Day 95, November 4th 2007 (Baton Rouge,LA to New Orleans,LA)

I was going to New Orleans today and thought that I was going to have to bite the bullet and pay for a motel in the area, but I had received much better news before I went to bed last night. Ryan had a few friends from New Orleans and had been able to contact one of them for me to stay with. I was so relieved that I wasn't going to have to worry about finding a cheap place to stay at, and that I was going to be able to stay with someone in the area. It was always a plus to hang out with someone who knew the area well when I was in a big city. The ride ahead was going to be a little over 80 miles and I was looking forward to getting to where I was going. I had talked with my Uncle Billy just last night and he had told me that if I made it to his place in Georgia by Friday there would be a great reward. The Georgia Bulldogs were playing Auburn on Saturday and it sounded like a great game. They were both doing very well for the season as far as I had seen, and I really wanted to experience a game in the south. With a stadium that holds 90,000 people, this was something that sounded too good to pass up. I was now on a mission to make it to Moultrie, GA over the course of 6 days and it was going to be about 600 miles. For the day ahead I was feeling in great condition for the road and the only trouble I was having was far away from my legs and was in my mouth. I had two wisdom teeth that I had felt growing in over the course of the trip and now I had one on the right side of my mouth that was starting to hurt a little. I couldn't only open my mouth so far before I started to feel a pain on the right side of my mouth. It made eating difficult and was something I was going to have to deal with for another month ahead. It was a curve ball that I hadn't expected, but I guess curve balls are thrown at you from all directions when you partake on a long journey. Some were bad, most were good, and dealing with them over the course of the journey was the name of the game. I cooked some great eggs and toast for the morning, and managed to put it down over some time. It was everything I needed to get me going and it sent me out of the door in a good mood. I was thankful for the great stay I had been able to have while in the area and how well things had been placed for me down the road. It was another great day outside and I couldn't wait to put in some miles. I think the traffic would have been busy on any other day, but since it was a Sunday it wasn't very difficult. The fact that the highway ran parallel with the interstate also made it a nicer day to ride. Without so many crazy drivers on the road I had a lot less to worry about, and was able to put in a fair amount of miles fairly quick. I had woken up with one extra hour for the morning because of the daylight savings, and had manged to make it to New Orleans at about 3 pm. I found the house I was looking for without a problem and was welcomed at the door by Anna, Richard's roommate. She helped me to get straightened away with a shower and then to get some laundry done as well. Richard wasn't getting off of work until 7, so we had a good 4 hours where we were able to chat and relax in a comfortable living room. It was a good place to relax for the afternoon before Richard came home. When he was off work we gathered up our things and headed downtown. Richard and Anna were both nurses and that is how they had met. So I headed downtown with two staff members from a hospital towards Bourbon Street. I felt like everything was under control and we stopped at a place called ACME Oyster House. It was a restaurant where they sold po-boys and a lot of oysters. Po-boys were very popular in the area and I had never heard of them. They were basically sub sandwiches with a seafood on them. You could choose between all sorts of seafood and so I went with the catfish and oyster. For an appetizer we picked up raw oysters and cooked oysters. It was an excellent dinner and I ate like I had never eaten before. One thing after another, from the appetizer all the way to a bread pudding desert at the end of the meal. It was great seafood and it was clearly obvious that we were now eating some fresh food from the Gulf. Oh how sweet it is to be able to eat some fresh seafood again. Once we finished at the restaurant, we went down the famous Bourbon Street and I was able to see the chaos that filled the area. From one bar to another and then every once and awhile there would be a gentleman's club. At the end of the few blocks of Bourbon Street it ran directly into the gay-bars on the street. It was a very different area to be walking down and I felt a lot better when we walked away from the road and went back in the car to go back to the house. I was so stuffed and feeling exhausted from the day. A good sleep was going to be nice for the evening and I was ready for it.

Daily mileage: 83.7 miles

Average speed: 14.8 mph

Total mileage: 5,902.7 miles

Day 94, November 3rd 2007 (Baton Rouge,LA to Baton Rouge,LA)

I had no particular time that I had to wake up in the morning, but I woke up around 8. I had slept for a good amount of time and was surprisingly still feeling very well, even after all of the miles I had been putting in. I had an entire day ahead of me and all that I wanted to do was rest. This was a great place to take of that it seemed. I spent some time on the computer in the morning and then spent some time watching some television. With an enormous t.v. hanging on the wall, it was difficult not to spend some time with it. I was able to play some guitar and then as 4 pm approached everyone started to gather in the living room. Seth's dad had come over to the house and we all fixed ourselves around the big game. Louisiana State University was playing Alabama and it turned out to be a great game. We had a huge slab of salmon on a table that we used to munch on with crackers, some chips and salsa, and then followed everything with a pizza. The game went down to the wire and LSU managed to pull out a victory in the end. It was really an incredible game all the way to the end and it was very intense in the living room. It was very emotional at times and I was glad that I was able to see everyone happy in the end, because if things had gone the other way.....I'm just glad it didn't. After the game I was able to fix a few things with my bike and change out my rear tire, which I hadn't changed in the longest time on this trip so far. having gone over 2,000 miles on this set of tires from California and for them to still be riding was very impressive. I was glad to have pulled them along as far as I had. I was able to spend more time chatting with Ryan after the game and it was great to hear about a journey he had ventured on not to long ago. He had left from Alaska and had gone to Sand Diego. He said he had gone about 4,000 miles over the course of three months and it sounded like Alaska was unbelievable. I was able to see a lot of pictures of the area and it was inspiring to say the least. I loved hearing about some of the experiences he had been able to have on his journey and to hear how well he had been treated on the road. We both agreed that the people made the trip and to have so many great people to run into was phenomenal. With all of this for one day, I decided to call it a night and to prepare myself for New Orleans.

Daily mileage: 0.0 miles

Total mileage: 5,819.0 miles

Day 93, November 2nd 2007 (Oberlin,LA to Baton Rouge,LA)

I had a good distance in front of me to start the day, but I was determined to make it to another place to stay at for the evening.  I was trying to stay on the road as much as possible, but as before, it wasn't always possible. I was headed towards Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana.  I knew it wasn't going to be a day of easy riding, but filled with a lot of traffic.  Things really started to open up as I went forth in the afternoon, and I started to see more of Louisiana.  It was very green and with all of the changes of colors it was a great ride.  Some of the cities along the way were full of potholes and it seemed fairly obvious that the roads were not the first priority.  I was starting to accept the fact that I was hated by most of the drivers on the road, and I was doing my best to ignore their actions.  I was continually being blessed with great weather on my trip and I was using that s a good counter for the rest of the things that happened throughout the day. No matter how bad things were on the road, the weather was great and easily much better than Iowa's current temperatures.  This was easily the flattest road that i had been on in a long while.  The entire day was completely flat and the only hills that I climbed were when I went up and over a bridge.  There were only a few bridges that I had to go over for the day, so the rest of the day was riding on a flat piece of land.  I think the wind may have been in my face or at a cross wind, but it wasn't blowing very hard and so I was cruising fairly well through the day.  As I approached the capital city of Louisiana, the traffic was constantly growing.  I had a horrible shoulder to ride on, but it was what was available.  I was happy when I was only about 15 miles out of the city and made a phone call to Ryan.   He lived a little ways in the city and on the southern edge of the city.  When I told him that I was just starting to approach the city from the west, he offered to come and pick me up.  It sounded great because I was not incredibly excited about riding in the city at the time that I was.  It was about 5 pm and with it being a Friday, everyone was cruising around in the city.  On top of that, there was a huge bridge that I was going to have to go over in order to get in the city.  I rode for about another 5 miles, when Ryan pulled over in front of me and picked me up.  I wasn't far from the bridge, but when we crossed it, it seemed apparent that there was no room for a bicycle on the road.  it would have been interesting to travel across with my bike and I was very fortunate to have received a ride.  It was great to have such an incredible service delivered to me at this hour on a Friday.  As we took the bridge into the city, it was enormous.  The campus of Louisiana State University was in the city and it was an enormous city by itself.  With the college having around 40,000 students and the city having doubled because of Hurricane Katrina, it was very crowded.  Ryan said that the city had gone from about 400,000 to about 800,000 during the time of the hurricane and although a few families had left, most remained.  It was incredible to see a town having doubled and everything had been taken care of over time.  With more places to live and with newer roads being placed, everything managed to change on a new course. We went on campus and in the center of the campus next to the football stadium was a live tiger.  Since the tiger was the mascot, they had a tiger caged up in the middle of the campus with enough room to put on a good show.  I thought it was a pretty wild idea, but it was very cool.  Easily something I had never seen before and definitely something original to have on a campus.  The campus was very spread out and from here we went to Ryan's house.   For dinner we had some large shrimp sandwiches on a loaf of Italian bread.  It tasted incredible and filled me up to the point where I was full of all the calories I was looking for.  The idea of me staying for another day had been mentioned from both Ryan and his roommate Seth and I couldn't turn it down.  The house was enormous and with Ryan's brother being gone for the weekend I had a room to myself with a television and computer.  They played a few instruments and it was nice to be able to play a little guitar for my first time in a long time.  I also had put a few miles on since my last stop and it was a good time to take a break before continuing to the east coast.  With an incredible bed I enjoyed my rest.

Daily mileage: 100.9 miles 
Average speed: 14.3 mph
Total mileage: 5,819.0 miles

Day 92, November 1st 2007 (Jasper,TX to Oberlin,LA)

I was able to run the lines with Michael in the morning.  I had woken up and after eating a breakfast we scooted out the door and jumped in the boat to see what we had caught.  It was a much more effective style of fishing that required a lot less time.  We checked the first line and since it was so close to the shore we had caught nothing.  The next line though was a completely different story.  We had caught two catfish that were about 3 lbs in size for each one.  They looked like great catches and all that we had to do was place a new minnow on the end of te hook and then later in the day hope for another fish to catch the line.  It was a fun and new lifestyle hanging out at Lichael's place and when I took off on the road I knew I would never forget the experience he had left with me.  I took the same beautiful road out that I had come in on and was still amazed with its' beauty.  I was planning on making it to Baton Rouge to stay with someone off of the warm shower's list named Ryan, in only two days.  I had about 220 miles ahead of me and although it wasn't going to be easy, I knew it was doable.  Leaving the small highway out of Jasper I was headed on a much busier and worse road.  Again I was dealing with fairly busy traffic, angry drivers, and bad roads.  I didn't like the feel that I was getting from riding in the south, but the country was worth the trip at this point.  I continued to truck on and put in the miles that were ahead of me.  The scenery around me seemed like it was the usual open road surrounded by the heavy trees.  Every once and a while I would see an opening and it was usually someone's small house in the midst of large land.  Maybe there would be a field that they would farm, but it seemed like only every once and a while.  So I continued the journey east at this point and I was only about 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico.  The ocean was so near and yet I was still a few days away from being able to see it.  It was going to wait, but when I made it to the Gulf of Mexico I planned on spending a good prtion of my ride staying near the coast.  I was riding and although it was starting to get dark I didn't feel like stopping.  I figured if I wanted to make it to Baton Rouge the following day, I was going to have to put in a few more miles.  I was still riding and it was pitch black.  It was a perfect temperature and the only thing that really concerned me were the yahoos out driving in the area. I had a light on the front and the rear f my bike and I rode for about an hour in the dark and was able to put in an extra 15 miles before I pulled over for the evening.  It was a very small town and it was easy to find a small patch of land to call my own for the evening.

Daily mileage: 102.1 miles
Average speed: 13.1 mph
Total mileage: 5,718.1 miles

Day 91, October 31st 2007 (Rusk,TX to Jasper,TX)

The day seemed to be on repeat around Texas.  I started the morning heading south along the eastern edge of Texas and I could have sworn that this was now the worst road that I had been on.  With the traffic being busy and having horrible roads to ride on, the day seemed to continue to drag on forever.  I would look around to my right and to my left and all I could see for the first 60 miles were trees.  They lined the road on both sides and it made it difficult to see much of anything besides the road and cars around you.  I was focused in on the cars most of the day anyways because of the rude drivers in the area.  If I wasn't on a busy road out of a city then I was in a city on a busy road.   I was so happy to have made it off of the highway I was on after the first 60 miles and then I was able to get onto a highway going east.  It was a much smaller highway with a lot less traffic.  The trees opened up to some great views every now and again, and it was going directly through a forest.  It was a much more beautiful and relaxing ride to get myself to where I was going.  I had the luxury to ride on the road for about 30 miles before I started to turn off of the road and head towards the place that I was going.  I had contacted Nick from the warm shower's list and he had told me that he wasn't going to be able to host me, but that he had found someone who was going to be in town and would be able to take care of me.  He gave me the number of a man named Michael Moore.  I was told that Michael was a great old man with a long white beard and he had a great house on a lake.  As I turned each corner down the very deserted road to get to where I was headed, the surroundings were incredible.  It was such a beautiful area to have a place and away from everything else in the area.  I found Michael's place without a problem and when I first showed up he was unloading a ton of bamboo sticks from a truck and placing them in his yard.  It seemed as though he had a good amount of land and I could see the little lake behind his house.  I was able to get to know him for a good amount of time and he seemed like a man with many stories.  He had lived on the road in his RV for 12 years and had been able o get to know handfuls of people.  He would park his RV at many places and stay there for months and then leave and go somewhere else.  It seemed incredible to be on the road for that length of time, but he had enjoyed every moment of it.  Now, living in Louisiana, he was still a man with a simple life.  He didn't work and he lived off of the land.  He grew a lot of different vegetables and had a system in the lake set up to where he was able to eat the fish that he caught.  He had trout lines set up in the lake and each day he would put minnows on the hooks of the line and then he would go back out at night and check to see what he had caught for dinner.  Well, as we were talking he told me that it was time to check the lines.  We took his little canoe-like boat out on the lake and followed a line that stretched out for about 50 feet.  There was nothing on the line, but we did put a few minnows on a few hooks because something had taken them off.  I was thinking that his seemed like a place where you could probably run into some gators, and that is about when Michael started to tell me about the gators.  He told me that he had been here for a little while and when he first moved here he had killed an 11 foot alligator in the lake.  Then he said about a month later that his neighbor had killed a 14 foot alligator.  I couldn't believe it, but now I didn't feel as worried about there being any more alligators in the area.  As we finished the line I thought that we were going to head back to the dock, but we started to go more towards the center of the lake.  I wasn't sure what we were doing, but then I started to see another line.  This one was about twice as long and yet there was still nothing on the line.  As we came back to the dock it was still gorgeous outside.  The weather was just great right now and it was Halloween.  I wasn't quite used to this, but I wasn't complaining.  When we reached the shore we went inside and made some BBQ Venison for supper.  It was a great meal and was followed by an incredible evening with some of Michael's neighbors.  His neighbors were from across the lake and they came over to play some pool.  We played I don't even know how many games of pool, and it was a very relaxing way to finish the evening.  

Daily mileage: 92.2 miles
Average speed: 13.0 mph
Total mileage: 5,616.0 miles

Day 90, October 30th 2007 (Emory,TX to Rusk,TX)

I realized today why I hadn't seen many cyclists. It all started with the morning routine of oatmeal and then going to a gas station to refill my water. The cashier had noticed that I was travelling on a bicycle, so he asked me what I thought of the area. I couldn't resist telling him how much I disliked the roads, but he had a few more stories. He told me he had moved from California and had decided to take his bike out for a ride. He agreed with me that the shoulders of the road were horrible, so he stayed on the road. The road was a little better, but nothing to brag about. So he was riding along, and drivers were yelling at him as they passed by. Within one week of riding and having a combination of drivers yelling at him, the poor roads, and having two bottles thrown at him, he sold his bike. I was fortunate that no one had thrown a bottle at me yet. I continued heading south down the eastern part of Texas for the morning and I couldn't help but feel a huge misunderstanding between the cyclists on the road and the drivers. Every vehicle that passed me seemed to be a truck, and none of them were happy to see me on the road. I spent most of the morning going from the shoulder to the road and then being kicked back over to the shoulder. I could see from the driver's perspective why they were upset. The shoulder of the road looked the same condition as the road when you were going 70 mph in a car. Where I was riding from, I could tell a significant difference between the two. I heard the yelling that I had been told about earlier in the morning. The most common chant seemed to be; "Get off the road!" I was only 40 miles into the ride before I felt exhausted from the bad roads and the horrible traffic. I took no delay in having a buffet at Pizza Hut when I saw the sign. When I walked in it was very clear that I was, once again, out of place. Every guy in the restaurant had on a cowboy hat, and I came strolling in with my cycling hat. They had all probably tried to run me off the road, and no one seemed to pay me much attention. It was an awkward half hour for lunch and was about to get much crazier. After travelling for only 10 more miles I started to enter a town called Tyler. From the map, I was expecting it to be a large town, but it was much larger than I had thought. I went through the town around 2 pm, probably the one time with the least amount of traffic. Cars were everywhere, the road was still horrible, and I've never had so many peopled grouped together all trying to run me over. For 10 miles I crossed the town of Tyler, in what seemed to me as rush hour traffic. It was an insane trip through the town and I'm glad I'm still alive. Moving further south out of Tyler, the traffic was starting to slim down and the roads were starting to roll. There were a couple of monster hills I was able to go up. and then go down. I was going through a much more wooded area of the country and Texas was constantly changing. I was so close to Louisiana at this point that I was starting to feel like I was already there. With a lot more trees, green surroundings, and swamp-like lakes that had no visible alligators, this is what I had pictured of Louisiana. Besides the environment I was also starting to see more of a southern change in the fast food restaurants. The three most common places I had seen everywhere were McDonald's, Subway, and Dairy Queen, and they were still here. There were a few more restaurants that were now everywhere as well. There was a place called Whataburger and then another place called Waffle House. The Waffle House was one great thing I enjoyed about visiting the south. Great food, great service, and excellent southern hospitality. I hadn't stopped at one yet, but the time was near and the opportunity was constantly growing. When I arrived at my destination for the evening, I was cutting it close with the sun. I received permission to throw my tent down on a piece of land outside of a church and it was a race against the sun for putting my tent up. I quickly set everything up and cooked a dinner. Tomorrow I had plans to stay with someone in Jasper,TX and a warm shower sounded great.
Daily mileage: 90.7 miles
Average speed: 12.2 mph
Total mileage: 5,523.8 miles

Day 89, October 29th 2007 (Denton,TX to Emory,TX)

I had one more night of a good rest on a bed. I woke up to my usual oatmeal and everything was set for me to go on the road. I took advantage of a shower while I was still able to take one, and said goodbye to Jay C. It was another day on the road and I had some new tunes to listen to. The sun was out shining and was warm as usual. I had checked the weather before I left and had been slightly disappointed. It was great to see that it was warm and there was no rain ahead, but the wind had changed directions. In the afternoon it wouldn't be blowing very strong, but it was now coming from the southeast. With the way I had experienced the wind on my travels I shouldn't have expected anything different. The entire week I had been experiencing a cross wind from the north to the south. Now that I was changing my course of direction to the south, the wind was coming from the south. I left Denton and was very thankful that the wind wasn't strong. Mostly, I spent the first 60 miles of my ride going east and through fairly large cities. I was still north of Dallas and was dealing with some of the suburbs. As I pulled further away from the busy roads and cities, I was able to see some more of Texas country. I had also finally pulled off of 380 east and was now on 69 south. The rolling hills had mostly flattened out and it was a fairly easy ride for the day. It helped that I had taken some time to rest my legs for a day. It was cool to see some large lakes over the past few days, because large bodies of water had been tough to see since I left California. I had covered some ground for the day and I didn't go too far on highway 69 before I pulled over. The sun was starting to set and I needed to get a few things at the store before I set up camp. I noticed a church just up ahead and I was happy to see a large lot of grass to put my tent. I wasn't able to contact the pastor, but I figured it would be okay to camp anyways. The pasta for the evening tasted like pasta and tomorrow would be a new day on the road.
Daily mileage: 92.3 miles
Average speed: 12.5 mph
Total mileage: 5,433.1 miles