Forests to Rice Fields

For the past several days, we have been riding through forest farms owned by agencies such as Boise and Georgia Pacific. Leaving Oberlin, LA this morning I suddenly broke out into open areas with 45 continuous miles of flat land mostly used to produce rice and yams. At one point I thought I had returned to Viet Nam except I didn't see any water buffalos. The fields were beautiful in the morning light with the humidity rising off the fields. It looked like fog except it was warm to ride through. LA 104 East followed the contours of the various farms. In places the road was like riding on glass and in other places the roughness of the roadway bounced and vibrated the bike like no other roads have up to this point.

Our 11 a.m. lunch break was in Opelousas, Louisiana where we rejoined highway 190 East. Opelousas was a very old town with plantation type houses and is known as the birthplace of Jim Bowie and his discovery of the Bowie knife. Opelousas was even the capitol of LA during the Civil War, and is currently known as the "Yam Capitol" of the South. We recognized on the map that one section of 190 was not recommended for bike riding. Libby went ahead and checked it out. It was a 3.5 mile section of viaduct over swampy land with no shoulders, so she hauled me and the bike across.

That still allowed 40 miles of riding before reaching the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge. Again, there was no lane for bikes, so I was not able to ride the bike up and over the Mighty Mississippi.

The bridge was quite old with the railroad crossing inbetween East and Westbound lanes of traffic.

Having already ridden a total of 98 miles we decided to call it a day and find a motel. We are on the outskirts of Baton Rouge and I will leave from here tomorrow morning.

Miles Traveled Today = 98

Total Miles Traveled = 1,904

Trivia = Lots of water opportunities, but the water did not look inviting enough to dip my head in it. With my luck there would probably be an alligator waiting to take it off.