When we departed Shawn's house, it was evident that we neglected Jake's wheel for far too long. The wobble from the broken spoke had reached a point where the wheel will hit the brakes no matter how open they were set.
Many bike shops don't open on Sunday. Most of those that were open on Sunday's happened to be closed because they were helping out with the race. We did find one shop open, but it was back by the French Quarter, 10 miles in the wrong direction.
We limped over there, and they spent a few hours replacing spokes and truing the wheel. While they were making this repair, I was able to watch finishers of the New Orleans Half Ironman cruise by. It made me very excited for my race next Sunday. Now we just need to get there.
We left the French Quarter just past 2pm, and realized we had a long way to go. Very long. We were scheduled to stay with a warmshowers host in Baton Rouge, but that was almost 90 miles away. We rode hard and rode somewhat fast, but Highway 61 from New Orleans to Baton Rouge isn't the best to ride on. The shoulders are wide, and mostly smooth, but they have a ton of debris. Rocks, glass, tires, nails, etc. There is so much debris that it's mostly impossible to avoid hitting stuff. As a result, Jake got a flat while we were still in town.
About 30 miles later I got a flat too. Mine was a big chunk of glass that stabbed right through the middle of my tire. While the Bontrager has been a decent tire, it was no match for this piece.
As we got closer and closer to Baton Rouge, the skies got darker and darker. We had accepted a fate of arriving after dark, but the constant lightning strikes forced us to reconsider. In the town of Gonzales, we decided it wasn't smart or safe to continue on and began looking for a place to stay. It was comforting to hear a guy in Wendy's talk about driving through hail. We had made the right decision.
We checked into a Best Western, and enjoyed having a dry place to sleep. I also made some Arkansas Chrome (aka Duct Tape) repairs to my poor shorts. They have reached their final days.
Day 33 - 78.60 Miles
Trip to Date - 1738.53 miles
Coast to Coast - 792.08 miles
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