This past week has been a great time of visiting with friends in New Orleans. I ate some amazing food and had great conversation. But, on Monday morning it was finally time to say goodbye and begin my adventure.
My friends and i gathered for a last cup of joe at Cafe Du Monde before we said our goodbyes and took pictures before I rode off into the sunset…. I mean sunrise… It was hot!

Leaving Cafe Du Monde

I rode north the levee on Lake Ponchatrain and headed east on Leon C Simon Dr to Read Blvd then cut back down to Hwy 90 or Chef Menteur Hwy which i took 30 miles, all the way out to the bridge at Fort Macomb. I detoured a block to fill my water bottles and say hi to the Dufores. Miss Betty made sure I had a bite to eat and extra water before i left and Ron said he wished he could come along.
I continued on 90 around the east side of the lake and north past the bridge at Fort Pike.

The road along 90 has a wide paved shoulder but it is littered with glass and other debris. At about mile 37 I suffered my first flat followed by a second only a mile down the road. With only two spare tubes to start I was praying this would be the last.
It was dreadfully hot and humid but as i was fixing the first flat it rained a bit and cooled me off.
After the bridge I turned west..ish on 433 which was a much cleaner road but after only a short distance the shoulder disappeared and I had to ride the line. This is where it started to really rain… not your ordinary light rain, but a monsoon like rain… I was now officially wet! The road meandered past mostly fisherman’s homes before landing me in Slidell. It stopped raining for a bit when I turned onto hwy 11 north to hwy 190 west. A couple miles over, I jumped onto the trail head of the Tammany Trace bike trail.

The Trace is a rail to trail project and it is newly paved for much of the way which takes you about 27 miles through mostly shade and woods. It was a smooth fast trail… except for the rain… As soon as I got on the trail it started to rain like a monsoon again! But, I was already wet so I pushed through toward my target finish.
I made it to Mandeville and took a break under a shelter for while to avoid the rain. I saw a shaved ice stand in the park so I decided to role over… as i did my back rack snapped off and fell down onto my tire. Not Good! It was about 5:45 and most stores in this part of the world close at 6. A man who was at the shelter saw my plight and offered to give me a ride to a bike shop a few blocks away and i was able to procure a new rack and a couple of new spare tubes. I made the repairs and hit the trail again… it was now getting late and still had 12 miles to go.
With no more mishaps or rain, I rolled into historic Covington at about 8pm.
The B&B I was staying at was only a few blocks off the trail and was a welcome sight.
After 85 miles, Heat, Torrential rain, 2 flats, a broken rack and wasted time, all I wanted to do was eat and go to bed.
I highly recommend staying at the Camellia House B&B if you ever find yourself in Covington.

After changing out of my “wet suite”, I walked two blocks to a Thai restaurant and had some chicken pad thai.
I went back to my room and fell sleep on top of the bed only to wake in the morning to the sound of my alarm.