Sign of the times

The picture above, taken May 5th, shows one of the access points to the multi-use path that follows the Mississippi River Levee in Baton Rouge. I've heard that no one will be allowed on top of the levee starting May 20th.

It's one of the things about the weather, and weather related events, in Louisiana - we don't suffer those short, sharp shocks of tornadoes (usually). Instead, we live with the very embodiment of "inexorable" -watching storm fronts move in from the northwest in red, snaking lines or the latest hurricane to enter the Gulf turn and steam toward us in near-obscene satellite-eye high-definition resolution. This time, it's the River.

Seems there's been a lot of rain this spring upriver of Baton Rouge. With nearly a third of the continent drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, when it rains in Ohio we get little buckeyes streaming by a month later. This time it seems quite a bit of Ohio is in the River, at least, Ohioan topsoil and anything else that washes off in the rain.

That the media, local and national, keeps referencing the Flood of 1927 is one sure sign of the immensity of this latest river rise. It didn't help that the Department of Public Works announced there are a few low spots in the Baton Rouge levee that are about 6 inches lower than the predicted high-water mark.

All this whoo-hah made me think it was a good idea to take a photograph of the batture from the same two spots every day around 6 PM. It has proven interesting so far. I'll have photos up soon.

This high water has affected bicycle touring in the area by closing the St Francisville ferry. The state was going to close that service permanently as soon as the John James Audubon Bridge opened but the River forced the state to act sooner than they had planned. I have to check to see if the rumor that the bridge has a dedicated bicycle lane is true. If not, well, it will make crossing the River more interesting than it used to be, that's for sure.

I wonder if anyone has contacted the Adventure Cycling Association?

Bicycling in the South: Jim Powers comes to town

As I mentioned in my previous post, I met Jim Powers at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Austin, TX last month. He was planning on riding from Austin, TX, to New Orleans and was looking for a place to stay while in town overnight.

As I am a registered "host" on the somewhat-unfortunately-named-Web-site Warm Showers I was more than willing to have him stay, once we chatted for a bit and it was clear that he was reasonably sane and seemed to be compatible with my mindset. I'm really happy that he stayed in Baton Rouge for a number of reasons.

For one thing, the reason Jim was at NAHBS is that he is the North American distributor of Zimbale high quality canvas and leather bags. He's not only the distributor but a user of the bags. I have to say they are beautiful pieces of work and very well made, not only from the workmanship side of things but from the design side as well.

One of the things I've heard from a couple of bicycle tourists it that big bags, like my Ortlieb grocery getters, don't have outside pockets so when you want something you have to open the entire bag and dig around. Perhaps a minor inconvenience but the Zimbale bags have lots of outside pockets and that makes packing easier - this little pocket has my cell phone, that little pocket has my wallet, this little pocket has chewy bars of goodness . . . you get my drift. Having separate places for things means checking that little space for what you know should be there rather than diving in and poking through everything in a big bag.

The bags are also beautiful in that retro-grouch sort of way. Waxed canvas and leather or straight up leather bags constructed with attention to detail and finish make them not only useful but a handsome addition to your bicycle.

As Jim is a distributor and the Zimbale Web site given above is for retailers only, you cannot purchase these bags directly that Web site. There is a more or less convenient "Retail Partners" link that will take you to a state-by-state list of retailers. Unfortunately, there is no retailer in Louisiana so I'd have to go to Austin or Dallas or Atlanta to find the closest dealers and that ain't very close. Perhaps, one day, there will be a distributor in Louisiana, maybe even Baton Rouge. Fortunately, Jim's other Web site, Bike Touring News, does have an online store where one may purchase the Zimbale bags, should one be so inclined.

Another reason I'm glad Jim stopped in Baton Rouge is he has been bicycle touring since 1972. Yes friends, the man has been taking to the road on his bicycle for nearly 40 YEARS! I stand in awe.

Has he kept all that experience to himself? No, not at all. In fact, we can all gain a little or a lot, depending on our personal bent, by going to his Website - Bike Touring News.

Seems to me, if I were considering heading out for an extended tour, I'd want to know as much as I could about the fundamentals of touring. Given how much experience he's gained, and lived to tell the tale, I'd say this would be a good place to start.

Of course, we did more than talk about his distributorship and his Web site and blog on crazyguyonabike . After all, visiting is more than talking business.

We also ate at The Chimes where Jim had his first crawfish etouffee and his second hushpuppy. It's kind of nice that most people have never heard of, much less eaten, a hushpuppy, if the folks coming through here on bicycles are any indication. Not eating alligator I would expect but hushpuppies? Really? Seems there really is regional food left in America. Jim also got to try Tin Roof IPA and a Covington brew.

Before Jim left on the LA Swift bus for New Orleans we had a few hours to tour Baton Rouge. I won't bore you with the route, even if I remembered it, but we did see Mike the Tiger, passed around bits of the Lakes, stopped briefly on St Rose so I could drop off a little swag from NABHS, and then headed downtown.


For some reason the Old State Capitol was closed. I'm guessing the state budget has something to do with that as I seem to remember it being open on Sundays before. Fortunately, the new capitol was open and, as always, quite a hit, It really is a beautiful building and provides quite a view from up on the observation walk.

We ran out of time and headed home after getting a little lunch at the Capitol City Grill. Our ride tothe LA Swift bus at the CATS terminal was pleasant and the LA Swift was on time and ready when we got there. I bid Jim "Bon Voyage" at the station and headed home, happy to have had the chance to host another bicycle tourist in Baton Rouge.




Jim was born and raised in Montana. He currently lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, Stacy.

You don't know what you've got . . .

I'm a big fan of Joni Mitchell, have been since I was in my teens, which - in case you didn't know - is a long time ago now. I'm not even going to play "what's your favorite song" but I will say that one of my favorites is "Big Yellow Taxi" because of the lyrics, part of which is alluded to in the title to this posting. Here's the part of lyric referenced:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

"Okay, great," you may be saying, "but what's that got to do with anything?"

Well, you see, I was in Austin, TX, last month for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show with a few friends from here in Baton Rouge. One of those friends, Joshua, and I stayed at the Hostel International Austin facility (which I highly recommend). We'd brought our bicycles so we rode to the show together and occasionally ran into each other on the floor of the exhibition area.

During one of those moments when we ran into each other on the exhibition floor he said, "That guy in the booth over there is riding from Austin to New Orleans after the show. Maybe you could offer him a place to stay?"

Now, Joshua is not in the habit of offering other people's things to strangers. It happens that he knows I'm a host on the slightly-unfortunately-named-Web-site Warm Showers, "a hospitality site for touring cyclists." As such, I offer a room, bed or back yard (for adamant campers), shower, laundry, a meal here and there, and a general Haven for touring bicyclists. I'm also happy to provide a local tour of Baton Rouge for those who have the time and inclination. All in all, Joshua's suggestion that I talk to the guy was legit.

I go over, chat with the guy (who turned out to be Jim Powers), decide he's not a flake or sociopath or generally incompatible, and tell him he's welcome if he wants to stop in Baton Rouge on his way to New Orleans. Since there was still a lot to see in the exhibition I went on to other booths and immediately forgot about Jim in a fog of bamboo and stainless steel, S&S couplers and general bicycle awesomeness. Oh man . . . but I digress.

I signed up for Warm Showers back in . . . uh . . . well . . . the site tells me it was 37 weeks and a few days ago so something like May 2010 and didn't get so much as a nibble for months. In fact, the first contact I got came while I was out of town but I had forgotten about Warm Showers and didn't change my status to "unavailable." Even though I was on my way home at the same time as the fellow who contacted me was headed into Baton Rouge, we didn't connect.

A month or so goes by and I get another hit, then another, and another, and . . . well, you get my drift. It turns out there are a fair number of people coming through Baton Rouge and they are all different. By that I mean they all have different motivations, different skill levels, different bicycles (boy howdy do they ride a wide range of bicycles), and, of course, different personalities.

The one thing many of these tourists have in common is the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) and their awesome route maps. The ACA has created over 20 bicycle tour routes ranging from the Adirondack Park Loop to the Transamerica Route, the Utah Cliffs Loop to the Underground Railroad Route. As it turns out, Baton Rouge is sort of part of the Southern Tier Route that stretches from San Diego, CA, to St Augustine, FL.

Not being a bicycle tourist I was completely unaware of the ACA and their maps, much less that the Southern Tier runs just north of Baton Rouge through St Francisville, LA. That wasn't the only thing I was ignorant of.

It seems the July 2009 revision of the Southern Tier Section 5 map includes this little gem of advice:

"The 26-mile Baton Rouge Spur heads south from St. Francisville to the airport on the north side of Baton Rouge. Local bicyclists do not recommend riding into downtown Baton Rouge, but you can rent a car at the airport to visit New Orleans."

"Local bicyclists do not recommend riding into downtown . . .." Um . . . WHAT?

"The . . . spur heads south . . . to the airport . . .." REALLY?! What do you do then, stuck, as one would be, at the airport???

". . . you can rent a car at the airport to visit New Orleans." OH, of course, skip Baton Rouge, rent an automobile, and cruise in comfort through town on the interstate while flipping off this waste of space known as Baton Rouge. Great, just freakin' wonderful. Thank you anonymous "local bicyclists" for showing your love of your town by telling everyone to just rent a car and skip Baton Rouge to go spend their time and money in New Orleans.

Forget "love," what about taking a moment to show visitors your town. Is there nothing here of interest to you, "local bicyclists," that is worth showing to someone else? Do you, "local bicyclists," fear and loathe this place so much that you would tell hundreds if not thousands of bicycle tourist to NOT COME TO BATON ROUGE? WTF (please pardon my Anglo-Saxon)!

Okay, okay, I'll take a breath and calm down . . . better now? You betcha!

It's true that the most direct route into Baton Rouge from St Francisville is US 61 a.k.a. Scenic Highway. Most of the time, US 61 is anything but scenic passing, as it does pine croplands, a nuclear power plant, a pulp mill, and the ExxonMobil refinery with its associated chemical plants, among other delights. And, yes, that means US 61 is a major truck route for the log trucks and chemical tanker trucks and general truck hauling that is required to restock the various enterprises north of Baton Rouge into Mississippi. Add to that the commuters who just want to get where they are going at 80 miles per hour and it can be a bit daunting.

And, it is true that Scenic Highway starts and ends in a black neighborhood where it dead-ends on Main Street by Magnolia Cemetery, one of the best cemeteries in town if historic cemeteries are your thing. Given the rampant if subtle racism in this place it wouldn't surprise me if that alone was enough for the "local bicyclists" to warn people away.

But none of that should matter. US 61 has shoulders on both sides that are no better or worse than most highway shoulders anywhere else in this country. And as for the neighborhood, well, if you're not there at 2 AM looking for trouble you won't find it and it won't come looking for you.

Because of my Warm Showers hosting I've had over a dozen bicycle tourists come to stay in Baton Rouge and six of them have come down Scenic Highway from St Francisville; not one of those six arrived in urine-soaked bicycle shorts terrified and pale from the experience. Not one has even MENTIONED the ride in until I asked them about it and, even with prodding, the most they've had to say is, "Well, it isn't terribly scenic but it's by far not the worst road I've been on." No one has even noticed the neighborhood.

And a good thing, too.

Baton Rouge isn't heaven, by a long shot, but then, where is? There's a lot here to see and do, great food, beautiful neighborhoods to ride, and an awesome group of local bicyclists who love to ride and are happy to do what they can to assist those passing through.

Maybe we aren't the "local bicyclists" who put the bad ju-ju on Baton Rouge through ACA but we are local bicyclists and we say, "Come on down and pass a good time!"

Why "Martin's Ape"?

Many years ago my oldest brother gifted me with a ring. It was the product of a "family crest" kiosk at the local mall in St Petersburg where he lives.

Now, I'm not a wearer of jewelery, much less some kind of generic pseudo-feudal heraldic device, but my interest was piqued. I mean, why that particular crest? Was it the only Martin family crest? Which Martin got the crest and were we related?

Yes, I am a bit manic in this regard and, yes, I did wind up looking for answers.

The crest on the ring consists of a white or silver cross on a three-step plinth with a radiant sun on the left and a crescent moon on the right of the cross-arm. The shield on which the cross stands is a dark blue. Above the shield is a silver Esquire Helm facing left with closed visor. The motto on the ring was something like, "Deus auxilium mihi," meaning "God helps me" or some such.

Being more of an agnostic with Buddhist leanings than a Christian, this motto didn't do anything to endear me to the crest. All the more reason to see what else was out there. The search was on.

After a little digging in public libraries I discovered there are quite a few Martin family crests. My favorite consists of a silhouette of a chimpanzee holding a hand-glass (mirror) with the motto, "He who looks at Martin's ape, Martin's ape shall look at him."

Now that's a motto I can get behind!

Having adopted it (as much as I have), it seemed a good name for this blog. Time will tell if you, the reader, and I, the ape . . . er . . . author will look at each other. Write and let me know.