April 9, 2023: Mamou to St. Francisville, LA: 94 miles and 3 Dogs

Happy Easter! May the joy of the season fill your soul! Today, (actually yesterday) included our longest ride of the tour, 94 miles, with a slight headwind in the morning and a cold drizzle, which dissipated but stayed overcast and relatively cool all day, with temps in the high 50’s and low 60’s. As you can guess, this is somewhat unusual for Louisiana this time of year, and the locals are all amazed at the mild temperatures, which normally can easily get into the 80’s.

The night before, I had the opportunity to attend an Easter Vigil service at a local Roman Catholic Church in Mamou. Despite the fact that the town housed only around 7,000 people, the church was relatively large, and fairly well attended. Starting in candlelight (similar to my local church), the service lasted just a little over 2 hours, and included several baptisms and first communions. We returned to camp around 10:30, and “slept fast”, since we had an early departure the following morning, thanks to the long 94 mile ride.

In the morning, I awoke to a very soggy tent and about 25 – 30 snails, clinging to the tent screen. I’m assuming that word had gotten out as to just how slow I ride, and they figured that they could be considered “an omen”, or at least my mascot for the remainder of the tour. I had forgotten how the low sea level can create such wet and soggy conditions, and had to navigate around a lot of puddles and mud in the field in order to make it to the awnings, where a quick breakfast was served. After riding through our long 2 mile departure from a very rough dirt and gravel road, I entered onto a 2 lane road and was off!

The ride itself started with some drizzle, which kept the glasses fairly foggy and wet for the first half of the ride. Around 35 miles in, the route took me over a long bridge span, and emptied out onto a 5 mile “swamp road”, which looked as though it had not been serviced since the Louisiana Purchase. Despite the large rocks, pooled water, and dirt along our path, the ride was fascinating, as there were true swamps on either side of the relatively narrow road. The road was so rough, however, that one rider experienced a severed derailleur and a cracked tire rim, and other had a flat that caused a number of us to stop and help repair the tire, before we could continue. At one point, we were forced to ride through a very large pool of water that had spilled over from the swamp. Having to “un-clip” and extended my legs, I successfully coasted through the water and back onto dry land. The route also took me over the John James Audubon Bridge, built in 2011, over the Mississippi River. I stopped and took some photos, and watched as a large barge navigated the water below. I’m told that the width of the river at this point was over 1 mile.

Long story short, I made it the full 94 miles without much incident, and arrived at the Marydale Girl Scout Camp here in St. Francisville. St. Francisville records a population of 1,500 people, and is a part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan area, which is about 30 miles away. Back in the 1800’s, St. Francisville served as the capital of the Republic of West Florida, where area planters set up their own independent republic for 74 days, before being annexed to the Territory of Orleans, as a possession of the US. There are a number of historic homes in St. Francisville, the most notable the Wolf-Schlesinger House, which now operates at the St. Francisville Inn as a bed and breakfast.

Today is a “layover day”, where the plan is to clean and service the bike, take a walk, and possibly a nap, and prepare for our next ride tomorrow, a 58 mile ride to Kentwood. In the next 4 – 5 days, we will average about 70 miles a day. Our route will take us through the rest of Louisiana for the next 2 days, and then through Mississippi for only 2 days, before arriving in Alabama. The states are coming fast and furious these days.

I hope you all had a very blessed Easter. Enjoy the week!