Summary:
- Trip - Plano TX to Jefferson TX to Sterlington LA
to Alexandria LA to
Grand Isle LA to Holly Beach LA to Shreveport LA to Plano TX
- Pack - Runt/X, shunned by all others
- Date - Thur 11/25 @ 8:30 AM till Sun 11/28 @ 11:45
AM
=> 3.5 days
- Miles - 1585 = ~450 per day
Thurs:
- Plano to Marksville LA
- 75 S, 635 E, 20 E, 271 NE, 726, NE, 729 E, 49 E, 2/2A E, 165 S,
1 SE
- 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM
- 511 miles
- Shadow shuns when 'back wheel has a wobble'. BMW into the
shop.
- Brisk in the morning. Electric gloves are very good
things.
- Plan is to blast 20 to get to Lake O Pines and then new
stuff. Plan suffers
a setback as we miss 20. Flawless loopback on
175 and onwards.
- Plan suffers further setback as 271 is missed. Focus
seems to be lacking.
May need to rethink that GPS purchase.
- 726/729 into Jefferson is pleasing as always.
- Cross over into LA, turkey buffet @ Relay Station. Better
than Andy's in
Gatesville.
- 2/2A is similar to Lake O Pines roads, slightly
straighter. No real curves,
some sweepers and rolling hills. Another uturn
incident solidifies need for
GPS.
- 165 is straight. Some small town has side roads closed as
they cleanup from
tornado damage. Make note to check weather
channel.
- Runt thinks she sees deer, X offers that they were LA rats.
- Starting to get dark and colder. 165 to 1 signs direct us
through seedy part of
town. Some of the shops have thicker steel bars than
Fort Know. A few
rolling stops help us avoid the night dwellers.
- Paragon Casino in Marksville gives a good rate on a room at the
absolute
corner/end of the building. X reminds Runt of the
danger of overpacking as
he trudges back and forth.
Fri
- Marksville LA to New Iberia LA
- 1 SE, 308 SE, 1 NW, 24 W, 90 W, 14 NE
- 8:45 AM to 5:45 PM
- 414 miles
- Chilly again, electrics came off briefly in early noon.
- 1 is a bunch of small towns every 10 miles. Impossible to
make any time.
- Another 'we are lost' incident. Happily rolling down 1
when we realized signs
say 70. Multiple reviews of map and up and down the
road finally conclude
in asking some bikers at the gas station where the hell we
are. Followed
directions, found 308 (they said it was better than
1). Still have no idea
where we were.
- Lots of drawbridges in LA. Saw one over a creek, must be
a habit.
- down 308/1 to Grand Isle, take picture, go back. Meet LA
trooper,
accept his suggestion to slow down, and slink away.
Technique of telling
blonde fender fluff to remove helmet and shakeout hair
works again.
Thought of telling trooper 'this is first open road I have
seen all day and
yes I was speeding through the curve' was banished.
- 24 was good route, road surface was tore up. Runt claimed
a 'Bear Crossing'
sign.
- LA was burning as we blasted across 90. Apparently
burning off the cane fields
is either proper farming or a satanic ritual.
(Arranging the fires in a pentagon
seemed to indicate the latter.)
Sat
- New Iberia LA to Shreveport LA
- 14 W, 82 SE, 27 N, I10 E, 165 N, 10 NW, 171 N, 8 E, 117 N,
Longleaf Scenic
Byway, 119 N, 6 E, 71 NW
- 8:30 AM to 6:15 PM
- 446 miles
- Best day of riding.
- Rain blew through overnight, full rain gear on for
rollout. 17 miles later lose the
rain gear and jacket optional. Pleasing.
- It is windy going across the bayous/marshes. Blow your
nose shut windy. Lift
you out of the saddle by your helmet strap windy.
Windy.
- Runt starts beating the hell out of the driver when she sees an
alligator. End result
is Runt claims 4 alligators (pictures coming) and X got to
turn around the bike/saw
nothing. Runt also claims an alligator crossing
sign. Turtle pictures are sparse since
the turtles moved faster than Runt (heavy chuckle).
- We are talking curvature of the earth/straight on 82.
- The ferry boat from Cameron to Holly Beach waits for a full
boat until it crosses.
That can take awhile. Runt got off the bike to
pick up a dime and threw the camera
on the very hard pavement whiole doing so. Was
almost a very expensive dime.
- G&G Seafood Grill in Holly Beach was interesting lunch
choice. They turned the
lights on for us. Frog legs do not taster like
chicken, they have no taste.
- 27 had an interesting scenic outlook (if you like looking at a
marsh.)
- 117/Byway/119 were pleasing, 71 was not bad.
- An observation on LA road signs:
- They do not believe in them.
Most intersections have a single sign denoting the
crossroad but not all. If you
miss the sign, too bad so sad. If you would like to
know if road is north or south,
better have the sun because they are not telling
you. Distance to next town? Ha ha ha.
(Yes, I got lost in Natchitoches after smugly telling Runt
'I AM the pathfinder'. Still do
not know what road we took into town or how we finally got
on 71.)
- Blew into Coushatta as darkness fell, Runt rejected the 2 ided
hotels, onward to
Shreveport. Will return to Kisatchie National
Forest/117/119 and checkout WDawg's
place on that trip.
Sun
- Shreveport LA to Plano
- 20
- 9:00 AM - 11:45 AM
- 214 miles
- Blast home, chilly
- Discover PC will not power up, panic, give Best Buy much money
to replace power
supply, fixed.
Good to see new territory.
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