Simmesport, LA - Thur 3/29

Rain!  It was predicted off and on for the next few days until Tuesday so we considered just waiting in Oakdale until it went away.  But the morning looked foggy and dry and Oakdale had nothing going on so we decided to just take our chances and move on.  About an hour before we got to Simmesport the rain started and we arrived at the motel wet.

We met a couple of cross country bikers going the other way.  "J and J" recommended that we camp instead of staying in Simmesport's motel.  The neighborhood is not the best and the motel's a dump, but it's better than camping in the rain.

One of our friendly neighbor families was sitting outside their motel room with a big box of cooked shrimp.  They gave me my first taste of Louisiana shrimp.  It's pretty good.  They are refugees from Hurricane Katrina who never returned to their New Orleans home.

We passed through some beautiful areas.  I just can't get used to the houses with 5 acres of front lawn.  Sometimes the driveway is so long that it has a street name.

We saw some dead armadillos and lots of other roadkill but still no alligators.  We took a break at the Bayou Express gas station.

Miles: 70.2  Average: 12.2

The truth from Ruth:  We have seen some spectacular houses today.  They are mixed in with not-so-nice homes, so the neighborhoods don't seem to be very homogenous.  Most of the houses have large porches with benches, chairs, or swings.  We saw quite a few people on their porches today, and most of them waved to us.
I especially liked the town of Cottonport, with its river going along next to the road, and many lovely homes on the other bank.