End of the Road!

Morning came and we all headed off to St. Bernard's State Park to begin the last leg of the journey.  Sara and Jan Fox too!Wheels were rollin by 7:00 am.  The humidity was thick in the air.  Terry and I took off down the road in a mist of early light.  The roads were flat and in great condition so we were off to a smooth start with a quick pace. We had a 76 mile day ahead.

 

Today we had low expectations of the scenery as we thought it would just be open fields and swamp.  Much to our surprise the southern end of Louisiana is populated with both large industries and communities.  There were remnants of Katrina around every corner.  Many abandoned homes that looked to be quiet lovely in their day.  Many of them all brick.  The insides were gutted.  Also a few plantations. 

We saw some groves of what looked to be some kind of fruit trees so upon a closer look sure enough they were lime trees.  We didn't steal any though for our margaritas.

We came to a point in the ride where we needed to cross over a back water way to get further south so we took the Pointe La Harache Ferry.  Sara and Jan went ahead in the car to find out what time the ferry left.  It ran every hour.  Sara was not sure we would make it in time so she ran ahead to stall the ferry driver.  We arrived just in time to load and then shove off.  Ferry gods were shining!  It was a 10 minute ferry ride and we were on our way again.

We were riding along much industry again and we could see the tops of ships over the tree tops.  There were several large schools being built on stilts so the water could run underneath them. They are really planning for the future.  Most of the new structures were being built on stilts.  If you saw the remnants you would be building like that too.  It was very enlightening.

I have to say the roads were great to ride on all day and there was plenty of shoulder.  The day flew by and 

Terry was like a horse heading for the hay barn.   When we got about 2 miles from the end there was some road construction and it was soft gravel in large chunks.  There is a sign at the end of this road that says The southern most point in La.  So we loaded up the bikes and headed down the road to find the sign.  It just didn't seem right to ride all this way and not get to see the sign.  Sure enough it was there at the end of the road and we got the photo to prove it. 

We got in the car and headed north back to New Orleans.  When a little rain cloud opened up and sprinkled a bit.  Which was absolutely amazing since we had not had one drop of rain the whole trip.  

We celebrated this evening at a restaurant called Red Fish with great cocktails, fine seafood and a decadent chocolate desert.   Turn out the lights the party is over.

The End!

Terry, Dave & Julie