Baton Rouge sits on the first high bluff upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi bends around it, huge, brown and slow. French explorers noted a red post on the bank marking the boundary between tribal hunting grounds and called the place by that name, red stick, and the city has kept it ever since. Today it is the state capital of Louisiana, a city of over two hundred thousand, with a big university, the oil and chemical industry, and a food culture that rivals New Orleans without the tourist crowds.
The most striking building in town is the state capitol, a thirty-four-storey Art Deco tower finished in 1932 under the governor Huey Long, who wanted something taller and grander than anything in the South. Three years later he was shot in its corridors and died, and he is buried in the gardens in front. The older capitol, a Gothic Revival fantasy with turrets and stained glass, stands near the river and is worth a look in its own right.
For the ride, you are at the end of the River Road, the old route that follows the levee between New Orleans and here. It is flat, with long straight sections and gentle curves, interrupted by oaks draped with Spanish moss, sugar cane fields, and old plantation houses open to visitors. It is also an industrial corridor, with refineries and chemical plants beside the road, so the scenery is a mix of beauty and heavy industry. Traffic can be thick near the cities and trucks are common, and the heat and humidity in summer are considerable. Spring and autumn are far more comfortable.
Everything you need is available, including fuel, repair shops and cash machines, and across the river, the small town of Port Allen offers a quieter alternative. The point of Baton Rouge for a rider is lunch. Look for boudin, the spicy rice and pork sausage, or a bowl of gumbo, red beans and rice, crawfish in season, and a po'boy sandwich stuffed with fried shrimp. In Louisiana, the food is the reason to stop, and the ride is just the excuse.