Hi-tailing it to Hammond

Today was a long ride, so we left a bit early from St. Francisville. The ride began with some gentle rolling hills for the first 10 miles or so, bright sunshine, and mist rising from the fields and ponds. We rolled through farm country - cows, horses - and some forest. After the first 10 miles, it was back to flat.

Had a lot more homes along the way, and a whole lot more traffic. There was little or no usable shoulder for the first 50 miles or so. That made the traffic a bit more unpleasant. The last part of the ride, however, took us on roads that were less traveled and were really pretty. This was another new route for WomanTours and is not part of the Adventure Cycling route.

I didn't take many pictures today. The scenery looked pretty much the same as it has for the last few days, so didn't make much sense to stop for pictures. About the only times I did stop were for the sag wagon (3 times -- thank you, Carol), and a couple of visits to the woods to water the vegetation. The day was relatively cool and not enough wind to fuss about, and I drank a lot, so................... Didn't do a lunch stop because I don't wear a watch and really didn't know how I was doing on time. Besides, I really had a craving for a midnight truffle blizzard at Dairy Queen (darned TV ads) and was hoping I'd pass one. Didn't. Got in at 2:45, so changed clothes and went to the Cracker Barrel restaurant next door to the hotel and had a ham and cheese breakfast skillet. Won't want much for dinner tonight!

Bike stats: 88.63 miles; 6 hrs. 53 minutes riding time; 1,444 total trip miles.

Food stats: See above for lunch. Breakfast was a banana, scrambled eggs, a croissant, and some fried potatoes. Had a couple of bananas on the road and a Powerbar protein bar.

Tomorrow sounds like it might be a rolling rest day -- 55 miles to Bogalusa (one of Peter's favorite city names).