St. Francisville

The plan was that we would have a "short" day, 48 miles, leaving us time to explore St. Francisville. We followed the published route, which wandered very indirectly toward St. F-ville. The route leads to the ferry landing for the ferry crossing of the Mississippi. We knew that the ferry was replaced about a year ago by a bridge not shown on our maps. We didn't realize that the bridge is substantially south of the pld ferry so that the new highway leads you around three-quarters of a big circle around St. f-ville. We wound up doing 60 miles on a hot day. No rest for the wicked.

We had our first view of the Mississippi. We were across the river from the infamous Angola State Prison.

The new bridge is beautiful. It's named for Audubon, the bird painter. He lived here when he wasn't out compiling his encyclopedia of birds. Mostly his wife lived here and instructed young ladies for a living to support her husband while he fooled around with birds.

St. F-ville was involved in Civil War fighting. Union gunboats shelled the town (it was animportant river port then) and seriously damaged the Episcopal church, built by "the Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy". Nevertheless, the captain of the Union gunboat was honorably buried at the church. He was a Mason and hoped for a Masonic funeral. Federal and Rebel Masons declared a truce for a day and gathered together to bury their brother.

We stopped at a market in Morganza for Gatorade (among us all, we sometimes down a gallon of Gatoade a day) and saw animal parts for sale that I could hardly identify, let alone consider eating. I would have liked to try the green onion sausage.

Dinner tonight was at the Myrtles, a former plantation housesaid to be haunted. No ghosts joined us.

We're in touch with another couple of cyclists we first met back in Sanderson. They are a day ahead of us. They advised us to divert from the published route tomorrow. We'll try their route tomorrow.