Day 44 - Brief Reflections

An extraordinary experience that is very difficult to summarize - but a few random thoughts. 

 -Americans are exceptionally friendly, curious, interesting and welcoming.  People we encountered were amazingly nice to us - in all respects.  The random encounters that are inherent in this type of trip are undoubtedly the best parts - and served to remind me (and i think everyone else) how good people are.  Surprisingly, there were less than 4-5 brushes with single finger salutes or trucks that wanted us to know how much they disliked bikes.  While we saw almost no other bikers to speak of (and the ones we did see were near cities and clearly on local jaunts), bikes seem to have become well accepted as part of the road.

-the Mississippi is clearly not a well trod ("rolled?") bike route.  The general response when people learned about the trip was "yeh, i remember some other guy who came through here 5 or 10 years ago".  A missed opportunity, since it is a wonderful cross section of America. 

-Feeding people really resonates as a cause.  People universally relate to food as a basic human right - and are uniformly supportive of helping to feed others.  Poverty - and food insecurity - crosses all parts of the country.  It is not limited to urban settings - the poverty we traveled through in parts of rural America is profound.  I am very happy that this ride could play a small part in feeding some Chicago children who should never have to face hunger - plenty of time to contribute!  Www.ridetheriver2017.com has the link you have been looking for :)  lots of water bottles left to give out!

-Small town America is really struggling.  Very skewed demographics (old and young - not much in between), gutted Main streets, shrinking populations - tough economic future that is quite unclear to me. 

-i am profoundly grateful to a variety of people: 

     -Chris Donnelly  - a great riding companion who kept me going

     -Bob Liebetrau - our extraordinary driver and compatriot who always sees the bright side of things

     -Karen Imrisek - who makes life function smoothly and coordinated this venture flawlessly and with superhuman equanimity                   

     -my family - who give me purpose

     -the many friends who lent their muscle, time and companionship to bringing us the distance:   Jacob, Todd, Bryan, Ralph, Mark, Kerry, Derek, Kate, Jill, Claire, Erin, Anna, Kathe, Don, Michael, Susan, Alisa, Teresa, Jennifer, Tim, Ted, Blake, Joe, Louise, Chris Jr., Randy, Carol, Steve, Mike, Curt, John, Dave, Scott, Beth, Bob, Julie, John, Harris, Louis, Justin, Susan

My abiding thanks to all - and looking forward to the next one! 

Day 43 Port Sulfur to the End (!*!)

Enough said - more later upon a little reflection

Day 42 - New Orleans to Port Sulfur

Easier ride than expected out of NO.  Rode through a quiet French Quarter, Marginy and Bywater, into the outskirts of NO.  Industrial mixed with history - major Civil War cemetery on the River.  Eventually made it to the bayou land - long stretches of levee, trailer homes, a few refineries, scrub woods and swamp.  Excitement of the morning was the best road kill of the trip - a wild boar.  River is big - lots of big ships, barges, terminals.  Lunch at a diner by the Port La Hache ferry with a chockingly good shrimp po boy.  Crossed the River to the West Bank to end the day. 

Day 41 Luling to New Orleans!

Wonderful, if short ride down the river path into NOLA.  Very impressed that the path extends north for about 35 miles from NO.  Nice paved path along the top of the levee - with occasional detours to accommodate lots of piping and dock paraphenailia.  Rode through Audubon park, and through the garden district and uptown into downtown NO.  Very bike friendly and easiest entry into a big city ever.   

Day 40 - Donaldsonville to Luling La.

Nice day along the river - turned spectacular when we found a bike path that parralleled the road for some of the day.  Exceptional find for lunch in La Place - old smokehouse/grocery with kickass Cajun food. Lots of chemical plants - river is a interesting mishmash of old plantations, small Cajun towns and huge chemical plants. 

Day 39 Zachary to Donaldsonville, La.

tough ride through the north end of Baton Rouge to start the day.  Got to the river, and rode a nice path on top of the levee through downtown BR, past LSU.  Nice campus, right along the river.  Huge football stadium!  Long stretch on the river road, some on top of the levee, some on the road.  River has lots of "squiggles" in it here.  Very industrial stretch - lots of petrochemical plants, interspersed with quiet Cajun communities.  

Day 38 - Woodville La to Zachary La.

backtracked to southwest corner of Mississippi to pick up where i left off.  Hills of Mississippi, over the state line into La., past the La State Penitentiary.  Rode through St. F, picnic on the side of the road dogging "chiggers", into the sprawl of Baton Rouge. 

Day 36 - Natchez to St. Francisville, La.

hot ride through the southwest corner of Mississippi.  Mainly on a nasty four lane road with no shoulder.  Survived to get to rest day!

Passed on this potential lunch spot. 

Day 37 - St. Francisville, La. - Rest Day!

last rest day - needed this one - spent the day chilling, massage, boudin and boudin balls for lunch.  Staying at a pretty, ramshackle plantation built in 1795.  Hard to beat.

abandoned synagogue in St. Francisville.  Happy New Year! 

Day 35 - Vicksburg to Natchez

Bit hairy out of Vicksburg, but got to what might have been the nicest biking road i have ever been on - the Natchez Trace Parkway.   A National Park Service road, perfectly paved and maintained, no traffic, rolling terrain, gorgeous countryside - a pure delight.  Rode a blissful 60 miles through a surprisingly hilly and deserted part of Mississippi. Lunch in the town that Gen Grant declared was too pretty to burn - not so nice now, but home to a abandoned antebellum synagogue.  Natchez was quite appealing - well preserved antebellum downtown - beautiful riverfront area (under the hill) with a great dinner at Magnolia Grill.  Stayed in a perfectly maintained early 1800's mansion. 

Day 34 - Eudora Ark. to Vicksburg, Miss.

rode through the flatlands of the Delta - including some great named towns like Transylvania and Tallulah.  Nice accidental visit to the Panola Pepper Company.   Arranged passage over an old RR bridge into Vicksburg from the Vicksburg bridge commission.  Quick visit to the battlegrounds of Vicksburg - Civil War seems especially vivid here.  Downtown Vicksburg is trying hard, but seems to have the same fate as most of small town America.

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Day 33 - Beulah, Miss. to Eudora, La.

Beautiful day of riding through the flatlands of the Delta.  It still stuns how incredibly flat the landscape is.  Flatest place i have ever been.  Rode through Greenville, Miss - very bleak faded glory.  Scary transit over the Greenville bridge.  Lunch was punctuated by a torrential rainstorm - quickly followed by clear blue skies.  Incredible dinner at Doe's Eat Place - a true American classic.   

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Day 32 Lula to Beulah

Hot Delta day - 95 degrees at peak.  Spent the whole day on Route 1 - almost no towns or much of anything but endless fields of cotton and soybeans.  Lunch in the field at Buddy and Lisa's "home" farm. 

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Day 31 - Memphis to Lula

Great day out of Memphis.  Oddly, the sprawl of Memphis lasted a good 20 miles out - well into Mississippi.  Had our biggest group yet, with 13 riders. Spent the day on beautiful country roads.  Great lunch at the Blue and White Cafe.  Long 82 mile day - but finished strong with yoga on the lawn at the Capri Casino.  Dinner at a classic Miss Delta cafe - Katheryn's on Moon Lake and blues in Clarksdale at Redd's jook joint.  Awesome experience.   

Day 30 Memphis Rest Day!

Spend the afternoon at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.  Extraordinary place - story telling at its best. 

Day 28 Covington Tenn to Memphis Tenn.

Beautiful warm day of country roads and sunshine.  Great day - save a couple of miles of mud road (unplanned pleasures...).  Nice picnic lunch in a CCC built State Park.  Hard not to think about how useful a modern version of the CCC would be today. 

We finished with a nice ride along the river into downtown Memphis.  Great effort by Anne, Don and Susan! 

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Day 27 Dyersberg to Covington, Tenn.

Another rainy day.  Tough to ride in a rain suit.  Not my first choice, but once we got started, i felt strangely compelled to keep going.  Eventually the rain diminished and we wound up with a fairly nice end of day ride through some rolling back roads.  Pretty challenged part of west Tennessee.  Great lunch at a family BBQ place in Ripley tenn.  excellent chocolate chess pie! 

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Day 26 - Columbus Ky - Dyersberg, Tenn

Raining cats and dogs this morning, so went to breakfast down the road in Mayfield Ky.  Rain let up, so set out late morning.  Nice riding in the Kentucky countryside.  Hickman was the lunch target, but didn't make it before Me Maw's (the only restaurant in town) closed.  Set out for Tennessee in a bit of rain.   Nice late lunch in a bar on the edge of a national wildlife area. Wound up being a close to 80 mile  wet day.

Day 25 - St. Genevieve to Columbus Ky.

A three state day!  Cruised across the Mississippi into Illinois from Cape G.  Wandered across the southern reaches of Illinois to Cairo - shockingly depressed.  Started our BBQ tour with a pork sandwich at Shemwell's - pretty disappointing.  Hillbilly BBQ in Wickliffe KY was more the real thing.  beautiful rolling back roads took us into Columbus, to a lovely home/hotel/bed (without breakfast).  Dinner was made by the local convenience store -meatloaf!

Day 24 - St. Genevieve to Cape Giradiaeux

Rode south from St. Gen on quiet Sunday morning roads.  Lots of rolling hills - but a beautiful day.