Day 23: To Baton Rouge, La: Off-Route
Tuesday February 23, 2010, 81 miles (130 km) - Total so far: 954 miles (1,535 km)
We didn't get on the road as early as we had planned, but we were moving pretty good, knowing we had a long day ahead of us. We rode through New Orleans for about 20 miles, then got on 61 for the next 50. Alot of this highway was through swamp land with nothing around. It was pretty uneventful, except when I got my 4th flat in 3 days. We also had a headwind all day. Not cool. We did stop at wal-mart and I got a replacement pair of cargo shorts. Then we kept riding. Around mile 55 I proceeded to get my 5th flat in 3 days. Whatever. I've become a pro at patching tires.
We finally get to our hosts house for the evening around 4:30. Ryan, our host, lives with Seth and his very large black lab named bear. We also met there girlfriends. Everyone was great. They let us get showered and do some laundry. Ryan also went out and picked us up some po boys for dinner. After dinner he brought me by Dave the local bike mechanic to get some new tires. He actually had a set of Schwalbe Marathon Pluses and he threw in some heavy duty tubes too. I should be flat free for the rest of the trip according to Dave. We'll see how that goes. The tires are also a little wider than what came on the bike which is cool. I'm just not going to be goin as fast, and if I really don't get anymore flats, then I'm okay with that.
Tomorrow we are shooting up to St. Francisville to reconnect with the route. Its looking like about 35 miles, but we probably won't leave too early. We should be back with the group by the end of the week.
