Day 49 - October 28, 2017 - 30.83 miles, 75 ft ascent, 142 feet descent

Bunkie, LA to Simmesport, LA

Wow, what a downpour last night.  Eric, my roommate at the American Inn last night, did not make it in until after 1900, and he was soaked.  He holed up in the nature center at the State Park for a while, to wait out the first downpour (2 hours), but he was still 20+ miles from the hotel.  He got caught in the worst of the rain, in the dark (he had lights), and very dangerous conditions.  Glad he made it in okay.  Chalk it up to his youth (22)!

Only a 30 mile ride today, so after our 0700 breakfast, Eric and I went back to bed, and woke around 1000, refreshed and ready to go.  It was still a little cold.  I left the hotel, with only Eric and Ken remaining, bought some bottled water at the Dollar General (there is one in every small town on our route), then rode back to the route.  I met up with Ken coming out of the hotel, and we rode for about a quarter mile, until I learned that Joe and Tom R were at the local donut shop.  So, I stopped, Ken kept going, and I had a couple unglazed donuts with Joe and Tom.  We soon departed, in no rush, since we only had 30 miles to go.  I rode with Joe and Tom pretty much all day.

We stopped in the small town of Cottonport, and asked a local person at a convenience store where would be a nice place for lunch.  She did not hesitate to recommend Bernard's Cajun Sea Fry, a couple blocks off the route.  What a find!  A small hole in the wall place, very popular with the locals.  I played it safe, and had only fried fish and cole slaw, but I will indulge in more exquisite local cuisine next time!

The four of us departed Bernard's, and continued riding the route towards Simmesport.  We had a headwind to contend with, until we reached Moreauville, where we turned more southeast, and the wind was at our back.  The map took us onto an old highway, which was a little rough in sections, but it sure beat following the main two-lane highway, LA 1, which had too much traffic for my comfort. (We will later ride along LA 1, and it wasn't so bad.)

Joe did not turn onto the old highway, and Ken dropped off the back to take pictures or whatever, so it was just Tom and I on the old highway for a while, before Ken caught up with us again.  During this time, we passed through the "hamlet" of Hamburg.  Tom shot a video, which I can only load onto FB and not into Blogspot, in which I mentioned "Hamburg - this is where they make hamburger!"  See the video on Facebook

Arriving in the town of Simmesport, we located Maddie's Truck Stop on LA 1, and set up our tents.  Three others opted for a local hotel, but I think we had the better deal.  One of the three would not even shower at the hotel, due to the lack of cleanliness, and instead opted to shower at the truck stop, where the showers were wonderful.  Dinner was also in the truck stop, as they had a restaurant inside.  This is not like the typical interstate truck stops - the tents were set up on nice grass in the back, and the inside was impeccably clean.  The trucker's lounge was complete with showers and a washer/dryer, complete with detergent, at no charge.

We expect low temperatures tonight, so when it was finally time for bed, I made sure that my sleeping bag zippers were in full operating mode (most nights I don't use them!)