DAY 5 May 6, 2011

I forgot to mention yesterday that when Jan and I were at the front desk at the Best Western in Donaldsonville, LA, C.E. came to me and asked me if I was missing anything. He gave me my cell phone which I had dropped at the Luling hotel, when we were checking the rates. He picked it up and didn't tell me. It would have pissed me off if some 13 year old little girl found it and used up all of my texting minutes! Thanks C.E.

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM, as usual, and both, C.E. and I, got up, dressed and packed. We walked to the breakfast area and again, found that we were the only two from our group at breakfast. We had a good breakfast, finished and went outside to give our Motors a "sponge bath" and get them ready for the ride. When we were done, I went back to the breakfast room and found the four "Rip Van Winkles" having breakfast. A quick look at the map and we went to our rooms to gather our bags and pack up our Motors. We left at 8:50 AM.

Chuck led us quickly back to Highway 18, The River Road. We had ridden for about 30 minutes and were riding through a small town when Jan rode next to Chuck and told him that we were missing two of our group. Chuck pulled over to the side of the road and minutes later, our two "lost sheep" were riding towards us. We then continued.

We rode for 38 miles and at 9:35 AM, Chuck stopped at a gas station/mini-mart in Port Allen, LA at 9:35 AM for a pit stop. It was time to get rid of some coffee! Bruce came up and gave Ken his jacket. Bruce was at the tail end of the group with C.E. ahead of him. Ken was in front of C.E. The jacket was strapped to the trunk of Ken's Motor and it came loose and fell. Ken didn't know it. Bruce and C.E. stopped to pick it up. We left at 9:59 AM.

Chuck didn't have much gas left in his tank so we continued for only 28 miles and stopped at a Chevron Truck Stop in St. Francisville, LA at 10:31 AM. We took a break, pit stop and the local ladies working the Truck Stop took a liking to Chuck! We were all ready to leave, but we couldn't. We were all on our Motors and ready to start them when we realized that Chuck was missing. Chuck had gone back inside the Mini-mart and was flirting with the ladies. One of the ladies came outside to clean the windows and told Chuck that she wanted to go with him. Krys, fortunately for you, Chuck didn't have an extra helmet...or should I say, "Fortunately for Chuck!" We left at 10:51 AM.

Ken took over the lead and we headed north. We didn't ride for very long when we left Louisiana and entered Mississippi. We arrived in Nachez, MS at 12:02 PM after riding 69 miles. Jan had asked me if I thought that it would be too early for lunch. I told him that I didn't think so, so we stopped at a Subway for lunch. While we were having lunch, two local Sheriff's Deputies came in for lunch. They sat behind Bruce and Jan. Bruce and Jan spoke to them. The Deputies were asked about the Nachez Trace Parkway. They told us that the "Trace" had a speed limit of 50 mph and since the River has flooded, it is causing the deer population to go onto the Parkway. We opted not to go on the Trace. We left at 12:56 PM.

Jan led us out of Nachez and before we knew it, we were out of Mississippi and back into Louisiana! Jan got us onto Highway 61 and we were headed to Kilbourne, the home of Momma Fuller, C.E.'s Mom. We rode for 55 miles and at 2:03 PM, we stopped at a mini-mart for a pit stop. It seemed to be a race to see who could get to the restroom first. We bought some drinks (no, not that kind!) and snacks. We were standing in front of the door to the mini-mart and talking. There was a car southbound on the highway that cut through the private property at a fast pace in front of us and out the east end of the lot. As retired Motors, we told war stories about violators that we had stopped for the same violation. Memories... OK, back from daydreaming. We finished our break and left at 2:26 PM.

We had ridden for about 30 miles when Chuck passed us and rode in front of Jan and into the lead position. Jan and I looked at each other and I thought that maybe Chuck was very low on gas and wanted to lead and stop at the next station. I told Jan my thought and he disagreed. Chuck slowed and turned into a side street, made a u-turn and stopped. We all stopped behind him. Chuck told us that C.E. needed to call his brother, Randy (Buck) and tell him that we were going to stop at his place of employment. Chuck also told Jan and me that C.E. would ride in front with Jan and when we got closer to Buck's job, C.E. would lead. No problem! One thing that we all told Chuck is that he could have picked a better place to stop and have a discussion with us. We were stopped in the local "Projects!" Some of the local projects dwellers were in the immediate area and, obviously, talking about us. It's a good thing that they didn't know that we were retired cops! We quickly left.

We rode for 53 more miles and arrived at Buck's place of employment in Lake Providence, LA. Buck was not there, but he was enroute. The Manager, Buck's boss, welcomed us into his office after C.E. spoke with him. He also offered the facilities so we took advantage and also included a pit stop. The Manager offered us some ice water and coffee. He said the magic words and Chuck and I accepted. As we were drinking our waters and coffee, Buck walked in. C.E. and Buck had a good brotherly reunion. C.E. introduced Buck to each one of us. I took a few pictures and we soon left. We said our good byes and as Ken was the last to walk out, he said, "Good bye, see you later...maybe not." We left at 3:46 PM.

We rode for one mile down the street to a gas station. We arrived at 3:47 PM and left at 3:55 PM. Bruce had to go do a pit stop one more time.

It was Ken's turn to lead. We were now headed to Momma Fuller's home. We had the same arrangement as before. C.E. would ride next to Ken and when we got close, C.E. would lead. C.E. know this area like the back of his hand.

We rode next to Lake Providence and it was beautiful! C.E. later told us that at least once or twice a year, one or two people are killed in the lake after they have been bitten by water moccasins. Apparently, skiers fall down and sometimes land on a water moccasin nest. Before they are pulled into the boat, they have been bitten numerous times and are dead by that point. We asked C.E. that if the residents know this, why do they water ski? C.E. told us that alcohol IS a factor. Enough said! We rode for 23 miles and C.E. did take over and we got there with no problems. We arrived at 4:23 PM and parked next door to Momma Fuller's home. Next door lived her eldest daughter, Margie. We parked on the cement drive way, as opposed to the gravel road. C.E. walked to his Momma's home and greeted her. We were all invited to go in. We met Momma Fuller and spoke with her. What a nice lady! We were with her for about a half an hour. Pictures were taken of Momma Fuller and the group, Momma and C.E. and Momma, C.E. and his sister Margie. We took out the map and looked for a place to stay for the night. Between the map and the Droid, we found a place in Clarksdale, MS. Ken felt brave and stated that he would lead us out and didn't need C.E. to lead him out to head north. We left at 4:58 PM.

No sooner that we left Momma Fuller's home that we entered the State of Arkansas. Some of the residents of Arkansas must have been reading my blog. They knew that we would be coming by so they were out mowing their lawns. Riding a Motorcycle through the countryside and smelling freshly cut grass IS AWESOME! Ken rode like he was on a mission. We travelled for 119 miles and stopped in Clarksdale, MS at 7:00 PM. Just prior to getting off of Highway 64, we saw a sign for an America's Best Value Inn. When we got off the highway, it was nowhere to be seen. Chuck got the address from his Droid to a Comfort Inn. I put it on my navigation system and it showed that it was 3 miles away. Here we go again! I lead to the Comfort Inn. It was 3 miles and we arrived at 7:28 PM. The Comfort Inn was booked! We had passed the America's Best Value Inn about a mile away so we went there. When we arrive and checked with the clerk, they had vacancies. We checked in, parked our Motors and got our bags and took them to the rooms. We then left for dinner about a mile away to a Mexican food restaurant. When we finished, we returned to our hotel and tucked the Motors in for the night.

We had been talking about, maybe changing our plans and go to Tennessee from here, do the rides there and then ride to Minnesota and do the Mississippi River from that end. We were told that it was beautiful and in Minnesota, when riding next to the River, you CAN see the River. There are no levees there. We went to our rooms: Bruce with Ken, Jan with C.E. and Chuck and Me. I worked on my blog, finished it, tried to "save" it, but my computer took a dump! I lost everything I had typed. I have to do it over...again. It is too late tonight to do it so I will do it again tomorrow.

Today, we rode for 389 miles. We went into 5 states: Louisiana (twice), Arkansas and Mississippi (twice). We are not exactly sure what we will be doing tomorrow. We shall see...