BENGARLAND!com

January 11, 2007

Riding from Mississippi to Louisiana on US 90 is definitely the most boring stretch of road I have encountered so far. Literally there is nothing but degraded forest, lots of trash on the side of the road, swampland that never ends, and a few stilted houses.

When I thought I was about 10 miles away from New Orleans I stopped on the side of the road to call Laura. As soon as I hung up the phone I heard “HEY!”. Out of nowhere, another cyclist appeared to say hello. He was biking from New Orleans and going east for 4 days, then flying home to Pennsylvania or somesuch. Darryl, you gotta stop sneaking up on people like that.

An hour and a half and 20 miles later I finally made it to New Orleans. Traffic was light. Most of the stores and shopping centers on the east side were still closed. The French Quarter was quiet. I got to Laura’s neighborhood and met her at a coffee shop. She took me home so I could unpack and shower, then we talked as I watched her clean her rollerskate bearings in preparation for a derby competition in Vegas this weekend.

After she finished cleaning the skates we walked a few blocks up the street to grab some pizza at a place called Slice. I ordered an entire 14″ supreme pizza and an Abita amber beer for myself. The next morning, I finished it for breakfast.