Lovin Every Minute Of It!

OK, let me start off by saying, that the lists are supposed to be in somewhat chronological order. That being said, I would also like to say that my boys are ALWAYS #1 on my list, as they very well know. Then I also could add, that you boys could be added to the smelly list as you all stunk like bait that night!

Now, back to the trip. I would like to say that Darryl and I may have a very hard time leaving Louisiana. No, really, I mean it. We have driven out of our way twice trying to leave a town, but always going the wrong way. Hope we can find our way back to Texas.

Tuesday morning, we got up and headed out of Houma. We drove about 15 miles in the wrong direction before we figured that out. However that worked out OK as we encountered the man in the gray Mitsubishi Mirage, (see Smelly list), on our way back thru Houma. We followed, him for many a mile, just could not seem to get around him. And I would like to add that while second hand smoke may cause cancer, it does not cause you to get stoned at 40 miles an hour.

Then we headed up River Road with the intention of seeing several plantation homes up that way. The first one we stopped at, Laura Plantation, turned out to be the only one we had time to tour, but it was well worth it. I learned more in that hour and a half tour than I did in all my history classes. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might head this direction. We then drove on by the other ones and I got a few pictures from the road, but it looked like it was going to rain so we decided to head on in to New Orleans.

We did end up getting rained on slightly, but made it into New Orleans around 6:00. So we had to fight rush hour traffic, but it was not horrible. Got to the hotel and discovered that expensive hotels intend for you to pay for everything! No free Internet here as I had in the nice, more moderate hotels. Even though I really paid more for them than I did the Marriott in N.O. I bid on it on Priceline and got it fairly cheap, so I was not going to pay about 25.00 a day to use the Internet.

We walked for a while down on Bourbon Street and discovered quickly that you should not stop and talk to anyone that appears to be wanting to give you something. We had spent 13.00 in less than 5 mins on free stuff. Other than that, it was an interesting place. Basically an Austin 6TH street with strip clubs. And it stunk!!! In fact the whole French Quarter stunk. I wish I could say it smelled like a French whore, but that was not it at all (see smelly list). We were pretty tired, so we did not stay out late. Went back to the hotel and rented the movie The Bucket List. Would also recommend that to anyone. Good movie, but you almost can't go wrong with those 2 stars.

Wednesday morning we got up and walked down to Cafe De Mondes and ate beignets. They were great! Then we walked around town for a while and ended up taking a walking tour of the #1 Cemetery and the Voodoo world of New Orleans, while bits of it were informative and interesting, over all I would not say it was worth it. I did leave an offering at Marie Laveau's tomb and ask a favor of her, but Darryl says I was not paying attention to the instructions. If the wish comes true, you are supposed to come back and thank her. My wish was for a safe ride home. So now, I guess that means we will have to come back and then I can wish the same wish again and then a revolving circle would begin........

We also saw a real live, practicing Voodoo Priestess. I think she is supposed to be a very famous person in those realms as she has interviews from various big name news papers as well as info about her being interviewed for TV several times in her shop. But, I agree with Darryl that I think she was just very stoned. Maybe if you had a lot of time to spend with her on an individual basis she would be more clairvoyant. Maybe it was just that with 9 people there we had her very confused.................

After that, we went to Harrahs and threw away a few dollars. It is always fun to do that! Then we went back down to Bourbon Street, found a cool bar and hung out there for a while. It was called Fat Catz Music Club. The band we listened to was The Connection. They played a lot of old school rock and funk and they were really good. They had a 9 piece band crammed onto a little stage. We listened to them for about 2 hours and they never took a break. I guess they realize that down there, with no cover charge in most bars, that if the band stops, you leave and go to the next bar.

During the night sometime, Darryl and I both were awakened by a loud noise. Not being able to figure out what it was we went back to sleep. Then at about 5 am, he got up to go to the bathroom and discovered that a ceiling tile in the bathroom had gotten soaked, from a leak above it and had fallen into the bathtub. Since it would keep us from showering in the morning, we called the front desk and they sent someone up to take care of it. About 30 mins after we were able to go back to sleep, the front desk calls and wakes us up to ask if it was taken care of.......... We got up shortly after that.

When we woke up we immediately felt let down. It was over. The trip off to new places was done. It was time to start heading home.

But once again, we went in circles before getting out of town. Then we headed down south for one last look at the bayous and the ocean. We had a nice day riding, but did not see much new or interesting. Also the wind was blowing pretty good and that makes the ride a lot more tiresome.
We ended up back in Houma for the night and will head out to Patsy's tomorrow. We will call you, Patsy, if we are not going to be there tomorrow night, but that is our plan. Probably won't be til late in the afternoon or early in the evening, so don't plan dinner for us.

Love you all, but not looking forward to getting back to the same old grind. I am trying to win the Power Ball lottery while I am here. It is up to 144 mil.

There is a HD dealership right next door to the hotel and they had some party tonight and we went over and bought some stuff. I think the sticker I bought for my helmet says it all.
"For some there is therapy, for the rest of us there are motorcycles."

Ending mileage today is 7201, which makes a total of 1025 for the trip so far...........