There and Back Again

Today was a full day – We met some really fun people, biked about 40 miles, did some more bike surgery, watched two full football games, and got a hotel room to scrub ourselves, clothes, and bikes.

Breakfast at Go Bears Market was a pleasure. We met a group of deeply rooted Louisiana men who were generous with their route advice and gave us a bottle of local sugarcane syrup! It’s fantastic on oatmeal. After reading articles on fueling prolonged workouts, I think a tablespoon shot during pedaling breaks will also be in order.

We also tried some Boudin on Diana Baker’s recommendation and it was a hit! Thanks Diana for cluing us in 👍🏼

After some bike servicing, we enjoyed a scenic route through the countryside and pedaled away to our destination, Morgan City, where we stopped to watch the LSU game. After some deliberation we snagged a motel room for the night for some deep cleaning and a luxurious nights sleep in a real bed!

Today I am thankful for some fun conversations with Ryan about religion, travel, and also some general silliness usually in the form of singing 🎤

I’m praying for wisdom, and confidence in said wisdom, please!!!

Route info for interested readers:

At Go Bears Market we turned left on St Charles Bypass. We then took a right on Burma road and just before the dead end turned left onto Waterplant Rd. A brief left then right took us to St Bridget Rd and then we turned left onto 311. We went through Ardoyne to get onto Bull Run Rd, a popular road for cyclists. That popped out onto Co Rd 20 where we turned left and road straight from there into Morgan City.

Rain rain, go away, come again another day! (Another day at least two months from now please! 😊)

What a COZY morning in our tent listening to a light pitter patter in 65 degree weather. Ahhhh. We made lots of little spider and snail friends as our tent provided a refuge for more than just two humans!

The drizzle let up around 9am and we were on the road an hour an a half or so later full of hearty oatmeal. It felt great to bike for several hours again today and be back on the road making good progress.

We enjoyed a lunch at McDonalds (with canned spinach and peas on the side) and rode until rain struck around 4pm in a town called Thibodaux. We are taking shelter and planning to camp in a nearby lot when the rain lets up.

Fun fact, we just road through a town called Raceland which is “The Sauce Piquante Capitol of the World!” Louisiana food is awesome.

Route info for interested readers:

From the Mississippi River bike path, we hopped onto county road 631 just south of Luling. That turned into highway 90 which was the worst part of the trip (the roads sucked, but there was at least ample shoulder). We then got onto county road 1 headed west.

On the road again,

I just can’t wait to get on the road again,

The life I love is riding bikes with my boyfriend,

Oh I just can’t wait to get on the road again!

After a fun and tasty (Sue made French toast!) morning with family, we launched off into the west while they began the drive back to Enterprise.

It felt great to be biking again and it was fun to ride through the city commotion while we made our way to the ferry crossing the Mississippi.

We stopped for a bit across the river to buy some new kicks, I am now crossing the country in bright blue basketball shoes! (They were on clearance and had nice still soles, good arch support, and minimal heel movement. ✅✅✅)

Dinner was delicious thanks to our stocking gifts from Sue and Jon! Lots of chocolate and bacon. And mashed potatoes which have become one of our favorite foods on this journey 😋

We are wild camping tonight RIGHT beside the river and are expecting rain, should be nice and cozy.

Our ride today was brief but fun since we were able to ride on a luxurious, no motor vehicles allowed, bike path along the Mississippi! We barely made any progress as the crow flies but still put in 23 miles. Look at the curves in this river!

Route info for interested readers:

We took the ferry at the bottom of canal street in New Orleans for $2 across the Mississippi and turned right after crossing to get on a beautiful bike path the rest of the way! Some sections were gravel so we took the road below for that bit.

What a place! Amazing live music, art, food, and BEAUTIFUL European-esque architecture. I’m in love!

Ryan and I stayed at the coolest hostel called Atlas House where we met interesting travelers from around the world. We were lucky enough to spend time with them exploring the city! Shout outs to Nas, Kate, Chinnal, Jenn, Rose, Pablo, and Paola. We will miss you!

We saw some seriously incredible live music including one of the bands Jerry and Libby Gill introcided us to during our stay in Starkville: Tuba Skinny 😍

Now for the food. Oh my gosh. We started the trip with dinner at a market style building of small gourmet restaurants for Haitian Smothered Greens and Jambalia. We were lucky to meet and eat with Diana’s good friend, Beth Patterson, a local Bouzouki player!

We also enjoyed the best Poor Boys I’ve ever had at Parkway Bakery and Tavern. They tasted even better since we were able to enjoy them with some of Ryan’s best friends, Craig and Jonah who stayed with us for the night on their way through from Austin to Enterprise for Christmas.

Craig took us out the next day for brunch to try Crawfish Eggs Benedict. My favorite part of that meal was Jonah’s Fruity Pebbles French Toast and the Fried Green Tomatoes!

We finished off our time here with a spontaneous Christmas celebration! Sue, Jon, Johnny, Memaw, Diana, and Lois came to meet us in a BEAUTIFUL Airbnb. We ate plenty, talked and laughed a lot, and enjoyed the company of family. Thank you Jon and Sue for housing us and nourishing us!!

A little shameless brag, here is a watercolor painting I did yesterday while we were all enjoying a lazy Christmas Day 🖼

Time to hit the road again. Next stop… Austin, Texas!

What a relaxing, delicious, and talkative stay we have had with Lois and Diana Thornton!

Diana is Ryan’s first cousin, once removed and Lois is his great aunt who live in Poplarville, MS. They are living the rural life after spending years in New Orleans and surviving hurricane Katrina. We loved hearing their stories and thoughtful commentary on farm life, politics, kitten fostering, river boat living, animal care, music, and SO many other topics.

They are thinkers through and through.

Diana made us delicious meals, my favorite was the homemade pizza loaded with shrimp and mushrooms including local powdered mushrooms or “fairy dust” for that umami goodness 😍 She even made the dough!

Ryan and I enjoyed going deep into his family genealogy which Diana has devoted countless hours to compiling and organizing. You can check out her website here for genealogy:

https://www.family.dianathornton.com/

And her website here for some gorgeous photography:

https://photos.dianathornton.com/

We also had the treat of seeing Diana perform on stage. She is a VERY talented musician and so humble. Her voice is mesmerizing and she enjoys Irish inspiration in her music and unique tuning on her guitar. We heard her using DADGAD tuning which to me sounded reflective and deep.

Thank you Lois and Diana for taking us in and enriching us with your knowledge and ideas. We love you and hope to see you again soon at a family reunion!

Now we are off to New Orleans for a few days by car due to rain. Stay tuned for a post on our visit to one of the most historic cities in the USA!

Cream cheese, yogurt, bagels, sausage, eggs, muffins, biscuits, waffles, toast, cereal, and COFFEE were all devoured in the delicious breakfast at the Days Inn of Newton Mississippi. Right as we were finishing breakfast we got a call from Jerry Smith telling us that he was driving south for a doctors appointment, and to get our bikes together if we wanted a ride.

Jerry drove us to Laurel Mississippi where he had his appointment and we said our goodbyes before taking off down highway 11. (We later found out from Lois and Diana that this road goes all the way up to Canada!)

Our goal was 76 miles to Poplarville, Mississippi where Ryan’s cousin, Diana and great aunt, Lois live. We made it just before the cold dark, thank god the days are getting longer the farther south we go.

We stopped for a spontaneous lunch at Mak’s and had some of the best Mac and cheese and cheeseburgers of our lives for $7.50! That fuel powered us only about 25 miles before we needed another snack. This time we chose a healthier option: nuts and prunes. Delicious!

Now we are hanging out with some extended family after a salmon and shrimp feast learning all about New Orleans and a variety of other subjects from these two very kind and interesting relatives.

Route info for interested readers:

Highway 11! That’s all folks 😊

Okay. Weird day. But we also had a good one! Allow me to elaborate:

This morning we rose to the sound of construction workers (we expected it) in Lori’s home. They were very nice! We also woke up to near freezing temperatures and hit the road nice and bundled up for a 50 mile ride.

Not two miles in, Ryan had another flat and after fixing that, ANOTHER. We ended up in a McDonalds for a couple of hours as the mysterious popping tires were investigated. A small shard of glass was found and disposed of. Done with that right? NOT!

To be continued, but first, allow me to introduce Jerry Smith.

Jerry was in line with us at McDonalds and surprised Ryan and I by buying us breakfast! How generous and kind! We had a meal with him and thoroughly enjoyed his company and hearing about his life. He left us with his number in case of any emergencies while we were in the area.

Thank goodness because a few more miles down the road Ryan’s bike required more maintenance and we ended up stuck outside in 38 degrees for a couple of hours trying to fix it with freezing fingers. Jumping jacks ensued for body warmth as we called Jerry to see if he would let us use his shop to fix Ryan’s bike.

We are so thankful to Jerry and his family for entertaining us for the afternoon and then driving us to a nearby town for a cozy nights sleep in a Days Inn. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! He will be picking us up again in the morning while he runs an errand further south and can drop us off! It will be like we pedaled all day after all 😊

It’s 8pm and we are full and sleepy, but Ryan is still trying to fix his bike’s tires. What will a new day bring?! All I know is that I’m ready to pedal, and that Ryan is such a trooper still working hard. I’m very thankful for his endurance!

Route info for interested readers:

Still trucking along down that 15!

We left Aubri and Trevor’s house in the afternoon yesterday and pedaled a little over 20 miles before crawling into the Tombigbee National Forest with our bikes for the night.

After a good (slightly angled downhill sideways due to hilly terrain) sleep, we packed up and left for some mileage before the forecasted rain hit us.

Our ride today was grey and hilly AND windy but it was fun to be back on the road and felt great to be moving. We also had two flat tires to fix, GO RYAN! I’d say he’s officially a bike mechanic.

Our hideaway tonight couldn’t have worked out better, we are dry as can be while it is thundering and lightninging, being windy and rainy outside.

Thank you to Lani Beason (I think I am probably spelling your name wrong.. sorry!!), Meredith, and Lori for helping us out tonight. We are camped out, inside of Lori and her husband’s beautiful home that will be completed for them to move into next week.

Route info for interested readers:

We left Tombigbee National Forest on Highway 25 and then turned onto Highway 15 South down to Philadelphia, MS.

We just left Trevor Prickett, Aubri Flores, and their dog Bailey’s lovely apartment after three days of cooking, baking, art making, nature walking, party going, and uno playing.

I had so much fun letting loose with Aubri and enjoying her creativity and honesty. It was great to get some time with a girlfriend and to make some art together. She is incredible at spotting and collecting beautiful things and just being around her was inspiring! We also spent a lot of time in the kitchen together and cooking with her was a real pleasure. She is graceful and so good at going with the flow! Thank you Aubri for enduring my excited energy! I was so happy to be spending time with you ❤️

She’s studied photography and took these cool reflection pictures on our hike 😍

Trevor, Ryan’s long time friend is studying psychology at MSU and he has the most interesting and insightful observations. It’s fun to listen to him and Ryan, who is also a deep thinker, get into all kinds of crazy topics and hilarious discussions. He also knows WAY more about music than I and has a fantastic record collection and music library on his phone which kept our car rides interesting and enjoyable.

He introduced us to a new genre of music, Konnakol, that comes from South India and is basically is vocal percussion. I’d recommend a listen!

Thank you SO much for letting us invade your space for three days. We had a fantastic, very memorable time. We will miss you both and look forward to seeing you again! Hopefully sooner than later 🙂

Ryan and I are enjoying our time in Starkville and are loving stay with Jerry and Libby Gill while we wait for his friends, Trevor and Aubri to finish up finals at MSU. We will be staying in Starkville another 3-4 days to spend time with them before heading down to Poplarville, MS where we will visit Ryan’s family, Diana and Lois before heading to New Orleans.

This morning there was a dusting of snow on the ground, and while I’m sure a tent would have been cozy, it was pretty nice to wake up inside instead 😉

I will be updating this posting with pictures here of some of our stay with Libby and Jerry, so check back tomorrow!

We’re on our way right now to see their horses, Fancy and Skipper 🐎

A quick story of our stay with them:

Jerry and Libby Gill fed us, inspired us, encouraged us, and made us feel like family these past three days! We loved getting to hear about their time as school administrators in Alaska, their country upbringings and surprising social connections, and their current pastimes and interests. (Thank you for showing us Tuba Skinny!)

We also loved meeting and connecting with your dogs, Buddy and Black Jack and your horse, Fancy (we didn’t get to meet skipper this time).

We’ve left inspired, rested, and with happy full tummies 😊 thank you thank you!!! We will miss you!!