Some super chill time

I had a great time on Sunday and it was great having a pretty much full day to just chill instead of spending the entire day riding. Don't get me wrong, I love riding far and spending my days in the saddle, it's just nice to mix it up a little bit. I left Perry and Lep and rode to St. Francisville, about 20 miles away from where I was staying. The day before I had seen signs for 'CF' with a bunch of bicycle signs and directions and I finally found out what it was on Sunday. They had a charity ride with about 100 people riding to raise money and awareness for cystic fibrosis. This 24 year old guy named Josh(twin?) ran into me and we rode for around 5 miles until the finish. They invited me over to the after ride jambalaya and drinks and that was nice. I could eat jambalaya all day, it was so good! After around 20 minutes or so, I left to go to the Magnolia Cafe, which I was told about 3 times in 2 days that I needed to go there. It was great! I got some fried alligator and a great grilled chicken with feta salad. I still had quite a bit of time until Marie was in the area so I decided to look at some more stuff around St. Francisville.
Now, on a side note, there are some issues when you're riding a bike long distance, in parts of the country that aren't so bike friendly. The highways, although bikes are still aloud, are huge issues because the cars are flying down the road as fast as 70 or 80 mph at times and the berms are smaller than would be preferred and a lot of the time the area is taken up with broken debris and foot wide rumble strips everywhere. So, although I was planning on riding to Baton Rouge, I decided to stop where the route runs into the southern tier Adventure Cycling maps that will take me to Austin and just hang out in St. Francisville until Marie arrived.
I went and checked out the historical center for a bit, got a sticker and then rode out to the Myrtle plantation home that if you look up, you'll see it's on the list with some of the most haunted places in the world. It was very awesome hearing some of the history behind the culture and imagining being around in the period of time and experiencing some of the week long parties there on the plantation. I love how the further south I go, the more history these places hold and how nearly untouched everything seems. I hang out with this awesome couple for a bit after taking a tour of the plantation and then head out to meet up with Marie. She's been on the road for around 14 hours and is pretty tired but she's still happy to see me and it's quite nice seeing a familiar face after being out on the road by myself for so many hours. We drive to New Orleans, check in to the hotel and head out after a shower to check out Bourbon street, just two blocks from where we're staying.
Since we spent 3 nights here in New Orleans, I'll sum up everything for the sake of time.
I absolutely love this city. Everyone is friendly and the energy is always exciting yet relaxed. There are bicycles everywhere and I saw my first bicycle pizza delivery girl which was pretty cool. We checked out pretty much everything and I honestly think I could live here and somewhere in my future, it's definitely a possibility. We even went to this awesome brunch place that I was told about months ago called the Court of Two Sisters where this great jazz group was playing some amazing music. I love that when I walk down the street, I get to listen to an amazing jazz trio while drinking a beer on the street, watching a guy paint with style and watch tourists from around the world look walk around and enjoy themselves. Everyone's a people person and you can talk to pretty much everyone like you've known them for years and it's been so nice to feel at home as a guest in this city. The food is also amazing and I'm pretty sure I could eat po boys and pralines everyday for the rest of my life.
Tomorrow I head out for Austin and it's going to be amazing to have traveled from Columbus, OH to Austin, TX in a month. I look forward to the many more people that I will meet along the way and to truly experience more of the southern hospitality that I have grown to love.
Can't wait to get back in the saddle and I look forward to seeing you on the road.