Day 31- Mandeville, LA to New Orleans, LA & Swamp Tour

I tried to leave super early (thanks to daylight savings) to make a 9:30 swamp tour. I was booking it at 17 mph, but still had 7 miles to go with 15 minutes left on the clock. I realized it wasn't going to happen and went to have breakfast.

I also noticed that along the way, I had lost a Croc that was bungeed onto my bag. I replaced them with a cheap pair of sandals and trucked on to towards the swamp tour.

I was flagged down by a man in his 60's who was curious about my ride. We talked for a while about his ambitions for a trip and at the end he asked if I needed anything. People were so generous on this trip.


It's a hot dog, if you're wondering

Cyprus Swamp

 

 

I made it to the 12:00 noon tour. There were gators and birds, but the tour guide finished late, really putting a cramp in schedule. Bikes were not permitted on two of the bridges that crossed Lake Ponchartrain. The detour provided some beautiful and serene views before entering the busyness of New Orleans.

 

 

 

 

I got a flat with 17 miles to go. I knew that changing it would take some time and it was already starting to get dark. I decided to just pump it up, as it was a slow leak. Just then, it downpoured and I was soaked. Thankfully, it only lasted 15 minutes or so. But I was soaked.

It was dark and I just entered the outskirts of the city. The traffic was crazy with two close calls that last hour. I called my host and while he was trying to determine where I was, my phone died. Fortunately, the solar charger was powered up and the phone could be ressurected. I followed him home and grabbed a shower.


Victory!!!

Then we planned to go to dinner and on the way, after being warm, clean and dry, it downpoured again. We just laughed through the rain though (mostly because I had a cocktail on an empty stomach) and enjoyed dinner totally drenched.

Day 29 & 30 - Jackson, MS to McComb, MS to Mandeville, LA

It was such a bummer to get off the Trace yesterday. I was reminded of that while I was honked at all day.

I followed Highway 55 all day. I know, I know, no highways. Well, I actually felt safer seeing as there was a 5 foot shoulder with a rumble strip rather than no shoulder on a county road.

I had planned to stop at a little town, but found nothing there so I had to press on (in the dark). It was a little scary but I made it with no major issues.

The goal is within reach!

The next morning I took over 20 minutes to get my fast food breakfast and my shoe would not unclip when I got there. So I figured I would just take my foot in and out of my shoe all day long. Then at my next stop, the shoe just fell off. The cleat was stuck in the pedal. I had to drag out my multi tool to get it out. Then it was on to Lowe's to find a replacement screw. There were no flat screws of the same size. It took some tinkering and Yankee ingenuity, but I got it. But I was delayed a while.

I booked it all day with only a 10 minute break to eat. My host's sister, Dianne, met on the rails to trails in their town and rode the rest of the way with me. 

I had dinner with Kim and Laurie. And they're going to show me around New Orleans tomorrow and I'll pedal the rest my miles on Monday. 

Day 28- French Camp, MS to Jackson, MS

I had a fabulous breakfast (probably twice what anyone else ate) at the B&B in French Camp. Today was my last day on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Boo. It's absolutely beautiful and I would jump at the chance to bike the whole thing. 

My beautiful bike

The Ross Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson

My last photo on the Trace

About 5 miles to go, I met a man named David and he finished out the day with me. I was hosted by Don and Becky in Jackson. We went to an art exhibition at the oldest house in Jackson. 

Then we went to dinner at Babalu (based on the Desi & Lucy theme). Don said it's slated to go national and now I can say I ate at the first one! They made guacamole fresh at your table. 

They have an awesome horse named Willow who lives in the front yard of their suburban house. She's a hit with the whole neighborhood. 

We concluded the evening by talking about Don's plan to bike the Great Divide next summer and the pros and cons of hosting cyclists. We see mostly the pros. 

Willow

Becky leading Willow over the jumps.

Day 26 & 27- Tupelo Cycling Club!

I was facing 16 mph headwinds with 30 mph gusts so I decided to spend the day with Aunt Cheryl. She had to convince me. We went to yoga and I got to swim, first time in a month. We picked her husband up for lunch and had Vietnamese, first time for me.

Let me preface the rest of this entry: I contacted the Tupelo Cycling Club about a month and a half ago about cycling the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. I bombarded them with questions and they all jumped on board to help me and offered to cycle with me when I got here.

I didn't want to push off cycling with them any longer, especially because some had arranged work schedules to ride with me. Cheryl dropped me off near Cherokee, Alabama to meet Chris, a CPA from Tupelo, Mississippi.

Aunt Cheryl

We talked literally all day. Funniest questions of  the day: "Do y'all have air conditioning in your cars up there?" Hahaha. No, Chris, they're manufactured differently. haha.

How many people does it take to help Chris put on a vest? The world may never know. We gave up.

We took the Natchez Trace Parkway, which was a trade route from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. I crossed into Mississippi!

We had such a fun day. We actually cycled past Tupelo because he didn't want to to have to contend with rush hour traffic. It was about 75 miles. The best part of the day was that because he was dropped off, I could send my bags with Jason, another cyclist from the club. My bike became so light!

Jason picked us up past town and dropped me off at Candy's house. She's another cyclist in the group. She took me on a tour of Tupelo. Did you know that's where Elvis was born? Me neither.

The house Elvis was born in.

Candy made me take this pic.

Jennifer had told me that she would have dinner at her house. I didn't know that included the whole Tuesday night riding group. It was awesome. Four different kinds of chili, waldorf sandwiches and desserts galore. I've never felt more welcomed by a group of people I'd never met.



The whole gang.

We spent the whole evening talking about everything from which bridges to cross into New Orleans to sponsored racing. And sang Happy Birthday to Chris, I didn't know it was his B-day. So much fun. By the end of the night, I had two riders to spend the next day with! And my bags transported for me again! Jason and Jennifer dropped off food for the ride on the porch in the morning.

How many people does it take to load the bike rack? That answer is 3. We got it eventually!

Mitzi, me and David reading to roll.

Today was equally fun. Poor Mitzi and David had to slow down for me. Their bikes do weigh half of mine.

Me and David

We did do a little hill climb, nothing like Ben Young Hill or anything. I guess they do a 35 mile race and this is the half way point. Great day. Great riders and people. Wish everyday was like this. We finally said goodbye at mile 75 at French Camp. I stayed the night at a little B&B which supports a Christian boarding school for troubled kids. I had the whole place to myself and watched Veggie Tales. They didn't have cable. 

Day 25- Gadsden, AL to Guntersville, AL

The temp and winds this morning were brutal. It was hard to convince myself to get on the bike. My husband's aunt lives in Huntsville, where I was riding too and offered to pick me up.

I couldn't resist that offer, so I offered to meet her half-way, getting in about 40 miles. The hills were so slow, fighting the wind all the way.

We took the next day to go to the Botanical Gardens, Butterfly Pavillion and Monte Sano Park.

Who knew Alabama was so hilly.

Botanical Gardens with Aunt Cheryl

Botanical Gardens

Nice to see these billboards. Anyone can still donate

Monte Sano Park

As I type, I'm debating on whether or not to ride on tomorrow with Hurricane Sandy brewing. There's a wind advisory.

Day 24- Rockmart, GA to Gadsden, AL

 I packed up my stuff and left the campground and rode about 4 miles to get breakfast. It was going to be another hot one today. I could tell that I left the railroad bed, because it was still in use, after I got out of Cobb Country, Georgia.

My ride was made much more pleasant by meeting and riding about 30 miles with a man named Stan who rides this trail almost everyday. We had great conversation about everything. I think he's the first Southerner I've met who believes in gun control. I likes to watch the deer.

I stopped at the Alabama line, where the Silver Comet trail becomes the Chief Ladiga trail.

He told me to stop at the Eubanks Center in Piedmont, AL which is a welcome center for cyclists passing through. I started telling one of the employees where I was riding from and he asked me where specifically in NH I was riding from. I told him that I lived near the Canadian border and he asked me if I had ever heard of Colebrook. HAHA. It was awesome.

I once again tried to contact some of the local churches to put me up and nobody bit. I went to a hotel.

See that section on the sign for grits. I'm in the South now. 

Day 23- Atlanta, GA to Rockmart, GA

Once again got up late cause my hosts were up late. I said farewell to the puppies and off I went.

I went about 15 miles (not exactly sure, cyclometer stopped working) to get to the Silver Comet bike trail, an awesome 75 mile trail is Georgia (another 25 in Alabama) which was converted from an old railroad bed. After crossing the chaos and poor pavement of Atlanta, this was heaven.

It was nice to see, as a parks & rec person, so many different people using this space for so many different things. It was well maintained, had good signage and most people seemed to respect it

I camped at a little campground off the trail, first time camping on the trip. Its finally warm enough to camp. Did I mention to all of you in Colebrook, NH that its 80 degree and sunny here? Down to 60 at night. Beautiful. I'm eating ice cream regularly now.

I will cross into Alabama in the morning and start making my way to Tupelo, MS where I will meet up with some riders there and ride part of the Natchez Trace Parkway. I have a few days in between though. Total as of today is 1,466 miles!