Sunday morning, 3-15-15, 4:30 a.m., temperature is 45 degrees. Sweet Thang is loaded and ready to go. I am donned in my cold weather gear knowing I will have to shed some of it during the ride so one reason to use the "layer" effect. Pushed out of the garage, let the door back down and cranked Big Girl up so I wouldn't wake the household. Probably woke up a neighbor or two but then, that's the price you pay for having a great guy neighbor that rides motorcycles. Oops, it's just a tad foggy. Maybe a little over a tad. Like I can see about a block or so. Oh, well, just one of the perils of riding a bike and during the Winter to Spring change over climate conditions.
I eased out of the subdivision, helmet face shield closed, CB Radio on channel 19, gloves nice and toasty, GPS pointing the way (don't know why I use it except to see how many miles it is to my next waypoint as I've ridden this route hundreds of times over the years. Wow, fog seems to get thicker but ease along toward Knoxville. Once I got to I-40 it wasn't so bad, seemed to be a little higher off the pavement. Ran along at 55 to 60 for a few miles until I got to the junction of I-40 and I-75. Eased over to the inside lane to make the turn-off to I-75 down to Chattanooga. Cranked the throttle a little more so that I'm running a steady 65 at this point and could see about a quarter mile.
Down around Athens, TN, which is about 65 miles from the house I cranked it up to 70 as the visibility was better and when the fog got heavier I would slow back down. Don't want to run into the back of a Semi or stumble over a Smart Car. Lights on the front of the bike are very bright so I know they can see me and since this is a one way side of the interstate I wasn't worried about on-coming vehicles, just those that decide to change lanes. Radio is quiet this morning, not much chatter at all so I called for a radio check to make sure they could hear me and yep, it is working.
As the fog lifted slightly I increased my speed to match my visibility. As you can see in this picture it has improved considerably from the time I left the house.
Every once in a while you would run into a fog bank but fortunately they could be seen from a distance. You just slow down and maintain visual contact with the vehicle in front of you.
About 6:15 a.m. I was now just south of Chattanooga heading for a fuel and breakfast stop in Trenton, GA. By the way, Trenton is home to Cloudland Canyon State Park which has the largest canyon east of the Mississippi River. And it's beautiful there. You can leave the campground and run the ridge all the way to Lookout Mountain.
Down around Fort Payne, AL the fog had pretty much lifted from the highway but the fields and low spots along the side were still plenty foggy. Since I wasn't going there it didn't make any difference to me.
A breakfast at the Waffle House after a gas up next door and then back on the road again. Total stop time, 30 minutes. Sky was cloudy looking like rain but I was going to risk it by not putting on my rain gear. Next stop would be for gas around Trussville, AL. Hammer hammer and away we went.
After Trussville gas up the next area is shown in this pic. Since I had been running in and out of the fog I don't remember what city this was. Well, that's not exactly so, it happens to be Birmingham, AL, home of my biker friend Tom. This one is for you buddy.
Leaving Alabama the road is long hills and long curves all the way to the Great State of Mississippi where you get to ride on more long hills and around long curves with a million pine trees. After Birmingham the sky cleared up and became a really nice day for a ride. However, I was starting to get just a wee bit warm. My first fuel stop in MS was in Meridian where I shucked off two layers of clothing.
Burning the road up through MS and a fuel stop at Hattiesburg and one more at Carriere (last stop was to make sure I didn't arrive in N.O. near empty) I crossed the state line into LA. Bienvenue Mes Amies. Welcome to the Swamp Lands of La Louisianne.
South Louisiana scenery. What happened to the hills? And where did all of this greenery come from? And why am I sweating? I haven't been this warm in over 3 months.
At Slidel you hit the I-10 twelve mile bridge crossing Lake Ponchatrain. It was smooth water today, not very much wind. With such a good road surface and reasonably light traffic, you could crank it a little bit more. Ahh, the sound of singing tires on concrete. Music to my ears.
Shortly after you get back to ground level you start seeing the low lands, canals and more brush. Here you can see that the tide is in because the water level is near the top of the canal.
Coming into New Orleans you can see a lot of Hurricane Katrin damage has been repaired. There's still a lot that hasn't been rebuilt but along the interstate a noticeable difference. Not so disheartening as before.
You can see the major city center off to the left. This was taken from the top portion of the Industrial Canal bridge on I-10.
I dropped off I-10 onto Elysian Fields to make a ride through the French Quarter. That portion of the ride is on YouTube if you wish to see it. In the picture to the right I have gone through the Qtr. and am now on the up ramp to the Crescent City Connection, the bridge crossing the Mississippi River. Next stop will be the end of the ride on the downward leg ending at my Mom's house in Marrero, LA, arriving there in 11 1/2 hours.
Tuesday I rode with my son to Denham Springs, LA, a bedroom community to Baton Rouge to spend the day with him at the art studio and with my mother-in-law and granddaughter(s). It's a nice peaceful ride with good friends and family at the end of it. A large piece of the ride is traveled over an elevated Interstate Highway, I-55 which crosses a spit of land between two large lakes.
This is a picture of one of my drooling spots. It's an RV sales lot along I-12 where they have some beautiful motor coaches and travel trailers. I want one of the motor coaches. I have a Fifth Wheel travel trailer already. Anybody want to buy one?
At the painting studio Frank in the foreground and Tony in the back are plotting their up-coming fishing trip. Tony is the husband of the art instructor instructor, Michelle.
Would you ever guess that this patio belonged to an artist? It sure is more decorated than any patio I've ever had. But now I don't have a patio, I have a deck. Still, the patio is quite picturesque.
Mother-in-law's abstract free style painting which I call "A Splash of Color". My son paints with her every Tuesday. Great bunch of guys and gals that love to paint and converse.
My eldest son's painting. I call this one "Crossing The Bridge". He has an art gallery in my computer room. Lots of feelings in his art.
After art class and lunch we picked up his youngest daughter for an evening out. Usually it's just my son and his daughter but tonight I have been allowed to join them. So off to dinner we go wherever that may be.
Tonight's meal is to be at Schlitz and Giggles, a pizzeria in downtown Baton Rouge near the river. Thin crust BBQ chicken pizza. Yum yum. My first and it won't be my last.
To help walk off those garlic knots and the pizza we took a walk over to the Mississippi River Levee which has steps down to the water's edge, benches along the way and used by a lot of walkers and joggers. The view of the I-10 bridge crossing the Miss. River was pleasant this early evening.
As we walked about looking at the buildings and fountains along the way the sun was slowly setting giving a soft glow to the water of the Big Muddy.
No, the barge is not sinking but you certainly don't want to race by it kicking up a huge wake or it would sink. It was loaded with coal and being transferred to a staging area across the river.
This is the Old State Capitol building. Very ornate resembling castle construction. The current building is a very tall plain building compared to this one. This building is now a museum.
Along our walk back to the car brought us by one of two dancing water fountains. This one has all white lights while the other has color lights. My oldest great granddaughter likes the one with the purple lights.
After our walk we delivered my granddaughter home and then we headed back to Marrero to drop me off at my Mom's. It was a great trip. I got to go out with my son to the Hi-Ho Lounge to listen to a Bluegrass Jam Session. New Orleans is known for jazz and blues with some Cajun but it is not known for bluegrass music. It was just a bunch of musicians getting together to play and sing. And for $2.00 you could get a bowl of Red Beans and Rice. How much better can it be.
One night my Mom, brother, sister-in-law and son ate out, one day my son and I ate lunch at the Warehouse Cafe downtown N.O. A great place to eat that is not on the tourist trail of restaurants. Seafood pasta was delicious but after we had an appetizer of BBQ oysters. Unbelievable but oh so delicious. Then the family ate at a local restaurant near Mom's Friday night before I left.
I packed up Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I kissed Mom goodbye and pulled out for TN. Had to get back to the wife and Mr. Amadeus, our miniature Dachshund. It gets difficult to pack in several months of visiting in five days. There's lots of friends I would liked to have visited in the N.O. area but alas, not enough time. Maybe next trip. So at 4:30 a.m. I pulled out to take that long road back to the mountains.
Just as I was about to exit MS for AL I saw a lot of flashing lights. A truck had gone over the railing of the interstate and fell to the highway below catching on fire. Apparently the driver went to sleep. Did not know if his situation as I heard this on my CB Radio.
Arrived back in Seymour 12 hours later. Had to stop and pick up dinner on the way to the house. Total trip: Absolute enjoyment. Time with family: Priceless. Butt miles: 1259 total. Another good Valkyrie Adventure.
