Louisiana

Day 7, Tuesday, April 21, 2015

OK, I need to clear the air.  I spoke with Laura, my Wife, and she told me that I misspelled, “Fairy.”  She told me that it is spelled, “Ferry.”  I told her that I did not misspell it and that I spelled it correctly and that I had put it in quotes.  I told her that it was a running joke with the guys.  Sorry if I offended anyone.  I will NOT use “Fairy” anymore.  I’ll use “Ferry.”

With that said, my alarm woke me up at 6:30 AM.  I got up and so did Chuck.  We got dressed, packed and he told me that I had not posted the blog from last night.  I told him that I thought that I had.  I checked it and, sure enough, he was right.  It was set up as a “Draft.”  I corrected that and posted it.  Chuck told me that I needed to correct the problem because some of the Family and Friends were going to get upset back in Phoenix when they find that the blog was not there.  They would be upset.  I don’t want to unset anyone.  I posted the blog.  We took a couple bags and loaded them in our Motors.  The Motorcycles were ready.  We went into the breakfast room and found that everyone else was already there.  WOW!  That is a first.  We had breakfast and went back to the Motorcycles.  C.E. rode his Motor to a gas station to fill up.  He needs to do that most of the time that we stop.  His range is not as good as ours.  He rides a Trike.  NOT that there is anything wrong with that!  We left at 8:29 AM and I was leading.

We rode north about a mile on Highway 35 and turned right on Highway 6.  Highway 6 was a two lane road that went through some small towns.  We were headed to Galveston…you know…Glen Campbell’s Galveston.  If Chuck was here he would have started singing the song.  He did earlier and we threatened him to keep quiet.  As we rode Highway 6, we came across a two car collision.  It was a good wreck.  There were cones on the street, Firefighters directing traffic, Cops investigating the wreck, a wrecker nearby, and an ambulance was on the scene.  Ahhh, memories.  I would have liked to diagram this wreck!  Anyway…we continued riding and got close to Galveston.  We went over some big bridges and saw the Gulf.  We arrived in Galveston and rode around a little in the Historic section of the City.  After riding 36 miles, we stopped at a Chevron gas station and mini-mart at 9:31 AM.  We made a pit stop and someone had to drink the coffee.  As we were waiting, I walked a little.  We saw a statute close by in the middle of the street on an island.  I walked over to it and saw that it was the statute of General Sidney Sherman.  We all thought, “Who in the hell is General Sidney Sherman?”  We didn’t know.  I returned to the guys and we were ready to go.  We left at 9:57 AM.  There was a “FERRY” to get on!  We rode a couple of miles and got in line to ride the “FERRY.”  We waited for almost a half an hour.  When we finally got on, we had asked how long the ride was.  We were told that it lasted 20 minutes.  We loaded onto the “FERRY” and had to stay with our Motorcycles until we were on the way.  After we started, we wondered the vessel, (how’s that?), and took pictures.  We were nearing the other side and I felt somewhat cheated.  It was only 17 minutes long!  I wanted 3 more minutes.  We continued onto Port Bolivar on Highway 87.  The road was very good and it was nice to ride and look either way and see water. We saw a lot of houses on 20 foot stilts. There were houses, schools, businesses, churches and even a “single wide” on stilts.  We got to the end of the string of islands to High Island and turned left, onto Highway 124.  We rode north and after riding 57 miles, we stopped in Winnie, TX at 11:37AM for gas and a pit stop.  Chuck spoke with Bruce, since it was now Bruce’s turn to lead.  He told Bruce to ride about a mile north to Subway for lunch.  We did and we had a good lunch.  It was time to move on.  We left at 12:45 PM with Bruce in the lead.

Bruce led us onto Highway 73 and we headed east.  We came up on Highway 82 and we turned onto it.  We rode over a very tall bridge for Sabine Lake.  Soon after we rode over the bridge, we crossed into Louisiana.  We crossed over at 1:24 PM.  We rode Highway 82 and loved looking to our right and seeing the Gulf.  The waves were coming in and out.  I took out my camera and took several pictures.  I had a thought about getting a selfie with my phone and posting it on Facebook while we were riding.  I took my left glove off, turned my phone on, put in my security code and took several selfies.  Just as I was about to log onto Facebook, we had to make a couple of turns at the Cameron “FERRY.”  We rode onto the “FERRY.”  I didn’t know how long the ride was.   I did get on Facebook and posted.  The ride was short and I had to put the phone away before I had a chance to post the “selfie.”  We continued on Highway 82.  One thing that I have to say about Louisiana is that there are a lot of “Louisiana Speed Bumps!”  You name the rodent and they are all over the road.  Road kill must be a sport here.  It was like we were riding through traffic cones or a slalom course.  We couldn’t look at the scenery.  We had to keep our eyes on the road.  We rode for 138 miles and at 3:30 PM, we stopped at a little store in Pecan Island, LA.  We needed a stretch break.  We went into the store and bought drinks and snacks.  One thing is for sure.  I’m glad we have C.E. with us to translate for us when the locals speak to us.  They talk funny!  Well, sometimes we need a translator for C.E., but, for the most part, we understand him.  Chuck looked at the map with Bruce and they knew where to go.  We left at 3:57 PM.

Bruce led us back onto Highway 82.  We were going to Abbeville, LA.  We saw a couple of signs that directed us to Abbeville.  Jan and I, on the CB, asked Chuck if we were supposed to turn at the sign for Abbeville.  Chuck told us, “No.”  From Highway 82, we rode onto Highway 35.  There was an intersection with Highway 335 and another sign that read, “Abbeville.”  It pointed to the right.  Bruce slowed, hesitated and went through the intersection.  He then turned into the parking lot on the northeast corner.  Jan and I made a u-turn in the street and then turned east on Highway 335, waiting for the rest.  There was another sign that read, “Abbeville 11 miles.”  The rest of the guys made the u-turn and the left turn and we were all going east on Highway 335.  We rode for about 8 miles to the intersection of Highway 82 and a sign for “Abbeville,” turn left.  There were signs closing the roadway for northbound traffic except for local traffic.  We had ridden 36 miles and stopped at 4:36 PM in a very small town named, “Perry.”  We stopped at the southeast corner at a business.  Bruce went in and asked about how to get to Abbeville.  They told Bruce that we had to go back to Highway 35 and go north.  We left at 4:38 PM.

So, back west on Highway 335 to Highway 35 and then north.  We rode on Highway 35 until we got to Kaplan, LA and turned right onto Highway 14.  We rode a short distance and after riding 25 miles, we stopped at a Best Western Hotel at 5:09 PM in Abbeville.  After checking inside, we were told that they were booked for the night.  Chuck asked if someone would go next door to the Magnuson Hotel and check to see if it was a good hotel and if we could stay there.  I rode over and made contact with the clerk to “make the deal.”  It was a clean hotel and the price was great.  The deal was made and I called Chuck on the phone and told him.  He said that they were all coming over.  We all secured our rooms and took our “stuff” into our rooms.  We found out where the local laundromat was.  I stayed at the hotel and did my laundry while the rest went to the laundromat. When the guys returned, Chuck told me that they were going to go to dinner at a nearby Chili’s.  I told Chuck that I would not be going because the clothes dryer is very slow and I still had a load in the dryer.  They left and I stayed to finish laundry and finish the blog.  I guess I’ll go to a nearby Wendy’s and grab dinner.

Today we rode for 286 miles.  We were fortunate to ride on not one, but two “FERRIES.”  We finally left Texas and are now in Louisiana.  I’m not sure where we will end up tomorrow.  We shall see…