Day 34: July 23: La Place to New Orleans LA: 43 miles

We Made It!!!!

We left the hotel after the best hotel breakfast yet! Everything was fresh and great! Thanks Best Western. Our rooms were already booked in New Orleans, though they were a bit difficult to find. Apparently there are 38k Lutheran youth in town for a community volunteer cleanup.

For the first dozen miles or so, we rode along the river in medium traffic. There were a lot of chemical factories and shipping businesses, but we left late so we could miss the morning rush........thus we were biking at lunch time. Whoops.

A road called Spillway Road was nice and quiet. The road was the smoothest surface we have seen in Louisiana, so the state had a construction crew on it to add pot holes.

There were some rough sections today, but we soon jumped on the Levee Trail which goes all the way into New Orleans. 23 beautifully paved miles, without the annoying obstacles that many other trails have.

Along the trail we stopped for lunch at Port Side Restaurant. The food was meh, the staff was friendly though. I liked the hush puppies, but one of Lauras had a spicy pepper inside.

It bugs me that all of the eateries in Louisiana use styrofoam. We rarely see a real plate or cup. The amount of litter is also a bit depressing.

We are not sure where, but at some point we entered the city of New Orleans. Taters was likely first, which is why she was apparently trying to lead.

We arrived at the French Quarter and rode right through downtown New Orleans. That was exciting. The streets were just wide enough for a parked car, our touring rigs, and the zipping traffic. Laura found it a bit stressful at first, but then we realized we could keep pace with the buses so we followed one through town.

We rode through our first parking ramp to nearly the top floor. This hotel was the first one in the entire trip that would NOT allow our bikes in our room, and wouldn't come up with a secure area for them. This was a bit disappointing, so I cannot recommend touring cyclists stay at the Holiday Inn in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

We walked to the Red Fish Grill for dinner; the place had amazing food though it wasn't cheap. We had to treat ourselves.

After dinner we went to get Beinegts at Cafe du Monde and then walked Bourbon Street. We asked a vendor for 5 slushees before realizing they were $10 each. DANG!

We had an amazing trip, and this is a neat place to end it. Thank you to everyone who followed us along for the journey. We will post some follow-up stuff later, and update some photos.

43 miles (1752 miles total)

Google Earth File

Comments

You were closer to home than you thought...

Some of those 38K Lutheran kids were from the New Richmond, WI area. I bet you never thought they were from WI. I know one of the kids that was there.

Can't wait for you to update your adventure with some photos.

smiles...happy you are all home!

Any more news?

Have they dipped their tires? Are their muscles getting stiff sitting in a car? Are they stopping anywhere on the way back north to get in some more touristy stuff? What is their ETA to the cheese state?

We are home!

We have made it back safely and Chuck and Amanda had a few hours longer, but should be home now too. Hopefully all of us get a good night's sleep back in our own beds.

Thank You Everyone

I would like to Thank Everyone for letting us follow along on your fantastic adventure.

A Special Thank You to Chris for missing sleep to bring us your daily updates and pictures. It was very much appreciated.

Thank You to Laura and Katie - you two ladies are amazing. It has been a pleasure reading about both of you and seeing your pictures.

Thank You to Uncle/Brother Rog for your "smiling pictures". Sammy & I so enjoyed your smiling pictures, your smile tells it all.

Thank You to Chuck. Sorry I never met you, but Thank You for being a part of the great adventure.

Thank You to Delores for the updates in between when they didn't have internet. I appreciated and truely enjoyed the daily updates. Also, thank you for bringing the group back home safely.

You should all be very proud-it's a once in a life time adventure, and a wonderful memory for all of you.

I will miss reading the blogs and seeing the pictures every morning.
I can't wait to see all the pictures.

Pedal on in your dreams everyone, Pedal on in your dreams