MOST GLORIOUS VACATION–DAY 1
Day I—Tuesday, June 1st
Loaded all the same stuff as last year minus the leather jacket and heavy gloves. (This will prove to be a major mistake.) In their place I packed the computer Gloria bought; I’m hoping to learn how to use it on the road. Tristan and Jenny assured me that all McDonald’s restaurants have free Wi-Fi. I thought I could write up the trip as it happened. In practice, it’s like kissing while chewing gum. It just gets messy.
Start miles=20,387—time 7:03am: All times will be Eastern daylight time, as I have no intention of resetting my watch for every time zone I intend to cross. SR520 to the Orlando EW expressway to Regan turnpike, North to Gainesville: 1st gas—10:20am—3.35g-20552 miles. Continue to I-10 west thru Tallahassee: 2d stop—12:30pm—3.114g-20704 miles. 3d stop—3.114g-20835 miles 3:10pm. Arrive in Alabama 4:50pm at 20907 miles. Good Lord! It took 520 miles and just under 10 hours just to get out of Florida.
At this point I decided to stay on I-10 until I came to Pascagoula, Mississippi. Then I would go south and ride old Rt. 90 thru the beach cities observing the oil spill first hand as I go. It makes one feel important to see something in person that everyone is talking about. There is enough daylight left to get me to Bay St Louis, Louisiana and I can visit the beaches that I knew so well back in the sixties. I had been successfully ducking thunderstorms all afternoon, but now they were getting ugly. The black bottoms of the southern Nimbus clouds appeared to be growing hair and lightning was frankly scaring the Hell out of me from time to time.
I still managed stops in my old stomping grounds of Gulfport, Biloxi (that’s BLUX-see to you Yankees) and Pass Christian. Somewhere near here, I gassed up again during a rain: 4th gas stop—2.93 gallon-6:20pm. Traffic was stop & go but the beaches were near barren and pristine. There was much talk of the oil spill, but I saw no sign of it. I was too early. The pictures on TV were from some outer islands and the main body of the spill will show up long after I have left the area. The main difference now is that there are no houses near the beaches. A spate of hurricanes cleared them out a few years back, and this time new housing was built about ½ to ¾ miles from the water. I love these good ol’ boys and belles, but have never accused them of being a quick study. LOL.
I made the mistake in Bay St. Louis of deciding to stay on old Rt. 90 to New Orleans. Thought I could get a room on Bourbon Street and spend a night at the famous French Quarter. It was not to be. From here the road was in the middle of a swamp. One could not pull off to the right or left without having Louisiana quicksand become his coffin. It was here and now that the worst storm of the day attacked me head on. Rain and wind were relentless and there was nowhere in this God forsaken swamp to escape. Only the near continuous ground strikes by lightning provided enough visibility to keep the bike moving. I crouched behind the windshield, turned on my emergency blinkers, and reduced my speed to 25 miles per hr for what seemed like hours. At last, there appeared a public rest stop just off the highway. Better yet, like Florida they boast nighttime security. I can dry out, lie down on a bench and get some much needed rest without being bothered. Wrong again! Security in Louisiana is there to make sure you don’t abuse their hospitality by staying out of the rain more than a few minutes. “We can’t just let people stay overnight” a guard explained to me. Authorities in Louisiana will impress me less than any other state on this trip. Their welcome to visitors is furiously underwhelming.
Still raining, I remounted the bike and rode north to I-12 (New Orleans bypass) and held the throttle down until I came to Baton Rough. Gas stop #5—3.386 gal-21148 miles. Time =10:50 pm, time for a motel.
Miles for the day=761—time on the road=almost 16 hours. G’nite!!
Until the end, where you mention that you are on a bike, I couldn’t figure out why you were only buying a few gallons of gas at each stop. Thanks for clarifying that!