We got a great start out of Lake End Campground – leaving about 8:30 – and headed out towards the city itself, and the first major bridge of the day. Only about 4 miles into our ride we reached the bridge, and in trying to figure where we should be to cross it, we were chased down by a guy on a bike, wanting to talk to us about where we are going, what we are doing, etc. After chatting with this guy for a few minutes, we explained our problem, and he, Rudy Mendoza, told us the various options – one was to unhitch our trailers and carry them up 30 or 40 stairs, which meant two trailers and two bikes up all those stairs, and then ride the pedestrian walkway for about a mile, repeating the unhitching and stairway process on the other side; or we could go back a few blocks and ride the narrow bridge lanes with the cars.
Neither one sounded like fun. As we stood and contemplated our options, Rudy piped up with a solution – he would go back home and get his truck, and take us and the bikes and trailers across the bridge. We loved it! As we sat waiting for Rudy to return, a local welder, Rhett, came over to chat, and he too offered to take us across! I’m telling you – the kindness here in the South is just amazing. Rudy came back in just a few minutes, and it was a matter of minutes to get us loaded into the truck, over to the other side and unloaded, and we were on our way. Check out our photos to see a picture of Rudy.
Hwy 90 is the “new” highway which runs northwest from Morgan City before heading due west at Lafayette. It’s a fast 4-lane highway with a good shoulder, but it’s just a fast, 4-lane highway. Hwy 182 is the old highway, looping up to the north three times before reaching Centerville, coming back each time to abut or join Hwy 90.
It was a much prettier ride! We saw scores of beautiful old homes, we rode next to the bayou for most of the way, and we had access to more shade and services. It was really the best riding conditions so far in this leg of the trip. Chelsea took a number of photos showing the array of homes and buildings we passed.
In Patterson, where we stopped for a quick necessities break, a woman named Jennifer chatted with me. She was raised in Patterson, Louisiana – her father was a diver for the oil companies who moved his family from up north. At that time the whole area was booming – from Morgan City west and north. She told us that, at that time, if any whole-bodied man didn’t work for the oil fields, it was “kind of weird”.
Then the oil crash of the late 80’s hit, and the area was wiped out. Everyone, from the divers to the top level oil executives, was out of a job; there were no jobs to be had. Jennifer’s father packed up the family once again and headed back north, where Jennifer lived for 12 years before returning, this time as a mom herself. She says that the area is now having a mini-boom, but that it has never achieved the “glory level” of those former days.
On our second loop of Hwy 182 we happened across a shipbuilding yard. It was an awesome opportunity to get a great photo, and there was a luscious big old shade tree right there, so we pulled off the road.
We arrived at the tail end of the lunch break; the workers were all taking their break in the shade of the trees, in their cars. Delighted with the novelty of us showing up, they stood and talked to us for awhile, calling back and forth over the chain link fence.
My favorite was the guy who hollered out “Y’all are women! Just two women? F’r sure y’all are packin’?!” (…carrying guns) I just laughed and responded, “F’r sure now, y’all don’t want to be messin’ with us!” That brought a big burst of laughter just as the lunch bell rang, signaling the end of the break.
Though we did enjoy the route quite a bit, the heat and humidity are above seasonal levels, and certainly above our tolerance levels. Chelsea in particular was dying – we seem to take turns with that. We finally made it to Centerville, where we called Russ, our CouchSurfing host, and let him know we were close. In an incredible gesture, he offered to drive up the 12 miles from his home and take our trailers and gear so we could make better time. We quickly accepted the offer! Even without the trailers and weight, and improving our speed about 5 miles an hour, it was still a long, long hot ride. We had one amazingly steep hill that was a bridge up over the Intracoastal. I must say, we made it up pretty easily, but we were SO glad we didn’t have the trailers to haul up it!!
We finally made it to Russ and Paul’s place about 4 p.m. and relaxed into the air conditioning. The area here is 12 miles from the nearest town, down a long straight road, and is very, very green and pretty, with lots of green grass. We’ll include photos in the next day or so.
Signing off from below Centerville, LA