to Simmesport

race with the weather today-
mission: do fifty miles with out getting rained on.
objective: reach Simmesport
out come: camp

mission conclusion:

managed to only ride in light rain today. about twenty
miles into it some clouds that i had been watching
as they headed north while i was headed north east,
all of the sudden were all around me. how did that happen?

since it was cool out i was able to push even harder.
but mainly i just lucked out, those clouds, as threatening as they were, never dumped. so, i made it to the shelter of another convenience store/restaurant in time to only escape a drizzle. i waited for about a half an hour in case the down pour was coming... then just rode out into the rain. it died out in a half an hour or so.

this is something i forgot to mention earlier.
the smells out here. it started back in Texas leading up to the Sam Houston National Forest. out there it just smells of Pine. it permeates the air. once you get further into east Texas you get to the longing operations, so then the smell of growing Pine is mixed with fresh cut Pine. it's hard to describe, it's kind of a tangy yet thick woody smell, just breathing in you feel like you're taking in the nourishment of the life the Pine gave up. you're eating tree!

in Louisiana, again it's hard to describe, especially because a lot of people were moving the grass today, so you could definitely smell that, but there was this other scent coming from woods and i couldn't tell you what it was but it distinct from Texas.

and so yeah, i didn't know that Louisiana had Palm Trees, (so does Sam Houston National Forrest) they grown everywhere....and there are these amazing Live Oaks, the Live Oak picture i posted here is not one that i shot because i was trying to beat the rain but i saw some that were very similar, and they were a beautiful sight to behold-(also, you never know when someone's dog is going decide to run next to you for 20 seconds and bark alot, so sometimes it's hard to stop and take a picture-but that's pretty fun it self, i'll usually taunt the dog because it doesn't have the stamina to keep up for very long) there's big ass Maples here too, every tree is way bigger than the ones in Texas. i don't need to mention the Bald Cypress....

the most common crops i've seen growing are soybean, corn, cotton, rice and sorghum, although they called sorghum something else or i just wasn't understanding the accent. but i think the crops might have something to do with the smell.

i met these really funny ladies that owned this grocery store in a Village called Grand Cain-(i like how they call these little towns villages), they offered to let me camp there but it was about twenty miles away from where i wanted to end up today, i forgot their names and yes i should have got pictures of them, they were really cool and had dire warnings against staying in Simmesport. i met several people along the way that were from Simmesport, none had great things to say of it. there was another awesome grocery store in Dupont, with a really nice guy who owned it with his wife (i think) , he told me i was welcome to come in side and eat, even though i was eating my own food. he seemed surprised that i didn't just know that that was acceptable- (city life...) this place actually had fresh fruit and vegies, not much mind you but they at least had stuff. alot of these places are gas station/cafe and grocery store and have boxed food and kitchens that make fried shit. fried everything, everything is fried. Fried. Fried. Fried.

i camped at a bayou last nite, at a camp ground that had wi-fi- there was some super facebook activity going on last night. i talked to a million people back in Austin, all in interweaving conversations and picked up a logo gig- hopefully i can find the time to do it while i'm on the road.

so tonight my brother talked me out of camping at this park by the bayou. i kind of forgot that i already did so the night before and did not get my leg bit off by a gator. so after i wasted money on this smelly hotel room (still smells better than my tent...) i talked to a new friend i have back in Mamou and she said gators are pretty scared of people and certainly won't come near fire and don't come near tents either and go for small animals and babies (if left unattended)- she said you could see their red eyes on the water's edge at night. either way it's cool that my bro was worried about me-

i still haven't seen a gator either.

and oh yeah, bayou water is Brown. Brown water.

i met one of the local police men, he was a hoot! a real sweet guy and he said they'd down to the park in a minute if i had any trouble, so yeah i coulda stayed in the park tonight for free- no worries, imabouta be up in the Natchez Trace and that's gona be primarily in the bush- plenty of time to get dirty in the woods.

tomorrow: St. Francisville.