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