10/20/08 - Texas!

What a long day! I had to go about 100 more miles than I had planned, due to staying in New Orleans last night. All good though, and I did have a full day as you will see.

So, I started by crossing the Mississippi in Baton Rouge. I gotta admit, I was expecting it to be wider. I mean, its not really any wider than where I crossed in Iowa. And the Columbia is wider, though not as long. Still, it is an impressive river. I then headed west for Texas. I think I may have crossed the longest bridge anywhere. I-10 goes right through the Louisiana swamps and was elevated at about tree height for approximately 15 miles.

Upon reaching Texas, I realized that I-10 would take me within 20 miles of the coast(I know Houston's on the coast, but I'm not about to drive through downtown Houston to get there). Anyway, I decided to take the hours detour to see the Gulf of Mexico and have a pic at all the large bodies of water that border the USA. What I failed to realize, though it became quite obvious almost as soon as I left the highway, is that I was about to hit the coast very close to the same place Ike did. I could see damage everywhere I looked. Out of respect for the people there, I only took a picture of the coastal road for damage.I love my country, and have grown to love it even more as I've been on this trip. This was quite painful to see. I am not ashamed to admit that as I got on my bike and headed past the FEMA outpost, there were several tears in my eyes.

Still, I did take the pics, so here you go, the Gulf of Mexico.

And me, in front of it. There was no level place to put the camera, understandably, so I did the best I could. A few more pics on Photobucket.