Follow the Tracks to Pascagoula, Mississippi

Joan's View

We started out a little later this morning so that we could enjoy the nice breakfast at the Carroll House

Bed & Breakfast. It also helped to allow the temperature to warm up outside since it was in the 40's earlier today.

Today was 52 miles. We followed the railroad tracks for a big part of the ride, with the road weaving from one side to the other. Maybe Tony picked this route because he loves the sound of trains so much growing up near tracks. 

The 2nd bump viewed from the 1st bump

Tony pulled his usually bike trick again on this trip when he took us through road construction. It was a short distance, but I think because we have done it so much in the past, he loves checking out the contractors' work in these new places.
We went over 3 bridges that I call "double bump bridges." Once you pant and peddle up the first incline, there is a little flat part and then you need to push more to get up the middle bump. Tom catches up to us on the inclines, but then, with our weight on the tandem, we fly down the other side leaving Tom quite far behind. He always catches up though.😀









Over the first bridge, we went through Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, and Biloxi. We rode on the board walk when whenever possible. In Biloxi, we stopped at a beach building (to use the bathrooms) and saw these amazing markers for the water levels from past hurricanes. The red marker at the top shows the water level of Hurricane Katrina. Wow!

We stopped in Biloxi for lunch. We ate at Adventures. How cool is that since every bike trip is another adventure?










I also made the guys stop so that I could get this picture of one of the many houses decorated for

Mardi Gras. They decorate a month in advance for Mardi Gras the way we decorate in advance for Christmas. I told Tony that it's mostly Choice One colors (green, purple and Yellow) so maybe Choice One could adopt Mardi Gras as their company holiday???

We hustled to get to our destination in Pascagoula so that we could take showers and get to mass by 4:00. Sherpa Cindy was on top of the situation and had our bags already in our rooms. What a huge help that was! Tom & Cindy kindly even went to mass with us at Our Lady of Victories even though they are Lutheran.

After mass, we decided on eating at Bozo's, the top rated restaurant in Pascagoula. Tony got a Bozanga Burger and I got a picture.

One more cool picture for the day.

Tony's Extra

Today was another great day of bicycling. The three long bridges were awesome. Two of them had bike paths separated by guardrail. The other one was a wide shoulder. Tonight we are staying in the town that was the birth place of Jimmy Buffet. We blew right by the sign in a rush for church so we didn't get a picture. Actually the weather has been pretty good temperture wise, I don't think anyone really is getting cold. As for me, it reduces my amount of sweating tremdously. Looking forward to another long day of bicycling tomorrow.
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Back on the Bicycle, YEA!

Tony's View

22 mph headwinds for 61 miles in 50 degree weather, but who cares? We are Back on the Bicycle again, YEA! What a wonderful day riding. We rode through the Bayou, along the water of lakes, rivers and the Gulf. In addition, we're riding with our good friend, Tom. That is hard to say since he is an attorney. It also helped greatly with our Sherpa, Cindy, caring all our luggage. The picture is the outside of our AirBnb showing us all bundled up. By the way, this was our least favorite Airbnb thus far.
This was not a typical first day, because I try to keep the mileage down the first day to work into it and tune the bicycle, but there was nothing closer to stop for the day. Interestingly, it even showed very little was around when we went 50 miles before we found a place to eat for lunch. After we got out of the New Orleans traffic, we ran into this sign. It showed the direction where Linda and Anel go to enjoy the Bayou.😄 The picture above shows a typical house on stilts as we saw along the way in Louisiana. They were on both sides of the road. The lake was St. Catherine Lake, and it looked like a great place to live if you loved fishing. I was thinking of you, Bud. After going through miles of this we came to this big bridge to get over a part of St. Catherine Lake and take us into Mississippi. We took a picture here (below right), because I didn't think Joan would let me stop on the top to take a picture.

She was a good sport, however, and let me stop and get several pictures. The shoulder was wide and the railing was high. As you can see in the one picture, I caught her looking over the edge (above left). It was a great view from there. You could even see in the distance the skyline of New Orleans. I tried to take a picture of that, but it didn't come out. I did take a picture of where we snaked through with houses on both sides, and it was so interesting to look at since we just biked through it.

 This is the first time Joan and I are on bicycle excursions that we crossed a State Line, so we had to stop and get a picture. The next sign was dedicated to Cyril, so naturally we had to stop in honor of my Dad.

 The picture to the above left with the dirt trail and gate was one of my turns on my designed route. Oops. It only happened twice this route. Luckily, it was an easy reroute and only added 2 miles. Had to take a picture of this old draw bridge. It is pretty cool. At the draw bridge was a Bayou Swamp tour company, and we were half tempted to do it. This area reminded me of all those reality TV shows in the Bayou. Only heard a couple of gun shots and they didn't seem to be aimed toward us even though we were riding with an attorney.

The picture to the right shows the beautiful routes we had in places just lined with trees. For you people up north, we do get to see the color green. Tom is shown bending over and waiting to go after waiting on a train. We ended the day riding going along about 8 miles of bicycle trail at the edge of the beach on the Gulf of Mexico near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. What a beautiful ride, even against the wind at the end of the day. A great way to celebrate Back on the Bicycle again. Our waitress at dinner said you are either self directed or outer determined.

Joan's Extras

We walked to dinner, sore legs and all, to nearby Starfish Cafe, a gem of a find. It is a non profit organization/cafe that trains students hands-on in restaurant, job and life skills. The cost of your meal is all donation. Di, the executive director, was our server. She was full of positive energy, and a life coach as well. Besides the food being organic and fresh, they had homemade gluten free bread and desserts! Jackpot for me! All agreed that the food was extremely flavorful. I could prove it by the way Tony cleaned his plate, but he wouldn't let me take a picture of that.

Starfish Café - We loved it!

As far as the ride, I'd say our Christmas tree, as we like to call Tom because he is all lit up with his bike lights nicely behind us, had to work a little harder than us today. Our fairing seems to help us cut through the wind (and keep me warm), and it sounds like it was probably Tom's first long, windy, chilly ride. He was determined to make it no matter though, and he did. He also does a great job handling all those attorney jokes that Tony dishes out. I'm sure you can relate Linda, Jim, Jennie, etc. Stay tuned for more attorney jokes in the days ahead...

Last Day of Lovin Nawlins

Joan's View

Lots more food & fun today in Nawlins.

Nawlins was meant to be for us Schroeders.

Our Sherpa led us to … wait for it...

The Winslows "framed"

Cheese

Rum still on his mind

...Mardi Gras World in the morning, where they build many of the Mardi Gras floats.

The Mean Mom team

We took a tour of the float making process and had some fun photo opps, as you can see.

Tony's meditating buddy

What would have been if that ref had made the right call

Check out KISS above Tony's head.

Yikes! Alligator

From there, we took a Mardi Gras World shuttle to the French Quarter. Tom found a muffuletta sandwich at the Central Grocery. He had been drooling for that sandwich since he got to New Orleans. At the French Market, I found an alligator sausage stick and Cindy found a crab cake.

We had to stop to get a picture of St. Joan on her horse as well. Gotta love St. Joan!

We headed back toward Jackson Square to visit the St Louis Cathedral. Lots of street people, performers and vendors were out today. Several cruise ships were in port so along with the gorgeous weather here, the streets were crowded. Amazingly, we caught our same shuttle with perfect timing. The driver was full of lots of information about the area.

Dinner tonight was extra special! We got to meet our future daughter-in-law's (Linda's) sister Anel & her husband Ricky. Since they live in New Orleans, we asked them to pick the dinner spot and they chose Katie's. What's even better is that Katie's is where they had their wedding rehearsal dinner, so they must be super food savy. In addition, Katie's was featured on the show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Thanks Anel & Ricky! We loved it!

Tony's Extras

I thought the Cathedral was beautiful from the outside and there were street performers outside the front door. Inside was nice also, but not super spectacular compared to all the beautiful churches we have seen this year. I was amazed at all the floats and the size of them. They do 200 floats per year of the 500 floats used in all the parades in New Orleans. You can't reuse the same float in the same yearI it is a law. I am ready to get on the bicycle even with 22mph headwinds.

Also, thanks Anel and Ricky for all the dirt on Linda and Wade.

Exploring New Orleans

Tony's View

Today was a full day of living the New Orleans experience. We started out going to a cooking class where we learned how to make Gumbo, Jambalaya, King Cake Bread Pudding and Pralines. It was a fun class and we learned a lot about the famous foods of New Orleans. The Chef taught us all his Grandma's secrets of cooking and how to use your Grandchildren. Don't worry, Luke and Todd, we are still going to be soft with you. The best part of the cooking class was that we got to eat the food. He made the best food, yum. 😋 They were even nice enough to give us coffee when we got there and beer with all the food they gave us. Of course, I got to eat and drink whatever Joan didn't.
As you can see, Tom and Cindy were nice enough to try on things in the gift shop, so we could get their pictures. Such good sports they are, as I was hiding to avoid pictures from Joan. As you all know I could be a better sport about it.😉

After eating and drinking all those calories, we headed out to walk along the Great Mississippi River on the Riverwalk. I would guess we were upstream a mile or two before it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. Check out the cool bridge Joan and Cindy posed for. After walking a little ways, we stop at the famous Cafe Du Monde for some sweet New Orleans beignets.

(Joan just entered the names correctly) You see when we finally got home it was 8:30, and I was grumpy. I know it's hard to believe I would get grumpy. Therefore, I went to bed and woke up at Midnight to type this up. Anyway, we decided to take a different way back to the car and didn't take the correct turns and ended up on Bourbon Street. What a great place to get lost. Cindy got her Google Maps out and guided us back to the car, and we got there right when our parking pass expired, whew. We drove down Frenchman Street, which is another famous Street in New Orleans.

 We decided to go to a Rum Distillery and take a tour with some rum tasting, which I believe was a great idea. This is the oldest Rum distillery in the United States at a young age of 25 years. The place was started by a famous Artist that wanted to distill some kind of alcohol. Being that the popular crop down here is sugar cane, he went with rum. Rum is distilled from molasses, hence the picture above. The middle picture shows where the high water mark was for hurricane Katrina. It was 8 feet under water and destroyed a lot of rum. Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean, oh no, not the rum. Now, since Hurricane Katrina, they rotate the rum and the older it gets the higher the barrels go, expensive merchandise up high. The barrels come from the used barrels of Jack Daniels and Makers Mark. Funny thing is, Joan and I been on each of those tours on Choice One trips. I do remember them saying that they sell the used barrels to others. The reason they can reuse those barrels while the bourbons and whiskey distillers can't, is because rum has very little regulations. The other industries are highly regulated. We started out in the tasting room because of our schedule. I enjoyed tasting my shots, then I enjoyed Joan's and Tom's. That is why I am so happy hugging that big bottle of rum. The artist paintings in the background of the tasting bar were from the owner. The small one in the picture was selling for $9800. Joan said we can just get our neighbor Theresa Deland to paint it for us. I wonder what she charges? One thing I know we won't ask Bud.😁

After that we went to a very nice place to eat called Commanders Palace. The food was top notch and the service was excellent. They made Tom and Cindy's banana foster right at the table with flames and everything. I got a strawberry shortcake that was awesome. You had to order it 50 minutes beforehand because even the biscuit was freshly made. Wow, another full fun day of New Orleans.

Joan's Extras

Funny thing about Old New Orleans Rum - After narrowly making it back to the Winslow's car before it got booted, we drove around looking for Frenchmen St. because we heard it's a more laid back version of Bourbon St. Trusting Google, our Sherpa ended up at this dead end by some old warehouses near the railroad tracks. We backtracked and eventually found the side of Frenchmen St with the bars & such. With a little time before dinner, we decided to tour the Old New Orleans Rum facility, and guess where it was? At the same dead end by the railroad tracks exactly where we were earlier. Too ironic!

One more thing--- here is Tom still working on that front door of our air bnb before it falls off. Really, it is only hanging on by one hinge.

Bike Trip #4 - New Orleans & The Winslows

Joan's View

The beginning of this adventure actually started yesterday. We left Sidney last night for Indianapolis after my day of babysitting our fun grandsons, Luke & Todd. I also dropped off our dog, Luna, at Ann & Dean Morrow's before leaving Sidney so that they could do their much talked about doggie pampering on her while we are gone. Seriously though, thanks Ann & Dean!

We stopped by Cara & Nick's to pick up some suggested medication for Tony since he is recovering from a stomach bug. En route we got a text that Wade picked up the same bug, so when we arrived, we presented him with our care package. He was only sort of thrilled because he just wanted to go to bed. Our plans changed slightly because with Wade out of commission, we took an Uber instead to the airport early this morning. So glad that our bags fit into the Uber Toyota Prius that transported us.

Lovin the food here

Cindy ready to enjoy her shrimp

Arriving in New Orleans, we flagged down the Winslows after one drive by at the airport pickup zone. All of our cases and theirs amazingly fit into their Mazda, after a little reorganization. The first stop was at a yummy New Orleans local eatery, Liuzza's, that Cindy found on a quick Google search. We went with the servers recommendations and had po'boys, shrimp and crawfish etouffee. Super yummy food!

World's Best Sherpa at Work

Next stop was a local market for some breakfast foods, and then on to our air bnb. Our Sherpa for the trip, Cindy, jumped into action styling her new tshirt. Note her husband, Tom, in his support role.

After Sherpa Cindy got all the bags moved in, Tony started assembling the tandem. It took about 3 hours, and it also gave us some time to catch up with Tom & Cindy.

We found Bourbon St

Give me a Hurricane

The bar area at Pat O'Brien's

We decided to head to Bourbon Street for some food & fun. We ate at the famous Pat O'Brien's and had a few of their famous Hurricanes. More yummy New Orleans food again.

Today was a great start to the trip. We are going to enjoy 2 more days in New Orleans before we start to ride.

Quaint alley-like eating at Pat O'Briens

Checking out Bourbon St

Tony's Extras

Record time getting the bicycle together today. Yea!. The only real hang-up was the cables. It is like a puzzle and I tried a new marking system to help it go quicker. Well, that failed and I took off all the masking tape labeling after I got completely confused, and went back to the old way of just sitting back and figuring it out. Now thinking of a new marking system for next time. I still have a couple of things to fix, like the front bag holder is upside down (dang it) and the typical minor tweaks with the brakes and gearing. Need to work on not putting things on upside down. For all you system view fans out there in Choice One and Aileron land, I think a system view could get me down to 2 1/2 hours (need to do a PDSA on that), nah,skip PDSA and put into action, that's better. I will have that written down before next time.

When we left the AirBnb apartment, the front screen door feel off the top two hinges, so it wouldn't close. Tom and I found another way to use New Orleans beads. As you see in the picture, you can use them to hold the screen door shut by locking them to the mailbox. Ingenious don't you think! 
The food is great here and it is definitely a fun culture. Bourbon Street reminded me of Nashville quite a lot. The beer prices were very reasonable, I got a 24 ounce local craft beer for $5 and walked with it down the street. I was tired, so I went to bed and shared my extras the next morning. A look into bicycling future-Friday is the first day of riding and the wind is switching from a tail wind on Thursday to a headwind on Friday at 21 mph from the North and temperature dropping 25 degrees. Uh-oh!