Ascension Parish

A few days after the Quad County 75-or-so I drove down to Gonzales to recover my family.

I was still sick and the drive down was horrible. I usually love watching the world pass by, checking out all the little changes as you cross the country, but this time I was dead tired and my back hurt and I just couldn't pay attention to anything. I did enjoy the weather on the Bonnet Carre Spillway, but that was all.

The week was dominated by birthday parties.

Sophie's was on Wednesday.

Don's was on Thursday.

Isabel's was on Sunday but we celebrated it on Friday.

Kathryn's sister is a fantastic cake decorator. She was busy making a cake for a baby shower but still took some time to decorate Isabel's. Thanks Jennifer!

Cakes and birthdays! Woohoo!

I did get a chance to do a little riding. By Thursday (I think it was Thursday) I felt less terrible.

Sophie and I rode about 5 or 6 miles in laps around their neighborhood.

There are 3 streets in their neighborhood: Prairie South, Prairie East and Prairie North. The street signs disagree as to how to spell Prairie though.

On some corners, two different signs spell it differently. Ha!

When Sophie was tired I took off on my own, up toward Port Vincent. I took it really easy though. I felt OK but I still didn't feel "good".

I got close to the Amite River but didn't cross it. Maybe next time.

All along the river up there the houses are built on stilts in case of flooding. It was tough to get a photo though. The shoulders are narrow and traffic was heavy.

I did stop at a gas station once though, and noticed that it was shaded by a Great Southern Live Oak.

Don't see many of those in North Georgia. Sadly, it lacked Spanish Moss.

Ha! Just down the road was a drive-thru daquiri shop. People don't believe me when I tell them about these. They exist. For example:

Traffic was so heavy though that it was difficult to get across the street and back. It took like 5 minutes to get that photo.

Easing back on into town some guys pulled up next to me at a stoplight and chatted with me for a minute. They were super friendly, wanted to know how far I'd ridden, wished me luck, etc. Really nice guys, but it was funny, the driver had an open beer in his lap the whole time. Ha! That's South Louisiana for you.

The next day we packed up a trailer in the pouring rain. The day after we drove back here. My folks were here when we got here and we spent the next day unpacking. There are still boxes everywhere though. Woohoo moving! But also, woohoo family!