The Trials of the Road...

DAY 4
Slidell, LA to Winnie, TX; 350 miles

While sitting in my 8x8 cubicle yesterday, plugging away on my day to day workload, I received a call around 11:00 AM... It was Overtime and he was just calling to say hello... Oh, and share the fact that he and Rigid were on Bourbon Street in New Orleans having a "breakfast beer". To say I was jealous is understated. I felt my eye start to twitch...

Following their "breakfast", the boys started out West toward Texas. They had no plan as to where they would camp / end up, only knowing they needed to head toward San Antonio to meet up with another long time friend, Bull Pratt.

The following is Overtime's daily report and some of the trials they've experienced while rolling through a still yet to be fully recovered Katrina ravaged Gulf region. Pictures to follow...


The extent of the pictures through Texas...

"We bid farewell with only a germ of a plan; head West through the Louisiana bayou country on one of the officially designated scenic routes and see where we would be at the end of the day.
Dick provided us with directions to get into the bayou country – basically follow 90 West to Houma. We would then figure out which “scenic” route to take.
Like all great plans there were a few unanticipated hiccups.
One of the little known facts that never surfaced regarding Katrina was that she, with surgical precision, removed all but three of the Highway 90 West signs, and those three were within 100 yards of each other in downtown New Orleans.
Following an unguided (and unintended) tour of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area (including an obligatory breakfast beverage on Bourbon Street), we arrived in Houma around 1400.
Fully understanding that the “scenic” designation is a subjective one at best, the person or organization responsible for designating Louisiana Highway 82 West as such has obviously never experienced the ride.
Even taking the destruction of Katrina into account, and being as charitable as possible, the best we could come with was something about if the earth in general, or Louisiana in particular ever needed an enema, we found the spot.
After a short ferry ride across Lake Hackberry, we soon crossed the Sabine Pass into the Great State of Texas – which wasn’t looking too particularly great at this point.
We did find an abandoned State park filled with squatters who invited us too pitch our tents with them.
We should have been a little suspect since the gregarious fellow who extended the invitation had evidently commenced “happy hour” somewhat earlier.
He provided directions to a place where he assured us they had anything we could want for dinner.
We elected to delay pitching the tents, as the wind was really howling (we had been fighting it all day long) and we were afraid that our tents would take flight.
So, off to dinner – not.
The place with everything turned out to be a closed bait store 10 miles down the road.
Talking to another local we faithfully followed his directions to Port Arthur, which we never found.
Not having a lot of faith in the locals, and running low on fuel, we pressed on to find the town of Winnie.
With darkness, low fuel lights flashing, strong winds, and spitting rain, we elected to forgo on the camping and rented a room.
The only place that had a room only had a single bed, so yours truly (Scotty) wound up on the floor.
Tomorrow, continuing West to San Antonio and my old friend Bull Pratt’s."

I end this blog entry on the note that, while updating it, I received a phone call from Rigid... WHILE he was riding! He said to me, shouting over the wind no less, "Hey man! I'm doing 80 somewhere in Texas! How's your day?!" After a solid laugh I was able to articulate the only response I could think of... "Not as good as you, apparently!" He laughed... Let me know that they're having an absolute blast, of which I have no doubt, and said they would call when they reached San Antonio.

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm having visions of Davey Crocket (Rigid) and Sam Houston (Scotty) raising hell against the ghost of General Santa Anna at the Alamo! Who needs horseback when you have Harley?!

Remember the Alamo!!!