6.26 New Orleans, LA!!!

photo: some left over mardi gras awesomeness

Yay for internet in New Orleans! Here’s yesterday (I write these each night on my computer and just upload them when I get the chance):

There were a few thunderstorms while we were in Biloxi and they were very cool to experience in the warehouse style building because the rain was so loud. This morning because of the recent rain and the coming sun, there was a huge, perfectly arched rainbow in the sky. A nice way to start the day. Unfortunately, the day did not continue to go so well. We left Biloxi around 7:30am and the first 45 miles until lunch were actually awesome. Team Tardy (except for Meghan because she was sweep with Alan) arrived at lunch second which was a first. Lunch was great with donated cookies and snack packs in addition to the traditional PB & J. After lunch, everything went downhill. Lindsey got 2 flats and wanted to quit Bike and Build, Matthew crashed and broke a few spokes which took an hour to fix, the route had to be changed because of an unfriendly bridge, and I got some pretty bad sunburn. Our 85 mile ride took 10.5 hours…ick. However, we did get to ride through some interesting parts of New Orleans. We came in through the 9^th Ward and rode through the French Quarter into the Garden District where we are staying. It was pretty unbelievable. In the 9^th Ward it was empty. The houses were still standing but most were pretty badly damaged and boarded up. Most houses had the red Xs still on them from FEMA coming through. The roads were horrible to bike on because they were basically one big pot hole. The areas we went through were mainly hurt by flood damage caused by the hurricane, not the storm itself. The French Quarter looks amazing and I can’t wait to walk around there. We’re staying in a house provided by Trinity Church, and we’re making do with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for 27 people. Thankfully Breanna’s family from the area made us dinner (especially awesome because I’m on dinner crew this week). We had a nice Southern meal…rice, red beans and sausage, bread and salad. And some amazing chocolate cinnamon cake for dessert. After dinner we all went out to various places. I walked a few blocks with a bunch of people to the Bridge Lounge. It was a cute little bar that allowed dogs. Sitting and having a beer felt amazing. We don’t get much time to just hang out and talk while we’re all clean and happy, haha.