Cycle 31 Miles to Granny's Attic, Mandeville

Monday, April 12, we have the bikes packed up by 10:30. I check at the office for our mail but today's is not there yet. We hit the bike trail by 11:17 a.m. There is a north wind today and we find almost no one on the trail. We make good time to Mandeville. On the way we saw more wildlife today since the trail didn't have much human traffic. I little lizard ran right in front of my tire. Then a Pileated woodpecker swooped very low across the trail. I was just going to tell Bob how great it was that the trail was deserted today and we got to see so much wildlife when he yelled "Lookout, there's a snake!" Sure enough a four-foot black snake was coiled up in the middle of the trail hissing at us as we zoomed by. That got my adrenaline going. Later on I saw a rabbit hop it front of me and returned to my good feelings about the wildlife.

When we get to Mandeville we cruise by the special board outside Kickstand Cafe (actually they have their banner up and have officially changed their name to Old Mandeville Cafe.) We cycle on by to go to Samaritan Thrift shop a.k.a Granny's Attic before it closes at 2:00.

We leave our bikes in the rack out front with some kids bikes that the thrift shop is selling. We browse and find a 2009 Almanac for $1.50. And I find a colorful summer bracelet. When we pay the lady she asks "Are those your bikes in our racks out front? We've had several people want to buy them!"

We hop on before someone buys them and I stuff the Almanac in my panniers. We ride back to Old Mandeville Cafe for lunch; our last here probably. I have a heavenly Cream of Asparagus Soup and a garden salad. Bob has a Tuna Twist and we split a homemade Chinese Almond cookie. The gal heats it up for us. I couldn't come here all of these times without getting one of their homemade desserts.

Outside we take a break at the trail head after Bob gets his pedal caught on a curb by the Cafe. But he rights himself and we sit in the sun as it lulls us to sleep. At last we fill our water bottles and head back against the strongest wind yet. We're only going 31 miles today so it's not too bad. We make it back to the truck by 4:00.

Back home we put the bikes in the garage so I can just leave for my hair appointment tomorrow. The gal in the office catches me at the door and hands me our packet of mail. We crash with the A/C on to avoid the bugs. We eat Ham Hodge Podge Soup and watch House and Castle. It's 5:20 p.m. and 76 degrees with 35% humidity. The high was 78 and the low was 60. It was 87 degrees in the RV when we got back from cycling.

I called my brother Mike tonight to wish him a happy birthday. He says he started a new project at the Lake house on Lake Texoma, on the hill in the back yard, next to the peanut field. He planted a corn field; 40 ft. by 12 ft. Four rows of 50 seeds for a total of 200 stalks. How fun! It reminded me of watching our corn grow last summer in Bluffton, Iowa, behind our RV at Twin Lakes. He also said they are all going to a Beatles cover concert on Thursday. It will be my great nephew Ethan's first concert!

Louie and The Redhead Lady, Mandeville, LA

Thursday, April 8, it rained during the night. The front moved through and dropped the temperature ten degrees and wiped out the humidity. After breakfast Bob leaves to get a haircut (later he says there are 19 ahead of him but he waits anyway--none of them are in Tiger Woods corner for this weekend!) Right before Bob left as I'm doing the breakfast dishes, my friend Cathy from my hometown in Missouri calls! We have a nice chat. It's so great to hear from her. She had 40-plus at her house for Easter!

I call Escapees to get our mail delivered, address some cards and so my stretching. Bob returns and we stop in the office to get on the shuttle schedule tomorrow to go to the French Quarter in New Orleans. Then we head west on 190 towards Mandeville, paralleling Tammany Trace Trail. It is weird to pass all of the places we can barely see from the bike trail here along 190.



We spot Louie & the Redhead Lady and do a bat turn to have lunch. I enjoy the Seafood Salad. I asked them to hold the bacon but it comes with bacon and I get no crab. I ask the waitress about it and she says they are out of crab (like I wouldn't notice the seafood salad is missing the crab-even if it has oysters and shrimp as well!) So she brings me more fried oysters and that's a good thing as they are very sweet and fixed perfectly. Bob has the Cobb Salad with boiled shrimp. We both enjoy the Creole Vinaigrette. The salads have the tangiest chunks of blue cheese I've ever had. On the side we get garlic-cheese biscuits--very tasty! At the end we have a surprise--they take cash only; no credit cards. Fortunately we can cover our meal and don't have to do dishes. I snap a picture in the ladies room "Eat, drink, and wear jewelry!" The Redhead Lady has a flair for decorating and accessorizing.

Next we head to St. Francis animal Shelter Thrift Store just off the bike trail in Mandeville. We couldn't haul anything home on our bikes when we were here so we came back with the truck. It's a good thing too since we find bargain books; paperbacks five for $1.00 and hardbacks two for $1.00! I find a cute colorful Mexican salsa bowl and a bracelet in fun summer colors. We try to hit the Samaritan thrift shop down the street but it closed at 2:00.

So we head back east on 190 and stop at a metal art junque store that has five or six buildings of metal art, pots, etc. We leave empty-handed as most of it is too big for our RV lifestyle. It's 7:42 p.m. and 69 degrees with 30% humidity-Wow, what a change! I took an anti-histamine earlier today as these No-see-ums are killing me. Every time I get a new bite they all start itching again.

Cycle 30 Miles for Lunch at Kickstand Coffee House Cafe

Wednesday, March 24, I'm up at 7:00 after sleeping like a baby due to our cycling. It is cloudy and warm with a low of 53 degrees. The wind is out of the southeast so it feels much warmer. The high gets to 68 as the sun makes brief appearances. I nix breakfast at Sunrise on Second like we talked about. Instead we have Crispy Thingies at home and hit the trail at 11:25.

Bob at the Mandeville Trail Head

We go west, making it through the State Park all the way to Mandeville, LA. Just before the State Park I see a deer on the equestrian trail that follows the bike trail. We cycled out 15 miles one way. There we encounter the next trail head and the fanciest renovation of a depot that we have seen on the National Rails to Trails Network. After buying a Gatorade for $1.25 (it wouldn't take my crinkled dollar bill but I persevered and dug up five quarters out of my panniers) and climbing the stairs to the tower, we rode to the end where we thought the restrooms were located. I almost had a wall-eyed hissy fit when the doors were locked. I was ranting and raving about spending $1.5 Million on the freaking trail head train depot and then locking the facilities.

R2D2 rests on USA map at Mandeville trail head

We crossed the street to .Kickstand Coffeehouse Cafe and Bike Rental. The cafe is upstairs; two flights--they need to rethink that for us ancient cyclists. That was tough on the knees after 15 miles. The bike shop is downstairs but I was on a mission for a restroom.

Part of million dollar facility at Mandeville Trail Head

The lady behind the counter seemed thrown by our bike helmets. She thought we were looking for the repair shop downstairs. She seemed shocked that we wanted lunch. I know this place is fairly new but they must not get a lot of tourists riding the trail here like they do on the Paul Bunyan Trail in Minnesota.

Balcony where we enjoyed lunch at Kickstand Coffee House & Cafe

We sat out on the balcony to keep an eye on the bikes downstairs in the bike rack. We didn't chain them up in our haste to find facilities. There are two tables of ladies playing cards inside. We browse the menu and decide to split and Egg Salad and Avocado Sandwich on 7-grain bread with spouts and spinach--it was heaven! We also each have a cup of White Bean and Cabbage Soup with corned beef, cheddar cheese and caraway seeds. I was eyeing Breakfast Banana Split for $5.69 on the breakfast menu but I restrained myself. This place is great and the prices are reasonable. I'm so glad we found civilization at last on the trail. We had to cycle out 15 miles to find anything. Most of the trail runs through bayous (a fancy word for swamp) and the State Park.

Bike in lobby of Kickstand Cafe

What a nice break. We filled our water bottles at the depot and at last found an unlocked restroom. It made me feel better about the local community's investment. At last we head back about 2:10 p.m. It is a real slog on the way back against the wind the entire way. We had to take a few more breaks than we did on the way here. We're not so tired that we can't take a wildflower picture on the way back however. Shortly after that we're taking a break and I sprawl out on the trail. A Trace Ranger comes by and I snap a picture of his little cart. He's an older gent and he pulls up next to us and asks if everything is okay. I said "Yes, I'm just resting." He says "Whew, I'm glad." Maybe we would have been his first emergency case.

We made it in five hours (including our lunch break) for a total of 29.9 miles. We're both tired and wonder how we ever made it over 70 miles in one day in Minnesota. Actually, upon further reflection we both know how we did it. By adding five miles per cycle for the entire summer!

Poster at restored depot City of Mandeville

We head home in the frightful traffic here in Tammany Parish. Tonight we park the truck in front of The Titanic and leave the bikes on the rack. I go for a walk so I can stretch. While I'm out I finally see Shirley and Tim from the laundry the other day. I tell her Bob and I found her sock. She laughs and is so happy. She runs right over to retrieve it. Babs and her husband come out to join them to grill burgers. We all chat for a bit. They tell me about their two days of sight-seeing in New Orleans; Haunted History Tour, Honey Island Swamp Tour, City tour and Natchez Steamboat. They ate at Huck Finn's and Babs really liked the Fried Oysters over spinach salad. They asked me about our hybrid bikes and how to find bike trails. I told them we rode 30 miles on the Tammany Trace Trail and Tim asked "TODAY?!"

Trace Ranger to the rescue!

I went home to stretch, read the paper, work puzzles and watch Human Target. We're both tired tonight after two days in a row of cycling a bit higher mileage. It's 8;20 p.m. and 62 degrees.