Big City to Back Country

Today our escape from Baton Rouge was on Hwy 16 through the suburbs of Denham Springs to the very rural areas of Northern Louisiana. On the way through Denham Springs one could not help but notice the numerous large churches of every faith. I suspect in a six-mile area I saw at least 15 churches that had multiple buildings and it looked as though most of them could seat at least a 1,000 individuals for a service. In most cases you could tell by the reader boards that they had a minimum of three worship services on Sunday morning.

Since I spent most of the morning riding mostly north I found myself gain elevation up and out of the bayous and into the rolling hills. The country was as scenic as any that we have viewed on this trip. Lots of gentleman farms as we left the suburbs of Denham Springs which then turned into legitimate farms of various types. About 20 miles out of town I actually rode past a very large dairy. By the number of cow shades I would estimate it to be a 2,000-cow dairy. Later in the day we passed a couple of more dairies but they didn’t seem quite as large.











In traveling through Louisiana, we can't get over the number of cemeteries, many times located next to or part of a local church. Gravestone monument businesses in every town have replaced the taxidermys of Texas towns. The cemeteries are all very large with mostly above ground crypts and large monuments.

Many of the 87 miles were rolling country through tree farms that feed the large pulp mill here in Bogalusa, La. I suspect if I could have kept track of vertical gain today that I climbed well over 4,000 ft. Instead of riding my normal 12-13mph I spent 8 hours and 15 minutes going the 87 miles. The weather remains absolutely perfect as far as temperature, but a little less in-your-face wind would be appreciated. One sight that caught our attention was a beautiful horse ranch with a sign that reminded us of our dutch heritage out here in the middle of Louisiana!






As I venture through small towns I enjoy asking people for best routes to the next community. Today I had the choice of two routes for the last 24 miles of the trip. When I asked a mechanic at a local shop what route he would take if he was riding a bike his response was prefaced with, “First that would never happen, Second you would be a total fool to take the one route since at least 12 trucks would run you over before you reached your destination.” I took his advice and here I am able to share this story with you.


Miles Traveled Today = 87
Total Miles Traveled = 1,191
Trivia = La. must be fox country, I saw four foxes today, three of them had made bad choices as to when they were going to cross the road and the fourth one was checking out his friend after he made the bad choice. He didn’t stick around long when he spotted me.

More Trivia = Home-grown-moving job. Saw a lamp with the shade attached fly out of the back of a pick up as they were traveling down the road. They didn’t bother to stop and pick up the multiple pieces.