day 1: new orleans to gonzales, louisiana 65 miles

of course, nobody got any real sleep last night.  it always happens.  the night before the first day of riding and everyone's as excited as a bunch of little kids.  breakfast was from the "grand slam" menu at the nearby denny's.  most everyone loaded up on pancakes, bacon, eggs and fruit.

on a day that promised a lot of sun, humidity and temperatures in the upper 80's, we were off before 8:00 am.  a right out of the motel parking lot, and another right, then back up on the mississippi levee to start our adventure and the ride north up the river to minneapolis.

we left the motel en masse and headed up to the levee.  only one half mile into the ride and we were all stopped by a quarter of a mile long kansas city southern railroad train.  once up on the levee, the group known as "the fossils" quickly formed a pace line and were doing around a 20-mile per hour average.  i got into the second group that was hovering around 18 miles per hour.  we kept that up even after stopping for the group photo shoot and on for much of the morning.

everyone getting into photo op mode in front of the destrahan plantation

the tour organizers requested we all wear the colors this morning; the official ride bike jerseys.  day 1 includes a photo op in front of one of the many plantations along the route today.  this first one, destrahan plantation, is only 10 miles up the road.  i don't have a copy of the group shot, but trust me, it's not all that pretty.  from here on in, we'll only be asked to wear the colors coming into memphis, st. louis and minneapolis.

the first day of a ride is usually when i let excitement take over from practical sense.  i get caught up in the moment and the pace of the group instead of staying within myself.  in talking with many of the guys on this ride, i realized they were far faster riders than i could ever hope to be.  and this morning proved that point.

just as has happened in rides like this before, i go out too fast, keeping up with the pack for a good amount of time, and then pay for it by tiring later in the day.  today, i was able to keep up the pace until around 45 miles.  at that point, i dropped back and either paced myself or caught on with one or more of the other riders who were either coming up from behind or whom i'd caught up to as their pace slackened.

san francisco plantation

our one and only rest stop today was at the 34-mile mark, the san francisco plantation.  although i've promised myself to spend more time actually seeing the sights tomorrow, i'm at a loss today to tell you anything about this one, other that its bright colors which are so unlike most of the more traditional stylings of plantation buildings in this region.

all along the river roads today, we passed sign after sign of the vibrant industrial life along this section of the mississippi.  from steel mills to bauxite refineries (everything approaching and surrounding the area was covered in a fine reddish brown dust) to cargill and adm silos, the route was buzzing with activity.

i just love this sign.  most of the chemical, ore, grain and steel plants were in st. john parish.  while i didn't stop to take pictures of all that scenery, i had to snap a shot of this sign.  is it's actual name, st. john parish, THE baptist parish, or is it st. john the baptist parish?  either way, i love the play on words that the sign creates
(and, yes, it's the latter).

once out of the industrial corridor, we were in and out of farms and wetlands most of the rest of the day before arriving here in gonzales ("the jambalaya capital of the world" -- their boast.  i just report the news).  along the way, we caught some great glimpses of giant blue herons coming out of the marshes, a huge snake just lying in the middle of the shoulder, and cattle.  the cattle ranch was particularly funny as there were tons of egrets all alongside the steers, pecking around for food and interacting with their larger neighbors as if to ask "are you going to eat that?"

one final word about the backroads of louisiana.  scenic as they may be, this state's road system wasn't built to accommodate cyclists.  the roads are extremely narrow and, when there are shoulders, they are filled with all kinds of debris (roadkill, bits of shredded tires, gravel, etc.) that can cause havoc on bike tires.  from what we're told, we'll have to deal with those conditions until memphis.  oh well.