jan 30-feb 7

Words cannot express how thankful I am for all the incredible people that have opened their hearts and homes to me since January 1st, 2009. I want to thank Waldies for their awesome Original Comfy Clogs, Beige Brand Marketing LLC, P.T.S. Screen Printing, REI’s awesome Navara Randonee bicycle, CouchSurfing, and so many others.

Some that have helped I will never actually know, but believe me, something good will happen to all of you! Back to my rambling….

February 7, 2009- Welsh, Louisiana

(The land has been basically flat because I’m riding close to the Gulf Coastal Plain and the weather has been mild most of the time – I’m feeling strong physically)

Right now I am writing this entry from Welsh, LA - the location of a real American dream. I am on a farm with good, strong, hard working Americans. They love their land because it is this land that feeds them and their families. I will come back to this in a moment, but I need to backtrack a little.

January 30th – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

It was a simple day, but I did accomplish one great task. I must thank the one who gave me the idea - Skip Potts. I went to Wal-Mart and finally bought an Olympus waterproof/shockproof digital camera and made a fun sign for my back on the bike –– “www.jollygreenicemachine.com biking the lower 48 states helping the kids”. I am hanging here at Ben Early’s house until after the Super Bowl and then moving on to stay with a girl named Marci. The trip is still a blast and I look forward to going to sleep just to know that the next day will only be better. By the way, Louisiana has by far the best food so far! Until later, much love and take care. Thanks for letting me ramble and there will be more to come.

January 31st – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

We drove around the LSU campus – it is beautiful and has an enormous stadium that I think holds over 90,000 fans! We had a great Saturday just hanging out.

February 1st - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I am staying with Ben Early who opened his home to me through the 2009 Super Bowl (Arizona Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers). He had about ten people over and we cooked a huge slab of meat while we watched the game. The game was so exciting we almost fell out of our seats! We had chips, dip and food like it was a Roman feast. I ate until I could hardly move. I hope you do not get tired of this pattern that I am sure has emerged, but I will regularly be eating until I am sick. That’s what happens when you do trips like these. I would like to think that I am helping the economy by consuming so much! Anyway, the game was a ball, but it was the friends I met that were the best.

Feb 2nd – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I was headed for Marci's house, but because she is a teacher I had to wait until she got home from school to meet her. I went to the book store and downed unsafe amounts of coffee while I waited for the day to pass. While in the store though I had an sudden flood of emotions pass through me - I became very passionate about getting some books to read, so I started walking up and down the aisle writing authors and titles down to get on tape. I also got to “test run” the sign I made for my trip that says “www.jollygreenicemachine.com biking all 48 states helping the kids”. It works great, but the only problem is that it catches wind, so I might have to put it away on windy days. Anyway, I also beat myself up for not meeting up with Skip Potts when he was in town. I am not sure if I have talked about him yet, but he is a guy walking across the USA for equality in our education system. I really like the guy and wanted to share more ideas. Finally, 4:00pm came around and Marci called me. She lived in a lovely house that was her parent’s house. They had moved to China for 2 years and let her stay there, so she opened it up to “couch surfers”. The second I walked in she told me that she liked my sign and I told her the story about how it was Skip’s idea. He had been at Marci’s the night before - too funny! Well, I got settled in and her friend came by and made blueberry maple meatloaf. It was really weird but super delicious. We then watched a lot of West Wing on television, and I went to bed thinking about leaving in the morning for Lafayette.

Feb 3rd – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I woke up and took my time because I thought I only had 60 miles to go from Baton Rouge to Lafayette. It was around 9:00am when I made some coffee and checked the computer one last time to check the map. Well, as I pulled up the information, to my surprise those 60 miles were really 95 miles, so I put on my clothes super fast until something in my gut said to wait. I took my cycling clothes off and called Marci to make sure it was cool if I stayed another night. I trust my gut feelings because it has helped me in many places. In this example, I stayed one more night which is always nice, but I also got to eat some fresh fried seafood and then have the most magical ride to date.

Feb 4 – Baton Rouge, LA to Lafayette, LA (very cold)

I left at 8:00 in the morning to tackle the 95 miles to Lafayette. There were some bridges I was warned about, so I wanted to get them behind me early. This is where it became magical. The road I took was called 190 and it was very busy with cars and trucks. The whole day I saw cars everywhere, but for some reason when I crossed the two bridges (with no shoulders at all and I mean none) not a single car or truck was near me. I did not even look behind me because I thought I was dreaming. Other than that, the ride was just nice. It was really cold, though, and I did wear my rain jacket the whole day. I made it into Lafayette were Brian met me on his bike for a nice ride around town. Brian rides a fixed-gear bike which means it has one big gear and no brakes (I ride REI’s Navara Randonee). We went around town and let me tell you that it is a cool place. The people are so nice and they have a lot of great new ideas. One idea is their “Earth Project”- a public farm where you pay rent for a piece of land and plant anything you want and then for a share of your crop volunteers watch over your garden. Some many people are doing positive things. The town also had a huge bike and hiking scene which was nice. My favorite part though was how close everyone was. Everywhere we went Brian knew someone and we could just walk into houses and it was fine. I liked the town so much that on Feb. 5th I stayed and I got to see more of Lafayette and even went to Cajun Country Swamp and Lake Martin. With my enormous appetite, I finally got to eat my turducken. I have had an obsession with turducken, and it was this day that I knew I was right. It was amazing. For you that do not know - it is a chicken, duck, turkey all put together inside each other with stuffing. The night of February 5th we went back to Baton Rouge (in a car!) to watch roller derby. The Lafayette girls want to start a team, so we got to check out the Baton Rouge team. It was a lot of fun. That night we came back and went to the coffee house and met some more of his friends. Great times!

Feb 6th – Lafayette to Welsh, Louisiana (windy)

I left Lafayette and cycled on to Welsh, Louisiana. It was incredible to watch the land change from swampy areas to open farm space. Welsh is a rice farming area. The wind got a little tricky, but it was still a great ride. I was a little early, so I popped over to the post office which was not open so moved on to the cafe. It, of course, was cash only which I failed to have, so I gathered all my change and asked for a coffee. I guess the lady felt bad for me, so she fed me for free. It was so nice when I heard my name roared from a gentle, deep voice and I met Chip. Chip is Bart's father whom I met back in New Orleans when I was seeing Rebirth at the Maple Leaf. Even though we had just met, he had called his dad, Chip, and they let me come and stay with them in Welsh, LA. This is why I am now on a beautiful rice farm. It is so interesting - I even was able to take a rice boat out and look through crawfish traps. The boat actually has wheels to go through the rice fields. The only way water disappears is if it evaporates. The clay under the rice fields does not allow the water to soak into the ground. I have also already learned that to be a farmer you must first “be crazy” - because it is a dice game with mother nature and she has the better odds! You must always adapt to your land. Chip was telling me how when they were kids in the rice fields you could catch crawfish to eat, but never thought about selling them. Now there is a big market for crawfish. He also rents his land to hunters. One of his friends is looking into growing algae for fuel. I am just amazed at the stories and things I am hearing. (Skip Potts told me a story when we were visiting before because we were so amazed that we had found each other on these journeys. He told me it is like everyone in the world is a blade of grass and when you are on a trip like this, you stand up as that blade and look around - of course, it’s easier to see the other blades that are standing up too) I will leave you with another cool fact. Neutra are super large rats with orange teeth and are really good to eat. They are alligator’s favorite food too. They are super high in protein and are grass feeders. So never judge a book by its cover and take care out there - until next time.