We woke to rain and as you can see from the graphics below . . . rain was the order of the day . . .
Going to be wet for the next week. Hope we don’t grow gills!!! Barb headed out today, as did Brian and Karen. We will miss them!!! We are back to the core group and we are heading northeast. We’ll be veering off the ACA trail for several days in order to break up some of the 90+ mile days we would have had. After our break in New Orleans we need to get back in riding shape again!!!
Finally the rain slowed a bit, so at 9:30am and it was time to finally pack up and make a dash for it. 1/2 mile down the road one of our gang wiped out around a flooded corner!!! Road rash, a couple of scrapes on the leg but luckily no head or other injuries. However, the derailleur hanger was bent so it meant an emergency run to the local bike store for a quick repair.
Soon it was time to duck in for some lunch . . . I had a pastrami sub . . . about 1/2 pound of meat!!!
Oh yeah . . . there were a few challenges on the ride today, besides the rain. ACA lays out their routes for various reasons, one which is safety. We are off the route. Here is a bridge we had to cross that at least had a shoulder. Five miles down the road there was a 4 mile long bridge over a bayou with NO SHOULDER. Quite dangerous, so a call was made to the local Sheriff’s department who provided an police escort across the bridge. NICE!!!! Hopefully we will not have anymore surprises like this for the next 3 days. Once we get to Dauphin Island, we are back on route!!!
Speaking of route . . . when we came to the Mississippi River in New Roads, there was a Mississippi River Trail sign. The route starts in MN and follows the river all the way to New Orleans which is just south of us. Fun to see the sign . . . a nice memory from home!!!
Went to eat tonight at Satterfield’s where we were introduced to Omar . . . a local legend!!!
Denver Tom couldn’t pass up the five for 7 dollar special!!!!
The name of the game tonight . . . try to dry things out. 80% change of heavy rain tomorrow morning (1-2 inches) . . . then tapering to thunderstorms. Batten down the hatches!!!!