Day 14: Plainview, LA to Chipola, LA

Daily Miles: 59.9 Total Miles: 779.4

Today's ride featured mainly pretty farming land

Today was another good day on the road. Once again, I was a little slow getting started due to two nights in a row of not-so-great sleep. I didn't actually start my ride until 10am today, by far the latest start of the trip. It was a combination of laziness, tiredness, and needing to drive back out to the route. Once I got going I started feeling better and quickly made it the ~38 miles to Tangipahoa where I met up with Mary to drive a few miles up the road and have Subway for lunch. The ride was nice with a lot of gentle rolling hills, and I was really enjoying it. To give you an idea of the type of country we are riding through, there was a good 45 miles of today's trip with absolutely no services.

Who needs food or gas when you have Bebos?

No gas, food, nothing on the main route. Well, almost nothing. We headed back out after lunch to polish off the last ~20 miles of the day and about half way there we happened upon a small casino. In the middle of nowhere. Literally. There were just acres and acres of farms and then one building called Bebo's Casino. It was very strange, and as I was passing by I was 99% sure that I would see Mary's car parked out front. Surprisingly, however, she managed to resist the temptation. What the route lacked in amenities, it more than made up for with the countless dog attacks that kept me on my toes. I was greeted by at least 15 dogs today, by far the most of the trip, and I even tweaked my right knee again trying to outrun one of the bigger ones.

Lots of gently rolling hills

That's when I developed a new strategy for dealing with the dogs. I call it "Homeward Bound-ing." Now, instead of peddling really hard to try to outrun the dogs, I just slow down a little bit when the dogs come running. I go just slow enough that the dogs can keep up with me and then I just keep riding slowly, with the dogs following. A nice fit dog will keep running for over a mile. Then, when the dog gets tired of running and I get tired of going slow, I kick it in to high gear. I yell "Adios" to the dogs, and wish them good luck making it back home without the help of Sassy and Shadow. So far this strategy is working well. I will let you all know if I end up getting bit.

Mary enjoying the art at Magnolia Cafe

Mom did a little recon work and we found a nice, suitable shortcut tomorrow, cutting about 9 miles off the route and routing us over the brand-new Audubon Bridge crossing the Mississippi River. I was able to stop a little south of Chipola today and tomorrow have a short 43-45 miles to go before we pack up and head to New Orleans for our rest day. Tonight we're staying in St. Francisville, a cute town near the Mississippi with a lot of pretty plantation homes. We ate a great dinner in town at the Magnolia Cafe. We had a delicious first: spicy fried alligator bites. They were amazing!