Happy 4th from Louisiana!

Happy fourth of July everyone!

Today we spent the 4th in Natchatoches, LA! (pronounced Nakatoosh...or something) They had their fireworks show right along a river, which was beautiful. They shot their fireworks from one side of the river and the crowd sat on the other. And other than the couple fireworks that shot horizontally and hit a parked truck...it was a good show. (sounds worse than it actually was think..everyone was ok) It was a great celebration.

The past few days have been great too. I've really been enjoying the different places we've stayed. First of all, I think Louisiana is beautiful. We've rode through more open spaces in the past few days and its been gorgeous. And each church/town that we've stayed has had it's own little special thing about it.

After we left New Orleans we rode to Baton Rouge, where we arrived at the church to about 60 little children having a day camp in the gym we would be sleeping in. They were all having free time playing in the carpeted (yes, carpeted) gym, so some of us joined in. I met some really fun girls who totally kicked my butt at hula hoop and were waaay faster than me when they wanted to race from one side of the gym to the other (multiple times...they didn't seem to care that I'd biked all day)

One thing I've noticed about our group is that even when we have days that we bike say...90 miles or so...we often get to the host location and still find a way to run around more. Whether it's playing ultimate frisbee outside, or knockout, or whatever, we can't stop working up a sweat. It's actually really ridiculous and really amusing when I think about it.

After the kids left the day camp in Baton Rouge, we realized that there was a room full of roller skates, so some of us decided to strap them on and roll around the carpeted gym. (so fun!....especially when we threw the frisbee around at the same time)

After Baton Rouge we went to Lafayette, the home town of one of our riders, Susanna. Thank you to Susanna's parents for the delicious dinner that night it was amazing! We were staying at a church in Lafayette that didn't have showers so we were able to go down the street to the gym that Susanna's parents have a membership to in order to shower. But, not only did this place have showers. They had multiple pools (one with a huge waterslide and a lazy river), there were hot tubs, saunas, a cold plunge (which I tried for the first time ever...I only lasted 15 seconds). Pretty much, this place was amazing, and we were all soooo excited to be able to go between the pool and the hot tub and the sauna and the cold plunge, and back and forth until we wanted to shower. It was so amazing.

So far Louisiana has been great. We'll be in Texas soon and I'm curious what's awaiting us there. The heat is still going strong, but we're getting used to it.

Fact: I ate a foot-long sandwich from subway today an hour and a half before dinner.

Another fact: I still ate dinner.

Another fact: I'm still hungry.

Bottles of sunscreen used: 3!

Lowest gas price I've seen so far: $3.79

That's all I've got for now. Happy Fourth of July!!