Day Four: Happy 60th There was Birthday, Gene Weaver!

Start: Budget Inn & Suites in Abbeville, Louisiana
Lunch: Atchafalaya Cafe in Morgan City, Louisiana
Dinner: Pepper's Pizzeria in Thibodaux, Louisiana
End: Deauville Motel in Thibodaux, Louisiana
Today's biking distance: 100 miles
Total biking distance: 376 miles

I'll be honest. This whole "Brennan-and-Jason-kicking-ass-by-doing-another-100-miles-today" thing is wearing me out. I took like 7 pictures today. And most of those pictures were of buildings. Buildings we ate food in. I don't even think I took a picture of Brennan today.

Today was another excellent day. Though the guys had to wait out quite a bit of rain, they were able to tackle 100 miles for the 2nd day in a row, something unprecedented when  it comes to moustache rides (come to think of it, are moustache rides in and of themselves unprecedented?). There was quite a bit of rain, which caused the guys to take a couple extra breaks that they normally would have powered through. But this turned out to be a good thing for two reasons: (#1) it gave them some much needed rest, considering the fatigue still affecting them from yesterday and (#2) they got to hang out at their 2nd hip-hop-celebrity-named convenience store -- Nelly's!

100% genuine Louisiana rain! And lots of it!

The other main highlight was on my side of things: our usual routine after lunch each day involves me driving to the town we plan to stop and finding a place to stay for the night. I've blogged about the strategy involved in this previously, but honestly, there are quite a few more readers this year, so I feel like running through our philosophy won't be wasted.

Getting an inexpensive motel has very little to do with bartering skills (which I'm notoriously bad at) and more to do with scouting. Chain h/motels are always bad news. They have set prices and because they are connected to online services like Priceline and Orbitz, they have no need to cater to your needs. The key is finding the independent motel on the outskirts of town. As I've said before, the shadier the motel looks, the better it actually is. And this year, we got better and better at this as the week went by. For our motel rooms, we paid, in this order $80, $70, $60, and finally, $50. Take that, Rachel Ray! (full disclosure...I'm not sure what Rachel Ray does, or if calling her out while discussing motel costs is even applicable).

Tent revival! Halleluiah!!

Well, we're less than 70 miles from New Orleans, so our attention and anticipation is focused on tomorrow, when Brennan and Jason will ride their bikes into the Big Easy!

We aim to be in New Orleans by early afternoon. Brennan and Jason are leaning towards taking the ferry into town. I may join them. Or I may set up on Bourbon Street somewhere to take pictures of their triumphant arrival. Either way, it'll be a glorious day when we arrive on Bourbon Street and celebrate with the rest of the crew (Dave, Aaron, Justin, and Buzz, you're moustaches better be on point. On point, I say!). And while I will try my best to get a quick blog posted tomorrow, it's more likely that I'll post the final blog after our weekend celebration in the Big Easy. You'll just have to occupy yourself with Perez Hilton or something.


Support Vehicle Music:

The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music (in a failed attempt to keep the rain away)
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (in a failed attempt to make this trip Grammy-worthy)
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (in a failed attempt to be hip)