Let the Bon Temps Roulet September 14th, 2009

In New Orleans, of course

I've been a busy man since you last heard from me.  Many of you probably saw the pictures of the giant excavator, Big Brutus, in West Mineral, Kansas, on my facebook page.  It was pretty cool, and the ladies were nice enough to let me ride my bike up to it o some pictures, despite it being somewhat frowned upon.  From there I left and headed East.  I rode clear through Missouri and into Kentucky.  I crossed the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers right above their delta.  Pretty uneventful day, except that the town I had planned on staying in turned out to not have a hotel.   Ihad to push on another 18 miles or so.

The next day I got an early start and made it to Memphis at a reasonable hour, just after lunch.  I had arranged for a Couch Surfing host, and ended up staying in the mid-town district, which is the hip, artsy, trendy place to live apparently.  Bumber stickers were abundant saying "Mid-Town is Memphis".  My host was very generous and played tour-guide.  We did Graceland, got some killer barbecue, and cruised Beale Street a little taking in some fabulous live music and having a few beers.  It was a nice experience.

The next morning I headed South with the intention of hitting Mississippi, Arkansas, and ending in New Orleans.  Turns out I didn't study the map hard enough and my route did not go into to Arkansas.  While sitting out some rain over a breakfast at Waffle House (thank god I'm back in the South East) I poured over the map and picked the nearest river crossing into Arkansas.  It added about 2.5 hours to my day's ride.  I literally drove over the Mississippi, passed the sign saying welcome to Arkansas, did a U-turn, and got back on track to New Orleans.  Some pretty heavy rains all morning, and as the sun broke through it got really really hot in all of my rain gear.  I ditched that and got back on the road.  The last 30 or 40 miles into New Orleans was really cool, riding over a long continuous causeway through the bayou.  Neat little homes lined the canal, and I can only guess that they are only accessible by boat. 

I'm now sitting at my Youth Hostel, about to take a shower and go look for some good Jambalaya.  I think I am going to spend two night here since the hostel is less than $20 a night.  From here I will head down to Key West, probably taking two days to do it.