Getting out of Centerville
It should be no big surprise that we got bed at almost 2 a.m. on our last night in Centerville, considering how much fun we had with Russ and Paul, and considering how much we were getting done.
We managed to not only get rested after our hellacious Memorial Day weekend, but we got our blogs and photos nearly caught up, and we managed to send off nearly 30 pounds of gear and clothing back to Alex (we opted for not carrying our seasonal gear right now, but rather have Alex send it to us when we need it).
We also spent a good deal of time looking for places to stay on CouchSurfing, mapping out potential routes, with Russ giving sage advice. One last thing we did was hang out over Russ’s computer, while he showed us a series of historical photos of his local area, and gave us the verbal history. It was really wonderful.
One really amazing story that Russ told us was of a disappearing lake near New Iberia. A Texaco drilling rig hit a salt mine, causing the salt mine to flood, melting the salt, and causing total mayhem – sucking barges down – it was just unbelievable! Here’s a link to the story – it’s really a great story! www.damninteresting.com/?p=6.
We did set the alarm, but it was SO tough to wake up and want to get going! We got the trailers all packed, and got sunscreen on, then dawdled over coffee and biscuits, delaying our departure. Russ had agreed that he would take our gear and trailers as far as Baldwin for us, saving us hauling everything for the first 22 miles, and then we’d meet him there, hook everything up, and keep going the last 15-20 miles.
The heat was already so intense that we were dreading leaving. Russ took mercy on us, and decided to see if we could fit everything in his car. That took almost another hour, mostly due to the laughing and fooling around, but we were hugely successful. Talk about careful packing! Chelsea and I ended up packed together in the small front seat for the 40+ ride to New Iberia.
Once again, Russ came through like a champ. He gave us a driving tour of the antebellum homes, and a running commentary on the area history. He showed us the house where he and his parents and aunts, and family rode out Hurricane Andrew – he’d had us spellbound telling the story a few nights before.
He showed us a house where the family had bought a pink Cadillac – Elvis Presley had originally ordered it, but when it came without a convertible top, he no longer wanted it, so the folks in this plantation home bought it. He kept us entertained the whole way with that kind of stories. ( Check out the photos of the homes.)
We finally reached downtown New Iberia, where he dropped us off and we said our final, final goodbyes. We got directions to Kelli’s house, our new CouchSurfing host, and headed over to meet her.
Kelli Smith and family
Kelli is an awesome 23 yr old architecture graduate from University of Louisiana in Lafayette, who spent a year in New Orleans in an internship before coming back to New Iberia. She is currently painting murals in a private home while she decides what she wants to do next. She loves photography, and she shared a number of her photos with us when we went to see some local attractions. Be sure to check out the photos in our albums. Though I didn’t credit each one, many of the photos are Kelli’s.
Shortly after we got settled in, including getting our gear and trailers in their workshop and meeting Jack (her boyfriend) and Ziggy (the dog), Kelli took us grocery shopping.
We headed over afterwards to her mom and dad’s house, where we got to meet her extended family. Kelli’s parents are awesome too! We had a wonderful family dinner, with lots of food and non-stop conversation. Kelli’s mom, Brenda, is very interested in couchsurfing, and since we are Kelli’s first couchsurfers, she wanted to meet us.
Apparently we passed muster, as she volunteered to comp us at a bed and breakfast she is associated with – the Gouguenheim – in downtown New Iberia. We told her we were very interested.
We spent the night at Kelli and Jack’s and slept until after 11 a.m. (wonderfully quiet and wonderful bed)! We got lots done on Internet before Kelli came back from work, then hung out with Kelli till Jack got home.
On the way to dropping us off at the Gouguenheim, they took us to a local restaurant for a totally new experience – a boiled crawfish dinner. What an experience! I wouldn’t peel the crawfish, knowing my highly refined gag reflex would start in, but I got a severe case of the giggles watching Chelsea get started. You’ve got to check out the photo album for this… Chelsea was so new to this, and Jack was so experienced, that even though he had 4 lbs of his own, and we only had 2 lbs, he finished his and did more than half of ours!
We were so happy that we got to do this, because we absolutely couldn’t have left Louisiana without having a boiled crawfish dinner.
Gouguenheim
The Gouguenheim is absolutely awesome. The developer had originally intended the rooms to be separate luxury apartments, but decided to turn them into a bed and breakfast. You must check out the photo album to see the inside of the rooms. This place is a one bedroom one bath apartment, fully furnished. The décor is gorgeous, and we have everything we need right at hand. We have a color TV in the bedroom, high up against the ceiling, for easy watching in bed, and we have another color TV in the living room, complete with DVD player. And we can’t forget the music system under the TV.
It’s probably over 1,000 sq ft, and it’s got beautiful wood floors, marble counters, a marble shower, and a fully stocked kitchen. We arrived on Monday evening, and we leave tomorrow, and it’ll be a tough job finding another accommodation that will be more luxurious than this. I think Brenda gets the award in that category!
Tabasco Factory and Jungle Gardens
It was hard to leave our luxurious spot, but Kelli came over yesterday and took us to tour the Tabasco Factory on Avery Island. It was very fun to see the process – we lucked out and happened to be there on a day that the factory was in production. We checked out their Country Store afterward, where we tried Tabasco cola (it was great!), Tabasco mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, and too many other things to remember. We bought some Tabasco jelly and Tabasco chili sauce, but didn’t get to try the Tabasco ice cream – they were out by the time we got there. If you’re in the area, it’s well worth seeing the factory.
Avery Island is also home to the Jungle Gardens, created by Ned McIlhenny (of Tabasco sauce fame) in the late 1800s. After paying a fee to get in, we had a 5-mile drive around the gardens. It’s a beautiful area, and we got out and walked quite a bit of it. We saw the Cleveland tree, one of the oldest living “survey trees” in Louisiana, and saw the Buddha Temple. As the story goes, a Chinese warlord, in the early 1900s, sent an 800-year-old Buddha to New York, where it languished unclaimed in a warehouse for some years. Around 1936, friends of Ned McIlhenny bought it for him as a surprise and shipped it to Louisiana. Ned built a temple for it, and it’s been here ever since. In addition to the Buddha Temple, the grounds also have a Palm Garden, a Camellia Garden, and a huge rookery of snowy egrets. We had a wonderful time slowly examining everything and taking lots of photos.
Jack and Kelli
After the Jungle Gardens and another trip to Wal-Mart for food, Kelli dropped us off at the Gouguenheim and headed home to pick up Jack. We fixed dinner, and spent the evening in our luxury apartment, having dinner with Kelli and Jack. We really have enjoyed meeting them. They are both very straightforward and easy to be around. We loved it that Kelli was so patient with taking us on the food errands, and that she liked going slowly on the Jungle Gardens excursions. Jack is a very simple what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy, and we find that very refreshing. We also loved it that they really seemed to enjoy showing us their area, and taking us to do something like the crawfish dinner. Their conversation is very thoughtful and very intelligent. They make excellent couchsurfing hosts, and we hope they come visit us somewhere south of the border!
Leaving New Iberia
Besides enjoying our luxurious surroundings, Chelsea and I spent today looking at the next section of our route, and looking up potential couchsurfing hosts. It’s really amazing how much time it takes when there’s no set route and known accommodations like we had we with Adventure Cycling. Sometimes we long for those easy days! But I must admit, our adventure level is far higher now, and we wouldn’t have missed any of this for the world.
We have an amazing amount of food on hand as we thought we were going to be here another day, so we cooked a great meal tonight, hardboiled our eggs, and we are making sandwiches for tomorrow’s ride. What abundance! We’ll pack our cooler with ice from our automatic icemaker, the Camelbaks are already in the refrigerator, ensuring us cold water for our ride, and we are almost all packed up. I’m finishing up the blog, the photos are all uploaded, and while I check out that marble shower, Chelsea will upload the photos and blog to the website.
We only have about 15 miles to ride tomorrow, so we’ll take it easy in the morning and head out about 9:30 or 10. We are supposed to have 20-30 mph tail winds, which sounds great to us! We’ll be staying with the Thibodeaux family in Broussard for a night or two, and then moving on to Lafayette, if one of our couchsurfing requests comes through. I’m off to have a midnight snack so I’m signing off for now from New Iberia, Louisiana.