Day 21: To New Orleans, La: Off-Route
Sunday February 21, 2010, 51 miles (82 km) - Total so far: 849 miles (1,366 km)
Today started out pretty early, around 6ish. Ryan and I both started packing up our stuff to get an early jump on the day. About a mile away from where we were camping we stopped at a gas station to get some food. The clerk working the counter was awesome. She saw us pull up and was so into the ride, it was great. We got to talking to her, and she totally saved us. We had planned on taking backroads down to one of the bridges leading into New Orleans. Apparently they don't exist. Most of the roads we had mapped out were dirt, so what we were left with was interstates.
About 20 miles later, on interstate 59, I got my first flat of the trip. The amount of debris on the shoulder of an interstate is much, much worse than the backroads we've been riding on. Anyway, this nail went through my tire, the tube, and into the inner wall of my rim. Pretty crazy. We put a tire boot on the tire and threw a new tube in and got back on the road.
After like 10 more miles, the road had changed into I-10 and we were crossing this bridge. I think part of it was wiped out by Katrina. So were cruising down the road, just pushin. Bam, another flat. This time it looked like a piece of glass. I threw a little patch on it and was good to go. During this stop, Ryan checks his phone and had an e-mail from Meredith, the coworker of Sara whose family we stayed with in Hurley. She was trying to hook us up again! This time with her brother Chad who goes to University of New Orleans, and has a place here. We got his info and gave him a call, and that's where we are staying tonight.
We got here around 1, after grabbin some subway and trying to find his place. Showered up. Then Chad dropped us off at the French Quarter and walked around for a few hours. We checked out the Saint Louis Cathedral, the Mississippi River, Bourbon Street, all the street musicians and artists, and had a few drinks in the streets. Then we met up with Chad and got dinner at Coop's Place. I had seafood gumbo and some seafood jumbalaya. Chad's pre-med and went home to hit the books before meeting us for dinner. Pretty awesome dude, not that I had any doubts after meeting the rest of his family.
Anyway, its biker midnight and we are pretty spent. Might do some more exploring tomorrow. Definitely need to find a bike shop.
