Rest Day -- Natchez, MS

I forgot to mention the every time we cross a state border, we celebrate with margaritas. Whoo Hoo! And we will be crossing ten states! Another Whoo Hoo!
I also forgot to mention that the food has been fabulous thanks to our guide/chef Lynne and Barb our sous chef. It,s no easy task to cook for 30 hungry woman out of the back of a trailer. I promise to post pictures as soon as I can. Carol, our guide, is the best there is and Woman Tours is very lucky to have her. I don't think I would do this trip without her leadership skills.
The view from my hotel room is fabulous. The Eola hotel is the tallest building in town. It is seven stories tall and guess what? I am on the seventh floor.




The fountain the courtyard is interesting with both fire and water shooting out.




The bar is a fun place to hang out if you are a Blues Brothers fan.

New Roads, LA to Natchez,MS -- 80 miles

Whoo Hoo we are now in Mississippi! The ride today long and hot. The scenery is beginning to change with more trees and corn fields and wheat fields. The routine still the same: lather up with sun screen, fill up our water bottles, pump up our tires, eat breakfast, pack our snacks, load our luggage in the van, then hit the road. The rest stops are every 20 miles. A thunderstorm arrived in town early and a few of the riders had to be sagged in because it is too dangerous. Two nights before thunder storms came with lots of thunder and lightening. And when it rains here, it pours.

We often stop at some interesting places along the way and here is an example of one of them.

Port Allen to new Roads, LA -- 35 miles

More of the same scenery today along country roads with the levee on the right and sugar canes fields to the left. Sun screen is a must and electrolytes too. I found myself sweating just standing outside in the shade. One good thing, my skin is soft from all this moisture. We are in New Roads, LA --home of Cookie Roberts.

LaPlace to Port Allen, LA -- 92 miles

Again, an extremely hot day today. Outside of town we crossed the River for the first time. We are biking on the west of the river heading towards Port Allen. I wish I knew how post photos and will get them done sooner or later. I have photos of the expansion joints on the bridge as well as a view of the river from the bridge. We passed many sugar cane fields and plantations. I have one of Oak Alley Plantation which was in the film Forrest Gump. You view the photos on Facebook.

New Orleans to LaPlace, LA -- 41 miles

Again, an extremely hot day today. Outside of town we crossed the River for the first time. We are biking on the west of the river heading towards Port Allen. I wish I knew how post photos and will get them done sooner or later. I have photos of the expansion joints on the bridge as well as a view of the river from the bridge. We passed many sugar cane fields and plantations. I have one of Oak Alley Plantation which was in the film Forrest Gump. You view the photos on Facebook.

Bike pick up and Orientation

Today I picked up Ben at the bike shop. The shop is one busy place with all the bike rentals. People are here for the Jazz Festival. I am glad to be getting out of town tomorrow. The streets are crazy here with cars zipping around. At orientation this afternoon I finally got to meet all the ladies on the tour. There will be 30 of us, plus two guides. This time we have an international group; one from Australia, one from Scotland and two from the Netherlands. The US gals come from Ohio, Florida, Vermont, Texas, New York, Maryland, Minnesota,Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, South Carolina, New Mexico, Hawaii, Connecticut, Idaho, and six from California.

New Orleans

Yesterday was travel day...flying from Fresno to Las Vegas to Houston to New Orleans and arriving at my hotel at 11:30 pm I did get in some good reading time. For inspiration I picked ups a book about one young man from Scotland who decided to cycle around the world. Starting in Paris, France he cycled for 195 days, alone and unsupported, over 18,297 miles through numerous countries on four continents to break the Guiness World record by 81 days. He did it by cycling over 100 miles a day.

Instead of reading the book from the beginning, I jumped to the sixth leg of his journey which is cycling across the US. He starts in San Francsisco and rides to St. Augustine, Florida. From San Diego to Florida he rode the same route we took in 2008. In fact, he was just two months ahead of us. I had to chuckle a couple of times knowing the same frustrations in trying to follow the maps by Adventure Cycling Association.

Well, this morning it poured, but by the time I finished my coffee, it stopped. Today is my day to go sight seeing. I always wanted to visit bourbon street and now I can say that I did. At 11am it is pretty quite, but I can only imagine how wild it can be at night.