New Orleans to Texas

Time to leave New Orleans and head out on the bikes again. You guest it, raining again. Hugh who I think was born in a rain storm said, "Whats the problem". Its ok for these SE boys, but for a River-lander who never has to ride in the rain, what a pain.

So kit up in all the gear and off we go. Now I tried to describe the long causeway on the way in to New Orleans and didnt quiet get it right. It is a raised roadway two lanes in each direction on separate road ways, about 15 feet above Lake Pontchartrain. That's right a concrete raised road way like a bridge or a pair of bridges only its 27 miles long! So we are barreling along it in the rain at about 60 Miles per hour when I notice there is a cop car along side Gerald with the lights flashing. Gerald is about 300 yards behind me and I hear a voice? The voice keeps on going, eventually Gerald changes lanes and the lights come up along side me? I hear this loud voice but cant make out what the cops saying? Something like rain or lane, so I change lane like Gerald did and the cop moves onto Hugh. Eventually we come to a cross over and pull in with the cop following, and Ken up front disappearing into the rain and mist. Turns out there is a red light flashing at the start of the causeway saying no motorcycle riding over the lake in the rain. Not sure whether it is dangerous because it is wet, or the lightening we are seeing is worse for motorcycles, but we have to return along the 5 miles we have done.

This we do and GPS for an alternative route that doesn't involve lake crossings. We find one and off we go wondering what Ken is thinking and whether we will see him some time today, or if he is looking for a bail bonds man to help bail us out. We do one hwy then switch over to another raised road way on pylons that is also very long but crossing over a bayou.We eventually arrive at our designated stop to look at a hobby shop but Ken is not there. Within 1 minute of stopping Ken turns up. He waited for 1 hour at the end of the causeway for us, and then proceeded to the hobby shop every one had set in their gps before starting out. What a morning. But all is well that ends well. Why did we miss the red flashing light? How close to being booked were we? We think the policeman didnt want to get out of the vehicle in the rain! We encountered another very long raised split hwy on the way into baton Rouge. The cost of building these raised hwy's in lakes or bayous would be horrendous, but I guess if you have enough rate payers some big things are possible. The traffic these hwy's are carrying indicates the construction may have been warranted.

So today we passed through Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and ones with names like Sulphur, and left Louisiana and arrived at Beaumont Texas for tonight. Ken is doing a top job of navigating through the multitude of hwy's, lane changes, accommodation locations, Starbucks, subways and fuel stops. He will be looking forward to just navigating the South Road when he gets home.

Ken Tregloan the chief van driver and navigator.