Thibodaux to Los Angeles on a Honda Shadow 750 - Day 1 - April 18, 2012

 Flew in to New Orleans late last night.  The moon and stars were shining bright...  Sorry, got carried away.

Here's the setup for those who came in late.

About a year ago, the folks on the Adventure Rider motorcycle forum heard of a gentleman who was dying of cancer and wanted to fulfill his dream to ride a motorcycle cross country.  The call went out and a bike was purchased along with insurance, accessories, and riding gear.  When Mike died, he wanted the bike to go to another deserving rider to make their ride of a lifetime.  After some discussion, I volunteered to house the bike in LA so it would be available to folks coming to the States to do that one time ride of a lifetime.

For the whole story on this bike, check this link on Adventure Rider.

On to the ride from Thibodaux, Louisiana to Los Angeles, California...

The flight to New Orleans was nice and boring - just the way I like airline flights.  We arrived about 30 minutes later than scheduled due to unfavorable winds and a slightly delayed departure.  As normal for this time of year, it was humid and I was immediately soaked through with sweat as I was wearing my riding jacket with both liners in place.

Took a cab to the local Days Inn Hotel which turned out to be better than the on-line reviews.  Not a place I'd want to spend a week, but for one night, it wasn't bad at all.  Finally go to bed around 2am.  Richie, my contact for picking up the bike, was due to fetch me at 6am, so I got about three hours of sleep.

Promptly at 6am, Richie shows up and off we go to Thibodaux - about a 40 minute drive - to get the bike I'm riding back to Los Angeles.

After a quick check over the bike and the paperwork, I loaded it up and got ready to leave.

This is Richie with the bike

And there has to be one of me ready to roll as well

First stop - get some gas

Now off to find some location on the Big Money Rally that are more of less on the way to Los Angeles.  This is the route I laid out for the trip back

The scenery in New Orleans is mostly green - everything is green, with the possible exception of the bugs.  I'd forgotten just how many bugs there are in the South.  Definitely a place for the shield being down all the time.

Since it's nothing we have in SoCal, the levies, locks, and all the draw bridges fascinate me.

Then again, I liked seeing all the boats along side the major highways.

Some of the house boats are substantially bigger than any house I've ever lived in.

 The above ground burial plots are also something those of us who live well above the water table don't often see.  The only other place I've seen this is Florida.

There are two locations in this part of Louisiana for the Big Money Rally, Grand Isle

and Houma.

Everything on Grand Isle is on stilts as it floods on a regular basis.  I'm not sure why people think building in a place like this is a good idea.  I did notice that nobody leaves a car at their get away cabin and only a few ratty looking boats were left under the houses. Even the local school is on stilts.

After that it was a boring blast down the I-10 toward Texas and my first stop in Winnie, Texas.  Another Days Inn.

If I was going to rethink this trip and take it a bit slower, US 90 would be a better bet than I-10.