Awoke Saturday morning with developing anticipation, weather looks good for now, temperature was great, legs felt good, pretended I was 19 years old , hit the street and didn't look back,
Blood pressure was 109 over 71, sitting pulse 65, MP 3 player charged, camera broken.
As Greely suggested I headed west, river levee toward Spillway, will ride till weather stops me.
Mounted the levee at Williams, coated my lungs with wheat dust at the dust bowl in St Rose, aka grain elevators. Not much traffic, most anticipated rain, I am ruthless, disregard for common sense is my middle name. Traversed the Norco sulphur exchange , got my snoot full, heavy air created a scrumptious soup of sulphur, wheat and corn dust,tug boat exhaust, I love it.. . I reached the spillway in no time, sky was still clear, model airplane pilots were working on their little planes.
I never see any flying , they just work in them , I guess that's what they do. The bike path is intermittent at this point, have to travel the River Demolishion Derby Road through Montz,
was able to jump back on at the beautiful Bayou Steel Plant. Passed Little Gypsy Electrical Generator Plant, fished there when I was a teenager, 100 years ago. The River area through Laplace is beautiful, the bike path through Laplace is beautiful, needs a few garbage cans. Finished my 2nd Gatorade, had half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, still charging forward. Recognized the Marathon Refinery, pictured it on Airline Hwy, gee I thought to my self, long way from home, planned on 50 to 60 miles today, felt great , in a grove, legs feel great, next town Reserve, then Garyville. Visited with some of the locals, (believe that), enjoyed the homespun scenery, everything was quaint and riveresque. I reached Mount Airy at 35 miles, decision time, I'm close enough to make Baton Rouge, Marie would love to drive an hour to pick me up, or do I turn around and go back home, or just follow the Mississippi to Canada, change my name , get a job as a grocery clerk, live under a bridge in summer and hitch hike to Florida in the winter to panhandle. recond I'll just turn around an go home. Finished the 2nd half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich , sucked down half my banana, instantly was rejuvenated, headed home like the hero I am. Again I reached the spillway in no time, looking up I noticed the sky on my right was black, not dark but black, it seemed to make a horseshoe in front of me, I spotted a clearing about 5 miles ahead, OK if I can reach the clearing before it comes down I'll be fine. Peddled like a mad man, I was passing cars I was going so fast, started feeling drizzle in Norco, as I covered ground east it got heavier and heavier, I'll stop under the Destrehan Bridge for shelter, for there was none here, hadn't seen another rider for 3 hours, apparently they have better contact with meteorologist than I have. A white wall appeared about a mile ahead, seen it before, it races up to you, the raindrops are solid , cold , constant , like so many steele balls bouncing on your skin, face, arms, legs, I made it to the Destrehan bridge to no avail, the rain was down to a drizzle, I kept riding. Developed a racing stripe up my back, my padded shorts were saturated with cold rain water and street grit, but hey, I love this remember, made it home safe and sound. 73 miles for the day. Needed a hot shower, took one. Went straight to the nursing home to see my mom , she says to me "too bad you can't ride today with all this rain", I just smiled ," yea mom, too bad".
ps: didn't ride Sunday, not just raining but deep, went out and got a new camera, a waterproof one.
