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| Leaving our camp site Day 27, Simmesport, LA |
The wind was whipping this morning and the temperature was about 48 degrees. On the brighter side, the sun was out and we were on the Southern Tier trail! The first half of the ride was brutal. Winds were out of the west/northwest blowing at 35-40 mph! And, as it turns out, we were headed southwest ALL day.
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| Fields of Louisiana ominous skies today |
In order to keep my balance I had to keep my head tucked, just barely glancing forward at the road in front of me, and a tight grip on the handlebars. Any big movement, including shifting my weight out of the saddle or turning my head side-to-side to see the landscape around me, could, if a wind gust decided to blow, result in me losing my balance or getting blown across the road. Not fun.
The first half of today's ride was definitely in the top 5 toughest on this journey thus far. As we sat eating lunch we tried to figure out how we far we should/could go today. The wind was really taking a toll. We spoke with Jeff and Jim and decided to keep the day short (60 miles). Fair enough.
BUT, after lunch, we started heading south for a while and the winds shifted a bit to our advantage. We set sail (Kevin, with his flags, literally set sail) and cruised down the road at 22 mph for about 10 miles. Woooo hoooo!!!!! At last, a nice reprieve. We decided to pull over and call the boys to announce we would be going further today, after all. We cruised for about 20 miles until we turned west again. As we suspected, the last 15 miles of the ride were with winds in our face or blowing us across the road.
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| Approaching the burning sugarcane fields |
Around mile 50 we saw a surprising sight. The fields to our right were on fire! At first I just thought that the sun, wind and dry air must have caused a local combustion of some sort. But he local farmers nearby seemed not to notice or care. Strange. Then I realized that they were purposefully burning the harvested sugarcane fields!
It was a tough 76 miles today. We traveled from Simmesport, LA to Mamou, LA (The Cajun Music Capital of the World!). But, as I see it, each mile we push through puts us closer to our goal. Hey, we are not far from the Texas boarder! Resting up tonight and hoping the wind dies down for tomorrow's jaunt!
