Highway 61 goes all the way from Baton Rouge to New Orleans; it's a reasonably direct route but is very cycle-unfriendly. There's a reasonably wide shoulder most of the way, but in parts the surface has broken down so badly that it's not possible to cycle on, as the photo below shows. Note the roadside grave marker, one of many along this evidently dangerous stretch of road, and the rumble strip which reduces the cyclable width:
To make matters worse, there was a headwind all the way, and a few downpours as well. Approaching New Orleans I saw these two cyclists, the first I'd seen for quite a long time. They were on their way to Houston to look for employment, and were carrying all their worldly goods, including a dog and a large teddy bear, on their makeshift trailers:
I made it to New Orleans around 4pm, checked into a hotel near the French Quarter, and went straight out to enjoy the scene in this beautiful, atmospheric city.
Distance today 58.2 miles, total so far 2233.9 miles
Tuesday 3rd June
Rest day in New Orleans. It rained during the morning so I took a bus tour around the city. By lunchtime the rain had stopped so I walked over to the Civil War museum which was very interesting, also I had an excellent lunch at the Stage Door Canteen, the restaurant in the WW2 museum complex.
Above ground tombs
Bourbon St
Shotgun house
Wednesday 4rd June
The journey east from New Orleans was considerably more pleasant than the route I'd arrived there by. For a start, the weather was dry and not too windy, and the road led out through pleasant, affluent suburbs, along a road with a decent shoulder:
Here's a view from the bridge over the canal linking the Mississippi with Lake Ponchartrain. In the foreground is Interstate 10, in the background you can see the bridge over the Mississippi, and the skyscrapers of downtown New Orleans:
About 15 miles outside the city, I followed US 11 which leads over a 4.2 mile causeway across Lake Ponchartrain. At the time it was built in 1928, this was the world's longest bridge:
A few miles further on I crossed the state line into Mississippi:
I reached Poplarville, where I rejoined the main Southern Tier route, around 8pm.There were no motels nearby but I found reasonable accommodation in a B&B.
Distance today 80.4 miles, total so far 2314.3 miles
Thursday 5th June
Back on the main route, the maps showed that there were very few facilities over the next section. Indeed, other than campsites, there was no accommodation until Mobile, over 100 miles away. So I set off early aiming to make it all the way there.
The first part of the day was spent riding through the DeSoto National Forest:
The terrain was a bit hilly; not as bad as what I'd ridden over in Texas, but still an abrupt change from table-flat Louisiana which I'd become used to over the last few days. Most of today's route was very rural, with quiet, fairly narrow roads. There wasn't much of interest along the way.
Towards dusk I crossed over the Pascagoula River:
And soon afterwards crossed another state line, into Alabama:
After a long, hard day of pedalling, I arrived in the centre of Mobile around 9pm.
Distance today 120.9 miles, total so far 2435.2 miles
Friday 6th June
I spent the morning looking around the centre of Mobile, including a visit to the excellent museum:
It's a pretty place, with plenty of well preserved historic buildings, and relatively few skyscrapers.
The Cathedral is situated adjacent to an attractive square:
This is Dauphin St, which has all the restaurants and bars:
The railway station, still in use, is a handsome building:
The main route east across the Mobile River is via a tunnel, but cyclists aren't allowed to use it. So I had to detour about 10 miles north via US90 across the Cochrane Bridge, which seemed very reminiscent of the QE2 bridge on the M25 across the Thames Estuary, and also the Anzac Bridge in Sydney
View of Mobile from the bridge
Once across the river, the route follows US90 over a series of bridges making up a causeway over Mobile Bay. It then heads south east along US98, which closely follows the eastern shore of the bay, passing by many expensive-looking houses. I reached Gulf Shores, a popular holiday destination, around 8.30pm, having started out quite late in the afternoon, and despite some difficulty in finding accommodation, stopped there for the night, at the comfortable Travelodge Inn:
Distance today 62.2 miles, total so far 2497.4 miles
Saturday 7th June
The day started with a ride across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway:
Soon I was at the beach, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico:
The route then follows the coast, past numerous large hotel complexes. After about 10 miles I crossed the state border into Florida:
15 miles further on I reached Pensacola, a historic town with quite a lot of nice old buildings, and a decent brewery which I of course had to check out:
Pensacola Old Town, with antique quadricycle in the foreground:
The main drag, Palafox St, has some good restaurants and bars:
This historic cinema is undergoing restoration:
This is a monument to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War:
The humidity has been gradually increasing ever since I left Louisiana, and it's now at a level which is making cycling increasingly hard going. Despite the fact that the terrain continues fairly flat and the winds negligible. So, another 15 miles east of Pensacola, I stopped at Milton, since it was another 35 miles to the next accommodation.
Regency motel, Milton
Distance today 64.7 miles, total so far 2562.1 miles
Sunday 8th June
Another very hot, humid day. The initial 6 miles was along a scenic traffic-free route, the Blackwater Trail, which is popular with cyclists and walkers:
But there wasn't much else of interest along today's route, much of which was on our old friend US Highway 90. As the afternoon wore on the skies grew darker and it was clear that a thunderstorm was approaching. Fortunately I reached DeFuniak Springs, where there was a convenient motel, just before the downpour started.
Distance today 63 miles, total so far 2625.1 miles
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