Sara: Day 31

The profile for today’s 90 mile ride from Kinder to Livonia showed 0’ total elevation gain and loss, so I’ve been waiting for this ride since September 4. Well, it wasn’t actually 0’, and that ~10mph headwind from yesterday showed back up, but we pulled off another 90 mile day without incident.

Today’s route took us through a string of towns, so there was plenty to look at and traffic to boot. Leaving Elton, one such town about 13 miles into the ride, we crossed a bridge over a small swampy-looking puddle and saw probably 100 turtles sunning themselves in the sand next to the brown water below. When they noticed our presence, they all scrambled into the water and disappeared. It’s remarkable to me how animals are immune to the car and truck traffic, but one glimpse of a quiet cyclist in the distance and they freak – dogs, cows, and, apparently, turtles.

We’ve been on US 190 for the last 2 days. Yesterday was a great experience, but today it was a different road. There was an increase in traffic due to our proximity to Baton Rouge and the traffic was the least friendly of the trip. The shoulder was littered with gravel, broken glass, overgrowth, and big, nasty cracks running parallel to our direction of travel. I got another flat which, in addition to a few I haven’t reported over the last several days, brings our total to 22.

After leaving Krotz Springs and crossing a cool albeit unnecessarily steep bridge over the Atchafalaya River, we lost the shoulder on US 190 and looked to Old 190 for an alternate route. A mile in, we hit a “No Trespassing” sign indicating a private wildlife reserve. We took the road anyway, and what a road it was! We had to navigate some 10-20 gravel pits covering the road, but otherwise it was serene, scenic, and successful. It dumped us back on US 190 after 5 miles and we made it safely into Livonia.

Finishing the ride in Livonia