Waking this morning to clear skies and cold air, we faced a
50+ mile ride to get to Simmesport with the rest of the group, who had a 30
mile day. The air temperature was 41 at 7 AM but the wind chill brought that temp down
to 35. Needles to say, Tom and Joe
dressed in their warmest cycling clothing.
Normally as the sun rises the temperature warms up and we start to shed
layers of clothing. Today that
did not happen, and all cold weather gear stayed on the entire day. To make things more challenging, we faced a
direct head wind of 12 miles an hour for the first 24 miles. Later, as our route changed direction
slightly, the wind changed to a quartering head wind, which made it slightly
easier to peddle, but only slightly. It
felt good to roll into the camp today, and take a nice hot shower. We are staying at a truck stop and camping
behind the facility. The temperature is
expected to be even colder tonight, but dry! It is reported to be 20 degrees below the seasonal norm for this time of year. Oh lucky us.
Taking every opportunity to get indoors during today’s ride,
we had two good stops. The first was for
coffee and donuts at a very nice little shop with freshly made donuts, Pappa J's Donuts. Joe ordered two jelly donuts, but they
only had one left. The lady called back
to her help in the back room and the worker quickly made up a fresh jelly donuts to fill
his order. All was now good in donuts-ville. The second stop was at Bernards Cajun Sea-Fry for lunch, a place suggested to us by a nice lady in town, a place
where locals eat – always look for where the locals eat. The food was excellent, the service good and a
welcome relief from the wind.
We are eating dinner at the truck stop tonight. This is the only option available to us. Not all of us are camping at the truck
stop. Three have chosen to stay at a
near by hotel. It is not all that appealing. One staying there actually opted to take their
shower at the truck stop rather than in their room – it is that bad. Why stay there? The thought of a cold tent seems more
inviting. Neil pushed on to a town down
the rode, New Roads. Neither the hotel
nor a cold tent seemed appealing.
No comments:
Post a Comment