Louisiana---"I find it amusing. Men are supposed to be made out of steel or something. I just sat there. I just held Shelby's hand. There was no noise, no tremble, just peace. Oh, god. I realize as a woman how lucky I am. I was there when that wonderful creature drifted into my life and I was there when she drifted out. It was the most precious moment of my life."

It was so warm during the night that I slept on top of my sleeping bag, and woke up to stillness, dryness, and sunshine. Yay! We decided to leave a small "gift" here at Peaceful Pines...that blender we were going to make protein shakes with? Well...it has never happened. We buy Muscle milks because they are so convenient. So...the blender is going to stay here in Louisiana and we will have a little more room in that box for some of the souvenirs we seem to be collecting.

We ate our usual breakfast of yogurt and granola and Karen and I headed north on Highway 965. We were almost to the intersection where we would turn east on Highway 10 when we spotted a large snake out on the road. I am not afraid of snakes, but I'm not in love with them either. We think this one was a common water snake. He was alive, but seemed hurt...probably had been run over. A passing motorist thought we ought to kill it before it killed someone. Stanley was a little nervous and we told him that was fine...it is important to know what kind of snake you're dealing with before you go petting them.





I have always heard about the dogs in Kentucky from other cycling tourers. And Louisiana roads. I didn't think they were too bad. They were resurfacing part of Highway 10, and most of the day had good shoulders. We rode through the town of Jackson (what a great name), where there was an abundance of historic houses, and also through Clinton where the oldest working county courthouse stood. It is amazing to me that some of these structures are over 150 years old, yet in wonderful condition.











We turned south onto Highway 43 which runs through Albany and then Springfield. Yes...they're close together...just as they are in Oregon. How did that happen? Karen was stopped in Albany when a police officer sidled up alongside of us. He wanted to know where we were going, which roads we planned on taking, and then assured us that the roads we had chosen had good shoulders and low traffic. Awesome.


I finished up the last 30 miles or so and had one of my better averages...14.66. I had ridden 100.6 miles and climbed 1345'.

We hopped in the truck and headed east towards Alabama and Mobile. In fact, we got a decent tour of Mobile when we got a little off course. It happens. Thank God for Ortliebs. We seem to have a propensity for attracting thunderstorms and today was no exception. Yes...I got rained on a bit late in my ride, but then the skies cleared as we drove east...until we got to Mobile. The sky darkened and the rain was coming down in sheets. The lightning was...right in front of us and thunder cracked within a second of the flash. We got to Linda's house in Fairhope, Alabama around 8:30. She graciously let us stay in her travel trailer...ahhhhh, to be warm and dry.





Linda works for a hardwoods exporter. She commutes to work sometimes and recently went on a cycling holiday to Italy with Backroads. Color me jealous. She was a fabulous resource to us...giving us a better route to go north on in the morning, and an easy way to negotiate the crossing of I-10. Freeway crossings can be tricky, so I really appreciated her help. Who knows...we might even see a gator.

maybe you can't...because you won't...