I continue to be so impressed by the kindness and hospitality shown me by the folks in Louisiana. And, not to mention, Crawfish and Alligators.
Yesterday, I rode my bike from Thibodaux to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. The ride was extremely challenging as, at times, the rain was torrential. The worst of the rain hit me on the elevated, four-lane, I-10 Interstate.  I-10 is an architectural wonder as an 18.2-mile bridge across the Atchafalaya River and its accompanying swamp. Literally built on stilts across a snake and alligator-infested swamp area.
Towards the end of my time on I-10, I saw a sign for a Visitors Center.  Allow me to digress and comment on Visitor Centers.  We so often see signs for Visitor Centers and I am sure that the majority of readers, and I, ignore them. But, to a tired and weary traveler, in an unfamiliar area, these visitor centers are invaluable.
I walked into the center and met a woman behind the counter named Marilee Thibodeaux.  We struck up a conversation and when I informed her that I was, 1) traveling to Breaux Bridge and 2) hoping to find Crawfish and Zydeco music, she did not hesitate but to invite me to the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Poster Unveiling celebration.
A celebration that consisted of Zydeco Music and a celebration of Crawfish.  She also saved me valuable minutes, in bad weather, by giving me proper directions to my Bayou Cabin Bed and Breakfast. I took her up on her offer and, her directions.

 

First, allow me to share pictures of the Bayou Cabin Bed and Breakfast. To say the least, the B&B is rustic and eclectic, not for everyone, but so much fun.

 

 

After checking in, I was off to the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Poster Unveiling

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I had to leave early as the next day I was scheduled for a Champagne’s Cajun Swamp Tour – a display of 50 or more impressive alligators and other animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the swamp tour, I was off to experience Breaux Bridge Crawfish at “Crazy Bout Crawfish”

 

 

 

 

A fast-paced, fun 2 days with Crawfish Festivals, Alligators, and Crawfish.  Tomorrow I am off to explore the Civil War monuments in Natchez, MS, and Vicksburg, MS.

Keep Wheeling

 

As stated in an earlier blog, one of the pillars of my trip was to meet new people and gain new perspectives.

Thibodaux was the epitome of this pillar.  It exemplified the importance and fun of community and family.

Honestly writing, Thibodaux, I thought, was merely a stopover on my way to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.  I left Grand Isle, Louisiana this morning and made a beeline to Thibodaux as the weather was rainy and I was hoping to avoid getting caught in a downpour.  I arrived in Thibodaux at 11:30 AM, checked into the Carmel Inn and Suites, a very nice accommodation and headed out to explore Thibodaux.

I walked to town and into a tavern called the Red Goose Saloon where I sat down to watch the Duke Rhode Island NCAA Men’s Basketball game.  Catherine, having attended Duke, gave me every reason to root for Duke (Duke won the game).  I sat at the bar for about an hour, by myself, nursing a couple of beers, or maybe more.

After about an hour, a gentleman walked into the tavern, spends a few minutes and then goes to the front door of the bar and opens it to the street.  He comes back and tells me that the tavern needed some fresh air.  I agree, thinking that it was not my place to make that decision.  He then tells me it is OK for him to leave the door open because he owns the bar and it is at this point that I meet Tommy Toups.  The day changed immediately for the better.

Tommy was a most gracious host, introducing me to his friends and family, including his wife Wendy, his brother Buddy, and Buddy’s wife Sheila, Tim, who had just returned from Daytona Bike Week and AJ, another relative of the Toups family.

 

Today, being St. Patricks Day was a special celebration in Thibodaux with events on the Bayou, bands, and dancing.  First, Tommy invited me to watch the Cardboard Boat Races.

 

People lined the shore to catch the action.

 

 

 

Next on the agenda was musical bands that brought everybody out into the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was easy to get loose at the Red Goose Saloon in Thibodaux.

One sad note is that Thibodaux is the home of Nicholls State University.  The Colonels Women’s Basketball Team made the NCAA DI Tournament this year but lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs.  But, the town overcame the disappointment and still managed to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day.

Final note, the Red Goose was founded in the 1930’s as the Red Goose Shoe Store by Tommy’s family.  Later, the family decided that there was more profit in Adult Beverages than in shoes and the Red Goose became a tavern.  Today, Tommy and his family own the Red Goose Tavern, and it is truly a family affair.  I encourage anybody who visits Thibodaux to visit the Red Goose Tavern as it is a special place.

It was an honor being invited not only into the Toups’ celebration but invited to be part of the Thibodaux community.  I had a great day and it will be a memory I will never forget.

Tomorrow I am off to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana where on Monday I am going on a swamp tour.  Speak on Monday.

Keep Wheeling.

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.

 

 

“This blog was written two days ago, Friday, March 2, just as the nor’easter hit and caused a blackout that lasted over 35 hours.”

My motorcycle adventure began today with a rather shaky start.  Keyboard Motorcycle Trucking Co. picked up my Indian Roadmaster, for shipment to New Orleans where I start my ride March 16th right on time, and that was good.  However, today is one of the worst weather days Riverside CT has had in months.

I have obsessed about this day for weeks, in a good way, so I was all over the weather situation and had the sense to move the pick-up location to an underpass where we could all stay out of the rain.  I dropped my Indian off last night, in good weather, covered it and added caution tape so no one would hit it.

I went to bed last evening with the well being of my Indian on my mind.

I woke up this morning, as forecast, to a truly horrendous day.  A hard nor’easter had moved in bringing winds up to 60 mph, rain, flooding, and sleet.

Now to wait for the Keyboard 18-wheeler to show up, and it did with the very capable Melvin at the wheel.

 

 

 

I have read that there are two extremes when it comes to planning these types of cross-country motorcycle rides.  One extreme is to plan every aspect of the ride, every road, every rest stop, every point of interest, restaurant, and lodging, etc.  The other extreme is to “fling” it and just pack up the bike at the last minute, pick the starting point and stopping point and gooooo!

As I consider these two extremes, I wonder what it says about the person.  Is the Planner pedantic, dull, stodgy, conservative, and boring?  Is the “Flinger” unorganized, lazy, uninterested, and sloppy?  Or, on the other hand, is the Planner the explorer, the dreamer of what is out there, the intellectual who is curious and is the Flinger the brave soul who throws concern to the wind, who fears nothing and is confident that it will all work out in the end?

By now I am sure you are thinking about what type of person you would be.  Can you guess what camp I fall into based on the picture below?

I have been exploring different routes for weeks.  My go to has been motorcycleroads.com – which has a great selection of crowdsourced motorcycle routes.  Combined with Rand McNally, I have some interesting routes to explore.   Some of the rides I have found include the Salt Marsh Tour, The Great River Road (Route 18 along the Mississippi from NOLA to Baton Rouge) and my two favorites, Bayou Browsing for the Monkey, outside Breaux Bridge, LA, and Tail of the Possum, outside Crystal Springs, MS.

I have found traditional Zydeco music bars in Louisiana, Soul Food Restaurants in Mississippi and King BBQ in Alabama.  I have jotted these destinations down and have a list.  But, on the other hand, I have no reservations and have not really booked any lodging, except in Florida as it will be spring break and may be difficult to get lodging in some of the gulf towns.  The lodging goal is to consistently keep lodging to an average of $75.00 / night.

So, as the starting day of the ride creeps ever closer, I find myself with one foot in the “Planner” camp and the other foot in the “Flinger” camp.  After all, there is something to be said positively about both types of people.

Keep Wheeling!

As mentioned in my last Blog, weather primarily and timing have forced me to change my itinerary.  After great consideration and a good suggestion from my daughter Emma, I have committed to New Orleans, LA as the starting point for my motorcycle adventure.  NOLA was elected as a good mid-point of the country to start a ride back east.  This is a huge change from my original plan to ride 2 – 3 months straight across the United States.  But, per my previous blog, this is the new flexible me.

Today’s plan is to ship my Indian Roadmaster from my home in Riverside, CT to an Indian dealership, 14 miles from New Orleans, in St. Rose, Louisiana.  The dealer, Indian Motorcycle of New Orleans, has graciously agreed to receive and hold my bike until I pick it up.

I am shipping the bike with Keyboard Carriage Shipping who was recommended by my Indian Dealer in Mineola, NY.  The plan is for Keyboard to pick up the bike the week of February 26 and deliver it to New Orleans the week of March 12.

My wife Catherine and I will be flying to New Orleans on March 13th.  Catherine has never experienced “The Big Easy” and everybody should visit New Orleans at least once in their life.  Catherine will stay with me in New Orleans from March 13th to the 16th, when I begin my ride, and then fly home.  Understandably for some and, not for others, Catherine has no desire to sit on the back of a motorcycle for weeks on end, stay in “catch as you can” motels and explore the deep South.  Maybe she is right – NAH!

So, the itinerary, as planned today, and as I remember the concept of flexibility, is a 24-day ride, starting March 16 and ending April 9th, 2018 from New Orleans to Ormond Beach, Florida.  Ormond Beach is the home of my friend John Kuendig and his wife Denise and they have graciously offered to store my bike for a few weeks as I jet off on other adventures.  It is becoming increasingly more evident that the success of this ride will be largely based on the help of others.

Below is the currently planned route.  Other than a jog into Northern Louisiana to visit the Crawfish Capital of the World (Breaux Bridge, LA – “D”) and Natchez, MS – “E” and Vicksburg, MS – “F”, for Civil War stories, I will be hugging the Gulf Coast for most of the way to Florida.

The leg from New Orleans “Green” to Grand Isle, LA “B” is a journey through the Bayou of Southern Louisiana that extends up to Breaux Bridge.  The route from Breaux Bridge to Natchez and Vicksburg, MS will be a picturesque ride along the Mississippi River*.  Once I leave Vicksburg, MS and head south to the Gulf Coast I will be visiting some Gulf Port fishing villages, Grand Bay, AL “I” as well as Gulf Coast resort towns such as Fairhope AL “J” and Seaside, FL “L”.  And, some stops are just because the name means something to me such as Apalachicola, FL “N” (Tim McGraw, “Southern Voice” – “Smooth as the hickory wind That blows from Memphis Down to Apalachicola.”

I have built this route as a manageable, doable and relatively relaxed ride that will allow me to see the country and as importantly, meet people from a vastly different part of our country.  Four pillars sum up why I am doing this ride; 1) Freedom – the freedom to explore and come and go at my pace versus the obligation to get up every day and commute to an office desk, 2) adventure – the adventure of being on the road and exploring new areas never before visited 3) self-awareness – an opportunity to become more aware 4) meeting people and gaining new perspectives – I am excited to meet the people in these areas and hearing and respecting their perspective on everything from sports and immigration to politicians and foreign policy.

Stay tune!

Note* – Not shown accurately on the map

One of my first lessons realized from my motorcycle trip is the lesson of flexibility and being adaptable to change.  And, this lesson is learned even before I have figured out where I am going on my ride.

My original plan was to fire up the Indian and leave my home in Riverside, CT and ride south.   Down the Atlantic Coast and into the deep south.  I was planning to ride to the Florida Keys and then back north to the panhandle of Florida and head West through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and so on.

As I further considered this plan, I realized riding south from Connecticut and along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where I want to explore, in the middle of March, is not the warmest of ideas.  Snow, Ice, and Freezing Rain are still very common in the middle of March in the Northeast.  And, while I want my trip to be an adventure, I do not want it to be deadly.

At first, when I realized the challenge of a March departure, I was stubborn and not willing to reconsider my initial plan.  I fought the effort of having to re-plan the itinerary and the effort of a change in mindset.  As I reflect on my initial reaction, I realize that this inflexibility and the stubborn trait is a characteristic that I have carried for a very long time.

In business, when working in a team environment, I would be highly resistant to change of direction once we had plotted a course of action.  If the team was committed to a certain direction, and new information was found that suggested a change of direction was appropriate, I would become intransigent.   Rather than take in the new information and consider a change in direction, or even worse a re-start of the project, I would attempt to shoetree the original idea into the new parameters.

When this behavior occurred, it frequently turned out to be a bad decision and the result would be disastrous.  We would develop a client solution that did not fit the environment or be not compatible with the client culture or mindset.  In retrospect, I know that the drive to complete the project, check the box and move on was what drove my stubborn streak.

As I replan and rethink my trip itinerary, I am taking a deep breath and enjoying the planning process and the anticipation.  I have decided that it would be more comfortable to ship my Indian to New Orleans and work back East to the Keys and then go north along the Eastern Seaboard and the Blue Ridge Parkway in April and early May.  I need to keep in mind that the getting “Ready” (Planning the ride), as well as the “Going” (riding the ride), is the enjoyment of the entire process and the luxury of having time.

This is the 2nd of what I hope will be many blogs about my long-distance cross-country ride.

I remain in the “getting ready” state and I am now slowly starting to get “set” to “go.”

Psychologically, I have been getting ready for this adventure for years with great anticipation.  Now, sharing honestly with you, as the day of my March 15, 2018, departure is getting closer, anticipation is mixing with trepidation.  What will an extended trip of this magnitude bring, will I be lonesome being on the road alone, should I be looking for friends to join me, will the bike hold up or leave me standing limply on the side of the road, will the bike be safe at night, will I be safe, etc.

Logically, I know that there are answers to each of these question and I can address them well before I venture out.  For example, I am addressing the bikes performance and dependability as I write this blog sitting at MineolaMoto in Mineola New York.

This is Nick Voulis (on the right), a MineolaMoto technician and Jim Fowler, the head technician, working on my RoadMaster.  Jim has meticulously cared for my bike since I purchased it in 2015, answering all my stupid questions patiently, and, I have many stupid questions.  I take my bike to MineolaMoto every fall and every spring for “winterization” and “spring commissioning”, respectively.   However, In preparation for my long-distance ride, I am having a more complete winterization done with all the fluids in the bike replaced, checking the tires, brakes, belts, filters and any other component that can cause a derailment, because, at 85 MPH, you cannot afford a mechanical failure on a motorcycle.

Another piece of advice is to find a dealership you trust and that is looking out for your best interest.  I have found MineolaMoto, their owner, Kenny Zegarek, and Jim Fowler, to be such a dealer.  MineolaMoto has kept my Roadmaster running flawlessly and I have always felt confident in the way this dealership treats me and all their customers.  I rate them highly and recommend them strongly.

So, my last piece of advice is to treat your motorcycle with the highest level of respect, keep it clean, keep it well maintained, keep it charged, have it serviced frequently and you can minimize or eliminate any concern regarding your bikes dependability.

I have been blogging intermittently, and hope I am not boring you.  But, once I hit the road, I plan to blog frequently and let you know where I am and where I am going.  Looking forward to wheeling so keep tuning in.

 

 

 

Well, this is my first, of what I hope are many, blogs related to my future plans to explore the country on two wheels.

8 – 10 years ago I developed a dream to own a motorcycle.  The dream was placed on hold until my two daughters were grown and off to college.  By the way, I advise anybody who is interested in owning a motorcycle and has children, to wait until they are self-sufficient and that you have appropriate life insurance.

Once the girls were out of the house, I purchased my first bike, a Triumph Bonneville.  A standard 865 cc bike with a top speed of 110.  She was a great 1st bike and I rode her for a couple of years as I learned to ride.  However, one 4 hour ride to Lake George from Greenwich, CT and I knew that I needed a new long-distance bike.

My next bike was the Victory Cross Roads, a 1731 cc bike with a top speed of 120.  This bike served me well and allowed me to extend my trips as far north as Montreal.  However, 8 hours in the saddle and I found that without a fairing to block the wind blast at 60 – 80 MPH, my shoulders started to fall off.  So, I knew that I needed a new bike with a large fairing.

My current bike is a 2016 Indian Roadmaster.  A monster 1811 cc bike with a top speed of 110.  She is built for comfort and not speed.  with the most storage space of any bike on the road, I am ready to explore the country on this two-wheeler starting in March, 2018.

Until then, you may not hear much from me.  But, once I hit the road, I plan to blog frequently and let you know where I am and where I am going.  Looking forward to wheeling so keep tuning in