{"id":23598,"date":"2018-05-08T21:28:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T01:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=23598"},"modified":"2018-05-08T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T01:28:14","slug":"day-24-tuesday-may-8-new-orleans-louisiana-to-bay-saint-louis-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=23598","title":{"rendered":"Day 24. Tuesday, May 8 – New Orleans, Louisiana to Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a quick breakfast of muffins and coffee, we were out of the door just before seven. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0With a long ride ahead and the temps supposed to get toasty, we wanted an early start. \u00a0The morning was still a comfortable 70\u00b0, but a bit humid. \u00a0Between the early start\"\"<\/a> and heading against commuter traffic, the wiggle out of the largest city in the state was fairly easy, colorful \"\"<\/a>and new sights, \"\"<\/a>enjoyable. \u00a0One last goodbye to Satchmo and the city of New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Thirteen miles later we were crossing the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel\"\"<\/a> that connects Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0Less than a mile later, we lost most of the traffic to the interstate.\"\"<\/a>These shrines\/temples\"\"<\/a> seemed very out of place in the middle of nowhere. \u00a0Eighteen miles from the center of the city, we crossed part of “The Great Wall of New Orleans”, \"\"<\/a>built after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, totally encircling New Orleans from<\/em> the water.<\/p>\n

After passing Textron, a manufacturer for military support vehicles,\"\"<\/a> we were in the middle of the bayou,\"\"<\/a> aka: nowhere.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0A small neighborhood appeared with large homes backing up to deep canals,\"\"<\/a> this too, seemed out of place in the middle of the bayou, but had a very romantic name – Venetian Isles.<\/p>\n

We pedaled through a stretch of vacation homes \"\"<\/a>bordering Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Saint Catherine; the house names \"\"<\/a>as interesting \"\"<\/a>as the houses.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our blistering 12 mph pace was no match for the tenacious horseflies. \u00a0You could almost hear them laughing at our defenselessness as they swarmed our heads and bodies. \u00a0The morning was getting hot, the horseflies were driving us crazy, we were getting cranky and the morning muffin’s energy had worn off. \u00a0Thankfully, all we had to do is cross this bridge, \"\"<\/a>past\u00a0Fort Pike<\/a>\"\"<\/a> and end up at a bait and tackle shop on the other side. \u00a0The shop<\/a> had the best prepackaged sandwich we’ve ever had and the proprietor,\"\"<\/a> Shanna, gave us a remedy for the relentless flies….jungle strength\u00a0<\/em>bug spray!<\/p>\n

After her shop, the road narrowed \"\"<\/a>and every joint in the road was a jolt to our duckies; one last road insult.<\/p>\n

Exactly four hours of riding, we crossed the East Pearl River\"\"<\/a> and were in Mississippi. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0Looking forward to hopefully better roads and finding them, complete with shade.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0It was a pretty ride\"\"<\/a> with very little traffic \"\"<\/a>and only the occasional gust of breeze in our face, but the heat was wearing us down.<\/p>\n

Shortly after one and on the edge of town, we stopped for something cold to drink (milkshake and sandwich) and a break from the now 92\u00b0 (shade) 105\u00b0 (sun) heat; thankfully the humidity was gone. \u00a0 We had pumped out 62 miles in five and a half hours and our legs (and bodies) were struggling against this first real day of heat. \u00a0The thirty minute break was just what we needed for the last three miles. \u00a0For dinner, we had scouted out a German\/Italian restaurant, but neglected to check if they were open; unfortunately not. \u00a0The second choice of Mexican was tremendously anticlimactic, so much so, we could not even take a picture. \u00a0But we’ve crossed into another state, better roads and hopefully a cooler day, tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\t\t