Great Americans

DAY 3
Columbus AFB to Slidell, LA
340 miles, much of it on the Natchez Trace

The Natchez Trace

Overtime and Rigid had a far less dramatic day in so far as dealing with crap falling off their motorcycles and having to worry about being captured and press ganged into the Hatfield's moonshine-still building enterprise of Greater Appalachia. Still though, they spent 8 hours on the bikes riding South West toward "down on-da bayou".



Making it as far as Slidell, LA, and meeting up with one of Scotty's old friends, Dick Coulter, I caught up with the guys by phone around 2200 last night. I spoke with Rigid first, and when he answered the phone I knew right away they were a pitcher or two in and just getting warmed up! In fact, as Rigid put it... "We're elbow deep in crawfish, or crayfish, or mudbugs... Whatever the hell you call these things, they're good!" Indeed, mudbugs and cold suds is an oasis on the bayou...



Sometime after midnight, I was barely awake when I heard my blackberry going off... I just HAD to get up and check it! Below is the account by all three men only now, they're a few more than one or two pitchers in!
(I took the liberty of correcting the numerous misspellings and punctuation errors, as I'm sure they would have done the same for me!)

Overtime here:
Late start due to ANOTHER cold damn morning (this HAS to end soon).

This is being sent from the home of an old friend who has extended the courtesy of his home despite his better judgment. I did notice the neighbors bringing in their dogs, cats, and kids when we arrived.


Rigid, Bar Owner, Overtime, and Dick

The only real problem we encountered today was a Mexican Breakfast Omelet and the grizzled owner of a GREAT drinking establishment in Slidell LA - just to the North of NOLA. He's a former Marine Helo puke veteran of Vietnam - and - an Air American Pilot - a Silver Star recipient. Many stories! For reference, he still looks as though he could (and would) stomp the stuffing out of anyone who did not believe in the American Dream. This guy has done it all – survived Katrina and subsequent related disasters and established an incredible watering hole in the heart of Cajun country.



Got the parts to repair the shift linkage at the local Harley dealer.. My old friend Dick Coulter met us there and has proceeded to lead us farther astray than we have been able to do on our own.



Did I mention the incredible feast of “Mud Bugs” and the discovery of a here-to-fore undiscovered talent of Rigid – sucking heads? In fact, he was a natural!

Tomorrow, we hope to beat the weather and head West (finally) and hit the Bayou country. Or maybe stay here and suck some more heads...

It would appear we're going to have another late start tomorrow. – nothing to do with temperature or weather, but our telling of stories.
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Dick Coulter signing on:
Scotty and Steve twisted my arm and made me drink! I can’t fully articulate how great it is to have them both here. Great American’s, living the dream! I have photos of their exploits that I’ll post later. Did I mention that I’ve had a beer or two? My contributions to this thread will be better serve when I’m not seeing double. More to follow.
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Rigid here:
All is well and we had great friendship with Dick and his family – great Americans!