Day 22: Ben's call & River Crossing

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Today’s Ride: 75 miles and over Mississippi River
Temperature: 81 degrees

End: Baton Rouge, LA.

Ben's Call
Frank’s phone rang early this morning, it was Frank’s son Ben and he was calling his dad to let him know he was now back on American soil. There are no words to describe how a father must feel when he hears his son’s voice and knows he has returned safely home from war. It has been over 5 months since Frank’s son Ben was sent to Iraq and Frank has been anticipating seeing every minute since then. Over the past three weeks Frank has been inching his way East towards seeing his son. Now, over 1,200 miles from Arizona, Frank has just a single day's between Him and his son.

‘dat craw dad Boat
It was an old beat up pickup truck with an older flat bottom fishing boat hanging over the rear bumper. The driver leaned into the railing looking toward the river. “Going fishing?” Frank asked the weathered old man. “Naw, can't go, don' have 'da gas to get across 'dat bridge and back. The “bridge” crossed the Mississippi – where East meets West, but in this case – East was where Frank needed to be and Frank had been warned that crossing this bridge on a bicycle was dangerous. You remember Frank doesn’t get scared too easily (he did just spend the last two nights camped in swampland), but it looked dangerous enough for Frank to strike a deal with the gas poor fisherman. Within a few minutes, Frank was wedged into the back of the old pickup with his bike and the craw dad boat on there way East across the Mississippi. As they crossed the bridge, and this is no exaggeration, the truck ran out of gas and coasted to a stop in the gas station. Frank paid for the gas he promised to the fisherman to get him home again tonight.


Baton Rouge
Frank had made it safely into a less safe area of Baton Rouge and with a little navigational help from stranger at McDonalds, he made his way to a motel near Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport where he met the reporter from ABC Channel 2, it was a quick interview and Frank went to sit down. “I’m 45 and I’m tired” he told me after a 75+ mile ride today.

Hopefully, Frank has a room away from the airport runway side of the motel, He is a pretty light sleeper.

ABC Channel 2 News Baton Rouge