving rise to the term "Sunken Trace." The landscape is very pleasant to look at, but the roads are paved with chip rock and are anything but cyclist friendly, even though it is part of the Mississippi River Trail, which is a network of roads for cyclists. Saw my first Spanish Moss on the Trace! Was not able to get a good picture, so will keep looking. Tomorrow we cross the bridge here at Natchez and enter Louisiana for our last three days of riding.
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| Thursday, 9-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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October 7th and 8th
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For those who wanted warmer weather and totally flat roads, they have found both in Mississippi for the last two days. The landscape in the Mississippi Delta area is a little bleak at times, but the cotton fields are much more interesting than the soy bean fields. It is harvest time for the cotton, so one can see the fields in all stages - picked and cleaned to not yet picked. Today started out very foggy before it turned warm and sultry. It was nice to ride beside the Mississippi for a few miles, as we have not seen it lately. There was a nice spot for some pictures as we crossed a bridge. It is on to Vicksburg tomorrow.
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| Tuesday, 7-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Free Day In Memphis - Monday Oct. 6
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A good time in Memphis! Thanks to Georgia for the pictures at Graceland.
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| Monday, 6-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Oct. 5 - A Beautiful Day
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I would have to rate today's ride from Covington to Memphis as my all time favorite bike ride! It started out with a beautiful sunrise over McDonalds! The day was cool and cloudy, but great for biking. It was 61 miles of very rural roads that wound around the southwestern part of Tennessee. There were two pages of turns and instructions that were hard to follow at times, but a couple of missed and wrong turns brought our group into contact with some very friendly people here in the middle South. I think one missed road allowed us to ride on the most beautiful road I have ever ridden as far as the scenery, the surface and the lack of cars (see picture). If Kudzu, the plant that ate the South, can be called beautiful we saw some awesome views of it. We also were able to see them picking the cotton at one of our rest stops. We are staying in downtown Memphis and even the ride into the city was easy - pretty much residential right up until the downtown area. It was beautiful to ride along the Mississippi for the last two miles. Today we are free to explore the city and regretfully we will leave Tennessee very soon after our ride starts tomorrow, but maybe I will see that Spanish Moss in Mississippi!
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| Sunday, 5-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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October 4 - Fulton to Covington
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This was my favorite day of the trip so far -- perfect warm weather, great roads, interesting scenery and stops, and arrival at our destination in time for lunch and the Cubs game on TV! The day was only 43 miles, but we got an early start. Morning is always the nicest time to ride. Since this is Saturday there were lots of yard sales and a craft show north of Dyersburg that was supposed to draw 40,000 people today. Am glad we were heading south. What I enjoyed most was seeing the cotton fields after riding by a million or so acres of soy beans in the last three weeks. Have not seen one Confederate flag since Missouri, but there are American flags flying everywhere in western Tennessee. We stopped in Henning and took a tour of Alex Haley's boyhood home, which was really interesting. The people are so friendly here in the South. One man drove along side of me this morning wanting to chat and to know where we were going, etc. We go from Covington to Memphis tomorrow, and I will be hoping to see the first sighting of Spanish Moss in the week to come.
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| Saturday, 4-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Friday, Fulton to Dyersburg TN
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Scenic Rest Stop
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Share the Road
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Site of the Strongest Earthquake Recorded in North America 1812
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On paper it looked like a pretty easy day after the 80 + yesterday. It was 65 miles - most all of it flat. However, it was not to be. The first 25 through Kentucky were pretty nice, but then we hit the southwest winds as we got into Tennessee. Unfortunately, for the remaining 40 miles we were heading directly southwest. That coupled with the fact that we were on a very busy highway with narrow or no shoulders made for a less than enjoyable ride. While riding on the flat roads can be really easy if there is no wind, it can be very tiring when you have to pedal all the time against it. Anyway, we are in Dyersburg and have a really short day tomorrow of less than 50 miles, and it would be great if it really turns out to be easy and relaxing! All of the pictures posted with this entry were taken in Kentucky.
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| Friday, 3-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Thursday 10/2 Cape Girardeau to Fulton KY
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You know you are in the South when you see the first Confederate Flag (Missouri), highways full of logging trucks and paper mills, but where is the warm weather? Most of us keep hoping that the weather will warm up. This morning was much to cold to ride, and the forecast is for the mid 30's tomorrow morning. If an 80 plus mile ride can be easy, today's ride would qualify except for two difficult bridge crossings. The one over the Mississippi into Illinois this morning was long, narrow and loaded with traffic and later we crossed the Ohio River on a very long, narrow bridge with difficult expansion seams and grates. The rest of the day was very pleasant with mostly flat, smooth roads and little wind. The logging truck drivers gave us plenty of space, but they can still blow you around when they pass in either direction. This is our only night in Kentucky. We head for Tennessee tomorrow and will be in Memphis on Sunday!
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| Wednesday, 1-Oct-2003 00:00 |
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Oct. 1 - Rest Day in Cape Girardeau MO
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Entertainment at a Rest Stop
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Evening Sky in Missouri
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Nice Downhill to Cape Girardeau
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It is great to have a rest day after six days of riding! Yesterday the 60 mile ride to Cape Girardeau was one of the best of the trip in my opinion. There were lots of hills but mostly they were rollers that you could get good speed going down and coast part way up the next. The most important thing to me is that the roads were smooth most of the day. That makes it so much easier on your hands and whole body for that matter. It was cool and cloudy, but the rain came later in the day. Another really nice thing about the day was that there were NO headwinds. Today my bike is at the bike shop getting a new computer and tune-up. We had a lesson in bike cleaning for those who need some help. Had my first trip to Walmart! Can't believe I have been on the road for three weeks without going to Walmart. Hopefully, it will be the only trip I have to make. We are several miles from town, so it is not too convenient to see the sights down by the river, Tomorrow we have a long day of 80+ miles, but it is not supposed to be too hilly. We are down near the bottom of Illinois where three different states - MO, IL and Kentucky meet and will be riding in those three states tomorrow. Looking forward to a nice dinner at a restaurant tonight.
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