Wheeling Down To Grand Isle Louisiana

The Motorcycle Adventure started this morning after saying goodbye to Catherine at the New Orleans airport.  We spent three very nice days in New Orleans exploring the WWII Museum, an incredible experience, and equally powerful, the Evergreen Plantation, and enjoying great dinners.

Let me first say, I am so appreciative that Catherine supports my dreams and adventures.  Catherine, thank you and I love you.

My ride begins by exploring the Bayou Region, La Fourche Parish, and Grand Isle.  I started this morning from St Rose Louisiana’s Indian Motorcycle of New Orleans Dealership.

I rode south on 310 to 90 West when I found a Louisiana Tourist center that I decided would be a good place to stop and confirm my route.  Lucky I did as the route that I had selected, I was told, was nowhere as interesting as riding to Grand Isle on Louisiana Highway 1.

Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) is 431.88 miles (695.04 km), it is the longest numbered highway of any class in Louisiana. It runs diagonally across the state, connecting the oil and gas fields near the island of Grand Isle with the northwest corner of the state, north of Shreveport.  The section of Highway One I rode ran along Bayou Lafourche providing an opportunity to see the Louisiana Fishing fleet and Houseboat Living.

I also found that there are numerous drawbridges that link the east and west side of the Bayou.  Unlike back north, drawbridges are hoisted on large lifts.

The houseboats are elaborate and prove that the South has not forgotten their Confederate heritage.

Grand Isle is a very low lying barrier island on the Gulf Coast and due to this fact, all the building and homes are built on very large stilts to accommodate frequent flooding from hurricanes and storms.  Tonight I am staying at the Cajun Holiday Motel in a “high rise” cabin.  My cabin is the middle brown one – note my motorcycle under the cabin – out of the elements.

And this is a view from my back porch.

The recommended restaurant for dinner this evening was the Lighthouse where I was looking forward to meeting some of the locals and finding out what draws them to Grand Isle.  Unfortunately, I found the restaurant completely empty.

The restaurant was empty because the weathermen had forecast rain for the weekend, including today, thereby convincing tourists not to visit.  We underestimate the economic impact of the weather forecast.  In today’s case, they got it wrong.  It did not rain today and the weather was acceptable with clouds and sun.  Tony, the owner of the Lighthouse, was hoping that with no rain today and tonight, some tourists would venture down to the shore and provide some financial relief for his business this weekend.

Never the less, the tourists will miss out this weekend on an interesting Blackened Fish Platter that represents the abundance of species found off the Louisiana Gulf Coast.  The platter consisted of soft shell crab, stuffed crab, shrimp, oysters, striped bass, and frogs legs.  Served with a garlic butter sauce and fresh, just made tartar sauce.  It was outstanding.

Tomorrow I wheel north, back up Highway 1 to Thibodaux.  Keep Wheeling.