Chemical Alley

 Chris: Look who showed up in New Orleans to bike with me!  Tony Ruacho of Patch & Remington will be riding with me for the next 12 days.  He pushes me (in a good way) to be a better rider. 

Today we rode 56 miles along the Mississippi River levee.  We rode for miles through what is known as “Chemical Alley”.  To our left was the river and hundreds of barges and shipping vessels.  To our right we’re the refineries and plants.   The smell was bad.

We are in rural Louisiana and rode by sugar cane fields and former plantations.   We’re camping tonight on the grounds of a former plantation that’s been converted into an Rv camp.  We are the only tenters.  The rest of the campground is full of RVs that are occupied by workers who come from neighboring states to work in the factories, refineries and export/import businesses along the River.

We’re trying to try the local food as much as possible which means we’ve had some really good seafood!

 

Administrator's note: Chemical Alley is also known as Cancer Alley and it definitely isn't one of the destinations where you should stop & linger!  https://www.nola.com/news/environment/louisiana-chemical-corridor-is-the-countrys-largest-hot-spot-for-toxic-air-cancer-risk/article_852d98d0-3d81-11ec-a61f-0bf8e82339a8.html