2017 10-29 Simmesport to St Francisville (59.5 miles)

Warm and comfy inside the sleeping bag, cold and damp outside.  Where would you want to be?  Right!  Stay in today.  If only we could.  Breaking up camp and packing away the tent this morning was a real cold ordeal with a temperature of 34 degrees at 6:30 AM.  Quickly do what needs to be done and get to the truck stop store and restaurant for breakfast and, more importantly, to get warm.  Take your time, no hurry to get on the road today.  The speed of the bike just adds to the wind chill – burr.  After a very leisurely breakfast, it was a good morning to dawdle, it’s on the road and off to our destination, St Francisville.  Tom, Ed and Joe started together and stayed together the entire day.  It started as a very pleasant ride on the levee road, away from the traffic and accompanying noise of cars.  Shortly after leaving town, we turned and stopped at the beginning of the levee road.  A man walks from the parking lot of a small church across the street from the start of the levee road, where we had stopped to decide how to proceed.  It turns out he is the pastor of the small church, where services will start in a short time.  He wanted to greet us and let us know we are taking the long way.  We chatted and indicated the long way was preferred as it was more scenic and peaceful.  He agreed but just wanted to make sure we knew.  He indicated he lived on the levee road and that in a few miles we would come to White Hall, a famous old plantation house whose original owner founded Simmesport.  He wished us safe travels as we parted.

We continued on the levee road for about 20 miles, and indeed it was peaceful.  For the first time on this trip, we passed numerous fields of sugar cane.  We also passed several small old cemeteries.  Due to the high water table and threat of floods, the graves are shallow and capped with large heavy cement or stone slabs.   The levee road turned to a very rough surface in the final few miles, and the pleasant ride turned into a kidney cruncher.   Reaching SR 1 was a relief and the smooth wide shoulders allowed us to sail along at what seemed like an effortless high rate of speed.  We soon reached the small town of Morganza and a possible lunch stop.  Dismounting and parking our bikes in front of a small convenience store adjoined to a small restaurant, we were greeted by a very nice lady who had just finished doing some shopping at the store.  She asked us many questions about our trip, like where we started, how long we had been traveling so far, where we would end, and so on.  She started to leave then turned and asked if she could pray for us.  Why sure.  So she said a small prayer out loud for our safe travel and successful journey.  What a kind gesture from this perfect stranger.  We meet the nicest people along the way.

It was a long day in spite of the relatively short miles.  A sign that we had a very relaxed and laid back ride today.

Tomorrow is another layover day.  Many of us will spend it visiting some of the many old plantations in this area.  For example, the Myrtles Plantation dates back to the late 1700s and is considered one of the most haunted homes in America.  Another is the Rosedown Plantation, dating from the early 1800s.  Both are located less than 2 miles from our hotel.

Pictures

Map