Rising early (and probably waking the rest of the neighbourhood with George's Harley roar) we left a 5:30. But not before we were greeted by several deer in the road, followed by a raccoon. We managed to leave them all alive, if not terrorized by "the Harley". Only a few miles up the road we stopped and enjoyed a Starbucks' latte and "porridge" before braving the rush hour of Austin. It proved to be much easier than expected and we pressed on to Houston where the freeways were a little challenging with some stop and go even at 9:30 a.m.
We were soon on to Beaumont Texas and over the State line into Lousiana (where road work seemed to be the constant state of affairs). This resulted in learning as must suffer through numerous slow downs, including through Baton Rouge and the outlying areas of New Orleans. At one point a friendly Texan asked about George's butt (actually her comment was "Isn't your butt sore?" when we responded to her question as to where we were from). The traffic caused more than usual stress (no wonder our shoulders are sore each evening). Here the scenery changed once again and we were mostly on raised highways traversing the bayous, lakes and rivers. See a couple of shots of the mighty Mississippi River rolling through Baton Rouge in the background. This was another stop/go location.
The temperature moderated to around 32 C (about 90 F), but it was much more muggy and we continued to desperately need a shower when we stopped for the day (this time in Hammond, LA, about 20 miles from New Orleans). Again, we were greeted by folks intrigued by our trip (including a fellow Canadian from Calgary, who began living here 20 years ago.
We have now completed 8 days and almost 6000 km (4000 miles) having ridden over 500 miles (800 km) today. We figure we are on day or so away from half way.
It is difficult to explain the days of sometimes long hours in the saddle, but they have all been excellent (no bad weather, no illness [cold sores from sun] or mechanical problems). It could not have worked out better so far (unless our two other Knights of the Open Road were here).
Tomorrow another 2 States and new adventures maneuvering through the Deep South.