NatchezTrace

Day 16

Saturday, 7 June 2008
LaPlace, LA to New Orleans, LA
39.7 miles, 4h06m, 9.7 mph
Elapsed Time: 4h26m, Max speed: ??.?mph
Total Climbing: 300ft, Max elevation: 40ft
Total mileage: 938.4

Last day. Guess what? Headwinds. But who cares? It's only 40 miles.

I hit the Hampton Inn's breakfast bar hard. Then Linda drove me back to where she picked me up yesterday and I started riding. The area was quite industrial. There were refineries everywhere.

There's one!

There's another one! Hiding behind those bushes!

Soon it was back to the levee. After a few miles on the road, suddenly a bike path appeared up on top. I rode on the levee for quite a few miles, until the path dumped me out without explanation in a park.

Riding the levee. Usually I could see the river!

I rode across town on Magazine Street, which ranked in quality up there with some of Jackson's finest.

Riding Magazine Street.

Eventually I reached the warehouse district and worked my way down to the river. There I started to see familiar sights, like the convention center and...

..the American Queen. The boat I saw in Natchez. It beat me here.

Most of the waterfront was closed off because of "port security," so I worked my way along through the alleys and delivery entrances until I made it to the riverwalk.

Linda took a picture of the last few feet of the ride.

Then it was all over. There were pictures, speeches, fireworks, celebrations...but not for me. There was an ordination in progress in the church.

Just a picture..it's a long way from Chattanooga.

After the photos I rode through the streets to where Linda parked the car. There was a present for her on the windshield (it's next to the bear and it says "Violation").

Actually the parking tickets in New Orleans cost less than a day's parking in a garage, so it's not too bad a deal.

We drove up to Bayou Bicycles and dropped off my bike for shipment back to Annapolis, then to the hotel for a shower, then out into town for lunch. We walked a mile to the National World War II Museum, but it had closed early for a "special event," so it was back to the hotel to watch the Belmont Stakes on TV.

A hurricane for lunch.

Later, we went out for dinner and then beignets from Cafe du Monde. We were both really tired and could only manage to stay out until 7pm. Shameful.

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Sunday we made it over to the WWII Museum when it opened, so we got a decent tour before we had to leave for the airport. After several hours of air travel we returned home to find that the power was out and that it was hotter in Maryland than it was in New Orleans. D'oh!

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