"I'M FINE! REALLY, I'M FINE. JUST FINE"

May 7 - Opalousas to Livonia - 55 miles

It was hard getting out of town. The road surface was broken up concrete and no shoulder. We have found the drivers in Louisiana are not as patient or considerate as drivers in other states we've ridden in, especially Texas. We've been honked at more in just a week in LA than we have been the whole previous six weeks. (By the way, we give Texas the prize for "Most Bike Friendly" drivers thus far.) Even though Georgia believes in "taking the lane" when necessary, she actually felt squeezed off the road and took to the shoulder at one point. Misjudging the depth of the gravel we took our first fall of the ride. Rusty was able to get off the saddle and put his foot out on the ground but Georgia uses those really slick clip less pedals which means she was locked into the pedals and went down with the bike. No harm! After Rusty helped pry her foot out of the pedal, she jumped up and brushed off the gravel. She found that she was fine except for a skinned forearm and a bruised right heel of her hand and wrist. A kindly man walking along the shoulder saw the whole thing and was quick to offer help and concern.
We rode on to Washington about 6 miles and stopped to use the library to pay a bill and enjoyed chatting with the two charming southern ladies who work there. We are really going to miss this part of our experience.
About 20 miles out we stopped at Skelly's restaurant for lunch of a delicious grilled Cajun chicken salad and a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. We saved our PB&J for dinner that night. When we walked in and Georgia saw the alligator on the wall and the 165lb tortoise in the case that she had been here before on her previous ride. (check out the photos)
We headed out into head winds for the next sixteen miles on country roads and then US Hwy 190 for about eighteen miles. This is off the AC route. We've had to be creative because of the ferry not functioning, as mentioned before. As we were riding along the Hwy on really great shoulders, by the way, we enjoyed the gorgeous lush scenery and the swampy bayou along the side. The pond flowers were beautiful and so thick in places that the water wasn't visible. A couple of times out of the corner of his eye, Rusty thought he had seen an alligator but decided that must have been a tortoise slipping off a log. That caused Georgia to pay closer attention and all of a sudden hollered "there is one!" Stopped the bike and went back to get a picture. He looked like a cross between a log and tire retread. Got a great picture! Take a look! He then quickly slipped under the water and was invisible again.
Today's ride was great! We had lots of variety: flat roads, some head winds, two good steep climbs which were actually bridges, one over the Atchafalaya River and one over the train tracks. We also had a four mile bridge over what we figured was swamp land.
Arrived in Lavonia to a full motel. Oops! But just as we were pondering what to do the woman from the office came out to offer us a room on the second floor. Blessings! We had to tote stuff upstairs but we didn't mind.