March 17: St Francisville to Bogalusa, Louisiana

What a day.  It’s St Patrick’s Day and the roads followed suit by displaying fresh green mixed forests and pastures.  We rode 103 miles of rollers – perfect rollers where you shift rhythmically between the middle gears on the way uphill and the big gears on the way down.  And for most of the day, these rollers were on small quiet roads that cut through tunnels of trees.

Quiet cycling road between St Francisville and Bogalusa, Louisiana

We’re in logging country.  Bogalusa has a huge paper mill that churns out steam, the aroma of freshly ground-up pine pulp, and the not so lovely pungent smell of the remaining mash.  As we neared town, logging trucks zipped past on their way to the mill.

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day, our cookie czarina Polly Lestikow made a roughly 35-gallon tub of cookies with green M&Ms, in addition to her annual chocolate chip and cranberry, white chocolate chip cookies, while Nate and Marcella got the prize for best dressed.

Cookie czarina Polly Lestikow

Nate and Marcella on St Patty’s Day