Got to ride a tiny strip of a trail that is on my Bucket List -- the Tammany Trace Trail in Louisiana. It runs from Covington to Slidell.
Rocky start. We parked at the designated Trail start. A real nice park type center. But in the middle of downtown Covington? Asked the clerk in the center where the trail started. She "thinks" it is "over there somewhere." Okay...... so we take off "over there on bumpy gravel and downtown streets. Very little markings. People would come out of the little shops to point us in the right direction (!). Finally found it. Rode just a little bit and came across a butt kicker intersection to cross. Well, we saw all the "localss" unloading at a parking lot (I don't think it was a park parking lot) and heading off from there. SMART MOVE.
Once we got rolling, it was real nice, but some minor nuisance. Single file riding. LOTS of stop signs at very secluded streets along the route, so we never HAD to stop to cross. 20 mph speed limit, and the speedsters could EASILY go this speed on the pancake flat trail. But when you are on a new trail exploring, speed is NOT a factor. The honeysuckle smell was intoxicating.
In Abita Springs, the internet sight had mentioned "stopping to taste Abita Beer that is made there. So we looked for the brewery. People pointed the direction. We startetd riding on VERY unfriendly cycling roads. Decided to heck with that and went back to the trail. DROVE back to Abita Springs to go to the brewery. It was nowhere NEAR the trail. BUT we did see a tiny "Abita Pub" by the trail. (The brewery is a lot of fun. If you like beer, you can drink all you want of all their brews. We tanked up on their out of this world root beer
When I get in better shape, would like to the entire trail. But got a taste of it and definitely will go back. A big riding trip is brewing for November -- Gulf Shores State park in Alabama, Longleaf trail in Mississsippi, maybe Timpoochee trail in Florida. Probably a stop at the Tammany.