Above is a picture of vanessa and myself with our new friend, Tony.

We stop ed in a town called Ville platte, Louisiana to get some lunch. We almost went to the first place we saw as we entered town, but instead we took a lap around the town and decided to go to this other cafe on the fact that their were way more cars outside of this place, and that's a pretty easy way to judge who's serving the good stuff.

Tony was sitting at the table next to us, he started talking to us because he wanted to know about our tattoos, and about our trip because he saw our bicycles out front on his way in. He told us about his trip to New York when he was working as a truck driver. We finished our meals, which were amazing, and said our goodbyes. We left from that cafe and rode just about 4 miles down the road to the local Wal-mart to get some food to eat later that night for dinner. In the towns that have Wal-mart, it is your only option for anything, so thats where we ended up.

We wasted some time there, even sat down and ate a small ice cream each right in the doorway. As we were getting ready to finally leave, out walks Tony. So we started talking again. He then confessed to us that he had wished earlier that he would have asked us if we need a place to stay or anything he could do to help. We let him know that we were doing just fine. But he told us he'd really love to have us stay at his place and that he would drive us back down the road the next morning to start where we would have anyway. We gave it a minute before we answered, continued talking, just last minute make sure measures to prove to ourselves Tony was not a serial killer. And he wasn't, not at all.

We headed to Tony's apartment and hung out all afternoon. He had just gone fishing the day before and had already planned to cook a bunch of them up that night with his neighbor and their friend Jan. So we ended up meeting all of them. Not only that but before all of that we stop ed by the local store so he could buy some "boudin" a local food, alot like sausage but smokey er and has rice in it as well. He insisted we get it once he found out we had never tried it before. We were happy we listened once we ate. They informed us that we were in the real heart of Cajun Culture. His neighbor Tim talked in such a thick Cajun accent, which is a mix of a thick southern speech mixed with a french twist. All of the food was amazing, but what really made it all so great was to realize how lucky we were to be able to experience Louisiana this way. We slept on the couch and got up early to hit the road.

We got this picture when Tony dropped us off at the gas station the next morning in Washington, LA. We always forget to do this, NOT THIS TIME!

So many people are to afraid of the world to let things like this ever happen. Sure you have to be careful about who you trust, and I am plenty aware that there are bad people out there in the world. But for the most part you can trust your gut, and if you can start doing that you'll find life a lot more interesting.

Its been hot out lately.

We took a Ferry ride across the Mississippi River!

And once we landed on the east side of it, everything changed. really, through my life I think I always considered the old Mississippi the divider of the east to the rest of the country, When we drove across a few years ago up in st. Louis, not much changed from one side to the other. But down here in LA. It was really like two separate worlds from the west side the east side. The lay of the land just changed, Hilly, greener, the towns just felt more east coast as opposed to Cajun land Louisiana.

swampy though, no matter where you go down here. This picture is of a creek in Mississippi. We didnt get a welcome sign into the state of Mississippi either, like texas and Louisiana. This creek was picture worthy more then the other because it ate my water bottle. It slipped from my hand and dropped all the way to the water and quickly floated down the stream.

We were only in Mississippi for about 3 days, nothing that interesting happened in Mississippi. I have to thank it though, It provided us with great weather, excellent days of bicycling. Just not all that much to see or do.

(we made flags so all of the reckless driving logging trucks can see us from further away)
Ahh Yes finally, a new sign for us to take our picture under. Alabama! The miles seem to double in size here. We ride 30 and we feel like we rode 60. Its the Hotness, Humidity, and Hills, that cause this feeling.

We are trucking along just fine though. As I mentioned in my last entry, we have been considering the idea of getting on a train from Tuscaloosa, AL ( home of the university of alabama) and taking it up to Charlettesville, VA. and that is exactly what we are going to do. We already had a route that planned to ride in the direction of this town anyway. We hit mobile ,Alabama which was a pretty neat town with loads of civil war history and from there we go north. We are officially off of the southern Tier of America, Heading north.

Undesirables are listed in order

undesirable #1=Bugs that bite

undesirable #2=Dogs that chase ( this happens way to often)

undesirable #3=Logging trucks/ Other really loud large vehicles

Vanessa cut my hair shorter the other night, it was much needed. 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity!

We are about 2 days from Tuscaloosa, we hope to get there before the rain hits us. It's headed this way apparently and should come down for a few days. From Charlettesville time will fly I'm sure(good or bad I'm not sure). We still have lots of land to cover but after being to such foreign feeling areas just being on the eastern coast will make me feel like we have made it.