Monday October 10, 2011, 60 miles (97 km) – Total so far: 857 miles (1,379 km)

This morning I was up early to find a laundry mat to dry our clothes. I found one about 1 ½ miles away so spent some time there allowing Jocelyn to rest more. Breakfast consisted of yogurt and fresh fruit from Race Trac. The motel manager told us about the local AAA office for maps. So we stopped there on the way out of town. As we were riding out of town on Hwy 190 west a girl caught up with us and flagged us over to tell us something. She said she wanted to do her good deed for the day and pointed out a parallel bike path that ran for almost 30 miles. It is part of the Rails and Trails Program. We immediately went there and enjoyed a few hours of a leisurely ride with no cars. This trail went through several towns. We stopped at Abita Springs for lunch. The local general store put out an excellent plate lunch. Glad I don’t live here as this food can be addicting. We ate lunch in the nearby community park. After that we took a nap on the lawn. We really needed that break. The end of the trail was the town of Covington an extremely biker unfriendly town. Of course we got lost and wandered around as drivers sped around with no shoulders and very sparse sidewalks. A friendly fellow cyclist saw our predicament and stopped traffic to allow us to be on our way. We asked directions for Hwy 190 west from several people and finally were on our way.

We continued our route to Hammond where we decided to stop early (around 4:30) for some much needed rest. We wandered around until we found the ideal motel – next to a Mexican restaurant! So now we are stuffed and happy. Hope to get past Baton Rouge tomorrow and pick back up with the ACA route.