Biking Bad 2014: Highway 61 Visited; Crawfish Pie; Born on the Bayou

Day 3 is the day when Biking Bad 2014 became Boating Bad 2014. Our plan for the day was to ride from Natchez to Thibodaux, Louisiana, for a tour of Bayou Lafourche.

The Biking Bad 2014 Planning Committee held a beverage meeting the night before to discuss how to deal with the storm that is moving east. It appears to be a big one and it stands in our way of getting to New Mexico. Our options were to ride it out in New Orleans or spend Day 4 getting as far west as possible. We decided to go west, although a couple of weather days in New Orleans sounded pretty good.

So, we headed back south on Highway 61, which has been our home practically the whole way from Clarksdale and which we would continue to ride into Louisiana.

Highway 61 runs from Duluth, Minnesota, through the Mississippi Delta. Already famous for the blues, Bob Dylan added to its fame with the album Highway 61 Revisited.

Once in Louisiana we passed Angola Prison, which was holding its annual Prison Rodeo. Cars were lined up entering the prison grounds for the event. We thought about it but passed.

Our ride to Thibodeux was uneventful. We did stop a couple of times along the way for some road food. The fried chicken wings were just OK but the fried pie stuffed with crawfish and rice was a major find.

We arrived by early afternoon in Tibodeux and checked into the Hampton Inn, a big step up from yesterday's disaster of a motel.

We then met up with Moe Bourgeouis, who heads up the shrimp and crab fishery programs for the state of Louisiana. He also happens to be a good friend of Bill's from back in the days they attended Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

Moe took us on a tour of Bayou Lafourche, a 106 mile long bayou that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The first settlements of Arcadians in this part of Louisiana were near the bayou.

We had a fabulous tour. Moe certainly knows his stuff. We saw gators, bald eagles and hawks, in addition to miles of bayou.