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LA or Bust - 2009 Trip - Day 6

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Start Location: Gainesville, TX
Ending Location: Alexandria, LA
Miles Today: 394
Trip Miles: 2619
States Visited: 10
National Parks Visited: 1
Low Temp: 72.7° F
High Temp: 96.3° F
Min Elevation: 40'
Max Elevation: 895'

Route Map:




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When we got up and looked out this morning, we felt right at home.  The sky was grey and overcast and completely cloud covered - very low visibility.  When we actually stepped outside, it was obvious we weren't home.  The temperature was already into the 70s and the humidity was about 99%.  We were convinced we would get rain but, undeterred, we packed up and headed out.

We continued west on US 82 and it was like driving in a cloud.  Although water condensed on the fairing and face shields, it never did rain this morning.  In fact the sun began to peek out around noon.  We eventually arrived in Texarkana where we turned right heading south on US 71 and crossed over into Arkansas.  We stopped at a small town south of Texarkana for gas and ate lunch in a small city park.

Around 2:00 we crossed over into Louisiana and finally got our 48th state - not sure yet what we will do about Alaska and Hawaii.  We did get picures of entering both Arkansas and Louisiana.  We stayed on US 71 until Shreveport and, with both the temperature and the humidity climbing rapidly, we decided to get back on I-49 for the final push down to Alexandria where we would be spending the night.  We picked Alexandria because our book said that it had a Super 8 that had laundry facilities.  This is our 6th day on the road, and we bring 6 changes of clothes so we have to stop and wash clothes at least every 6 days.

The only problem occurred like yesterday at about 4:00 this afternoon when it finally did decide to rain.  It looked like we would be riding out of it shortly so we decided not to put on rain gear.  Unfortunately, it continued to rain all the way to Alexandria and it is still raining tonight.

Tomorrow we ride into New Orleans where we have reservations about a block from the French Quarter where we plan to spend a day or two sight seeing.  After that we will head back north for Cleveland and Chicago.  I realized that I didn't really write too much about what we saw today but that was mostly because there wasn't all that much interesting to see. We both specifically looked for some Texas Longhorns, but none were to be found.  Didn't even see oil rigs until LA. Go figure. Lots of flags, many at half mast, because it is 9/11.

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