Painted Church Ride

I thought you might be interested in a ride I had on Saturday with a new group of riders...Brazos de Dios. My friend Carl Shafer sent me an email on Friday about the ride and I thought it sounded interesting so I canceled the tailgate party invite I had received earlier and met the group at the local Harley dealership about 9:10am on Saturday morning.

When I arrived, I parked beside several other motorcycles...in fact, there were tons of them. I was amazed that there were that many folks making the ride but at the same time I knew the group might have that many members and I had no idea how many folks participated on any given Saturday. This particular one was going to be beautiful so perhaps this many people were going to ride.

However, as I walked across the parking lot to the building, I quickly realized that I had parked next to the dealership's display bikes...new and used. The normal parking spot for these bikes was being used by their "Harleyween" festivities. I quickly moved over to the other side of the parking lot where the "real" morning participants were parked. As it turned out, there were only 8 people on the ride that morning...9 people total.

We left the dealership at 9:30am...after signing a release as a "newbie" and visitor and getting a quick safety briefing from the day's road captain. The leader took us out Hwy 30 to Carlos where we turned onto FM 3090/FM 149 headed toward Anderson. The road is very curvy and very popular with area riders...all the way down to Houston actually. In Anderson, we got on another farm-to-market road...1774 I think...which would take us down to Plantersville and the first church on the tour.

About 2-3 miles north of Plantersville...site of the famous Renaissance Fair...we turned into a dirt road and then into a parking lot. We got off our motorcycles and the leader began to tell us about the "painted" church just a few yards away, behind the trees. The church had been built back in the 1800's by immigrant Ukrainian German-speaking Catholic farmers. The tall steeple was struck by lightning in 1917 and the church burned to the ground...notice there isn't another tall steeple today. The church was rebuilt in a hurry due to threats of moving the congregation to another church.

As we began towards the church, we were joined by the priest who ended up giving us a tour...along with his trusty Beagle guard dog...see sign. One of the interesting things he said was that only 4 pieces were saved from the fire and were restored and put back in the church...one being the statue of the virgin Mary which had only her hair singed a bit.

Another interesting fact was that back in the 1950's, the Catholic church was going through some reform and the members were afraid that the Church would not like the way it was painted, so they painted over everything with beige paint. Only in 2000, a year after this priest came to the area, did he begin to investigate the rumors by scraping away some of the beige paint. What he found underneath was amazing.

They ended up hiring a restoration artist from Houston who, along with the membership, carefully scraped away most of the covering paint and repainted the stencils. They left a couple of areas unpainted after they scraped to show the visitors what it looked like before...see pictures. Today, the church is quite a sight to see...much like I would imagine a Hungarian Gypsy's wagon painted.

Well, the tour of this church took so long that we didn't make it to any others on Saturday. Besides, they say this was the best example around anyway. We were led over to Montgomery where we ate lunch at Phil's Roadhouse. If you have never been there, you should go. The food was excellent and the portions were huge. At least two people could be fed off each order.

We arrived back at the Harley dealership about 2:30pm, safe and sound. The ride was very successful and I met some new friends. I'm already on their mailing list and have received the latest version of their newsletter...7-8 pages long! Not sure I'm going to join another group/club so soon after getting out of one, but it's a possibility. For those of you who do not know, I recently tendered my resignation from Rolling Thunder....for various reasons.

Hope you enjoy the pictures...although they don't do justice to the real thing...go see it for yourself. The church is open 24/7.

Next, I'm off to NYC and Washington DC...not on a motorcycle this time.

Day 4 - End of the Road

Day 4, the final day of this ride, started at 7:15am in Baton Rouge. I slept like a baby most of the night, due primarily to the long day riding from Lake City, but partly due to the great meal I had. I forgot to mention in last night's blog that I was referred to a great little seafood restaurant by the woman working the front desk at the hotel.

She told me to go back toward town to the next exit and then go south through four lights then make two lefts heading back down the access road to the north. The name of the restaurant was the Bayou Bistro. Sounded like a fancy place, but as it turned out it was anything but.

I followed the instructions, including going to the 4th traffic light, which turned out to be about 4 miles too. I turned left at the 4th light and left again on the access road and there it was...a small, unattractive white building with a very small out in front that said Bayou Bistro. Since I hadn't see any other suitable places to eat, I decided to give it a try. I ordered a pan sauteed tilapia with pecans and a shrimp butter covering it...man was that good. I totally cleaned my plate, waddle out to my bike and made my way back to the hotel.

Now, back to Day 4. I was on the road an hour later today, plus I had on long underwear, so I wasn't near as cold as on Day 3...in fact, I was very toasty. By the end of the day, I was burning up...just never had the opportunity to take the thermals off.

Almost immediately after I got on I-10, I entered an area called the Atchafalaya Basin. The highway went sloped up slightly until the roadway was elevated about 30 feet above the ground...or should I say swamp. This "bridge" went on and on for about 25 miles and ended in a real bridge...a steep, high draw bridge over the Atchafalaya River. Very interesting. The elevated roadway/bridge also went over an area called the Henderson Swamp...which actually looked like a swamp. The speed limit on the bridge was 55mph so by the time I got off, I was ready for breakfast. I exited in the little town of Henderson to eat at a Waffle House, where several of the Cajun speaking locals entertained me while I ate.

Back on the road, I continued to pass bodies of water and drive over bridges...just not 25 miles long. Louisiana has some interesting names for its waterways, such as Cow Bayou, Turtle Bayou, Lost River and Old River. They've been a lot less creative for some of their city's names, like Bridge City...at the base of one of the bridges I went over...and Rose City...don't know where that name came from since I didn't see any roses along the side of the road.

At some point along the road today I saw a couple of interesting signs. The first was alerting the traveler of the next exit for Ponce de Leon...wasn't he looking for the Fountain of Youth? Wonder if I would have found it if I had taken that exit? However, if I remember right, de Leon was looking for the Fountain of Youth somewhere in Florida...not Louisiana. Another sign mentioned the exit for Evangeline...now wasn't that a book or poem we all had to read back in high school? I think that was about someplace in Louisiana. Well, please excuse me if I remember all these things from high school wrong. I wasn't the best student in the school back then.

The last big city in Louisiana I went through was Lake Charles. For the last 20-25 miles coming into the city all I saw were billboards advertising the many casinos and resorts in and around the city. Not having a lot of extra money to blow in a casino, I passed on by and crossed the Sabine River...the river that divides Louisiana from Texas. The bridge was huge...so huge that I had to stop and take a picture of the approach. Good thing Sharon wasn't with me because she would not have liked it one little bit.

After crossing the river, I decided to pull off at the Texas Visitors Center. I spent a few minutes taking pictures and walking around the center before getting back on the road headed toward Beaumont. I stopped in Beaumont for gas and then got back on the road. A few minutes later I saw something fly up behind me and realized my right saddlebag was open. I quickly made my way over to the right shoulder from the far inside lane and came to a stop. Upon inspection, I my hat and my notebook were gone. What I had seen flying around was the notebook...I guess. I turned the bike off and started walking back up the shoulder to see if I could find one or both of the items.

I figured I'd have more success finding the notebook than the hat but after walking about 100 yards or so back up the highway...with cars and trucks whizzing by at 70+...I didn't see anything. I decided to get off the highway and go up the other side to get to the on ramp I had just used. Once I entered the highway from the same on ramp, I made my way over to the left shoulder and drove very slowly...with my turn signal on...looking for my hat and notebook.

It's amazing how much trash can be found on shoulders of a major interstate...I had a hard time weaving around everything. Just when I thought I'd have to give up, there right in front of me, on the shoulder, was my hat. I stopped and put the hat in the saddlebags and continued to look for the notebook. By the time I made it back to the point where I had exited the highway to make the u-turn, I had not seen the notebook. I had already wasted at least 30 minutes so I decided that the notebook was gone forever and I got back on the road headed for home.

Other than having to endure horrible road conditions in and around Houston, I had no other problems to speak of. I pulled up in front of Sharon's office 15 minutes short of 8 hours since hitting the road this morning...not bad considering how many times I stopped today. My mileage total at the end of the day from West Palm Beach to College Station...1,265 miles!

Before I complete the blog for this trip, I wanted to mention the various smells I experience along the way...as I invited you to do in the introduction but had not mentioned it any. It's interesting riding a motorcycle because you can easily smell everything around you...things you just don't notice riding in a car with the windows rolled up and the A/C on high. During this trip, the smells that stood out were both good and bad, such as the smell of freshly mowed grass, the smell of rain, the smell of someone cooking BBQ, the smell of welding, the smell of new tar on the roadway, the smell of fiberglass, the smell of a dead animal along the side of the road, and then there's the ever popular smell of a pulp mill.

It was another interesting trip for me...lots of new and interesting things to see...and smell. I was ready to get home...as usual. One of these days I want to make a trip where I don't feel obligated to cover so much ground in such a short time. I'd love to make a trip with no particular place to go and no particular time to get there...now that might be interesting. Until next time, this is Papa Jax signing off.

Day 3

Today was a long one... right at 12 hours from start to finish. I woke up at 5:00am, packed the bike and got on the road around 6:00am. Man, was it chilly! I had two shirts on and a leather jacket...plus the full face helmet...and I was still cold. By the time I had ridden about an hour, I was beginning to shake from the cold. I pulled into a convenient rest stop...Florida has really nice ones about every 30 miles on the interstate...and tried to warm up. Unfortunately, the hand warmers there didn't do too much to help.

I got back on the road and rode another hour until I got to Midway, FL...just west of Tallahassee I. I ate breakfast at a Waffle House and tried to get warm...it helped a little. Back on the road by 9:30am and by now the sun was getting warm, and so was I.

My next stop was Pensacola, FL, where I made a little Walmart stop. I needed a few things, including better tie downs and some all purpose cleaner for the bugs. I found what I was looking for so I spent a few minutes eating some peanut butter crackers and drinking a coke while re-securing my bag to the bag of my bike. I was back on the road by 12:30pm or so.

Deciding to skip lunch today, I tried to make better time, with the goal of getting to Baton Rouge for the night. My original plan had been to stay the night in Lake Charles but that was when I was going to spend the second night in Tallahassee...plans have to be flexible.

Shortly after passing leaving Pensacola, I hit the Alabama State Line and shortly after that I came to Mobile. Seeing signs for the Battleship Alabama park, I exited the interstate to check it out. It was only a couple of blocks off the interstate and was pretty interesting...although it cost me $2 to drive through and take some pictures. In the interest of time, I opted not to tour the battleship.

Once back on the highway, I quickly left Alabama for Mississippi, then Louisiana. This whole day I passed places I recognized from days past...Panama City, Eglin AFB, Gulfport, Biloxi, Keesler AFB, Crestview to name a few. I passed over several bridges spanning rivers with interesting names, such as Suwanee River, Blackwater River, Chatahoochee River, Pearl River and last, but not least, the mighty Mississippi River. There were other bodies of water, too numerous to mention here. Oh, and there was another grass fire today...no car in the middle of it this time...thankfully.

After Mobile, the only stops I made were to take pictures of the various "Welcome to ______" signs and to get gas one more time. I arrived in Baton Rouge about 5:30pm and decided to go through town to the west side so I wouldn't have to fight the morning rush hour going into town. I pulled into the hotel parking lot at 6:00pm, almost exactly 12 hours from the time I first got on the highway.

I took a few more pictures today than yesterday...including one or two of me. Enjoy Sharon. Tomorrow, I'll be hitting the road headed to College Station...just not as early. Today my travel took me 583 miles...tomorrow only 360 miles or so...still about 8 hours counting stops. I'm betting I'll make better time...always do when I'm headed home. If all goes well, tomorrow's blog update will be the last for a while. My rear end needs a rest. :)

Day 1/2 - Fly to Florida

Actually, this was Day 2. Day 1 was a very short one. I was picked up at home by the airport shuttle at 5:30pm on Monday and arrived at the airport hotel around 7:00pm. Sounds pretty cut and dried, and it was, but the ride was anything but ordinary.

There were only two passengers in the large 15-passenger van and we sat together on the same row. The other passenger was a 20-something kid from Katy...now living in College Station and working with a software company specializing in oil and gas programs. He graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Chemical Engineering degree and somehow ended up in College Station. He was on his way to Argentina to teach a class on one of their new programs.

But that wasn't the only interesting thing about the trip. The driver drove like a bat out of you know where. I didn't know a 15-passenger van could attain such speeds, but this one did. Our driver managed to blow just about every speed limit between College Station and Bush Intercontinental Airport. I hesitated to look at the speedometer too much because it made me nervous, but every time I did sneak a peek, it was well over 80 mph. The icing on the cake was that the front end wobbled badly at speeds over about 60 mph so you can imagine how we felt inside the van.

Well, the driver was very nice and we did make it to the airport without incident. As they say, "no harm, no foul". I just hope he made it back to College Station in one piece.

Now, to the real Day 2. My day started in Houston with a 5:00am wake up call. My flight was scheduled for a 8:05am takeoff and I did not want to be late. Since I had checked out the airport tram the night before...made an entire loop looking for a place to eat...ended up at the hotel in the lounge...good sandwiches...I knew the way but I didn't want to be rushed so I gave myself plenty of time.

By the time I got through security...which took about 1/2 hour at least...it was about 6:30am. By the way, for future reference, it isn't a good idea to take tools or a flat tire kit for motorcycles through security...they get a little concerned when they see screwdrivers, plugging tools and little CO2 cartriges. In the end, they cleared me through after I made a donation of the CO2. The two inspectors were very interested in my trip so that probably helped avoid a strip search.

Takeoff was a bit late but with a slight tail wind, we landed in West Palm Beach only three minutes late. I called the seller as I walked down the concourse and he was waiting for me when I walked out the front door. The drive to his shop was about 30 minutes...he talked all the way.

Once we arrived at the shop, we spent another 30 minutes looking at his other bikes for sale, his personal bike and talking about my new bike. Once I felt comfortable with the starting procedures, etc., I took a short familiarity ride around the block. I was really glad I did because the new bike feels completely different than my old one. It is substantially lighter and the sitting position is different. In addition, little things like the turn signals and the starting sequence is different.

We tied my bag on the back...no small task since there isn't much to tie on to...and then I followed him to the bank to get the paperwork notarized. Around 1:30pm, Florida time, I hit the road headed north on I-95.

I opted to utilize the interstate versus the coast highway because I knew it would be really slow going nearer the coast. I made good time, averaging 70-75 mph most of the way. The other advantage to being on the interstate is that I can use the cruise control, which works really good.

Due to a lack of time on this trip, I did not do much sight-seeing. I wanted to take a side trip over to the beach in St. Augustine...the oldest city in Florida...but I resisted. I did stop in Daytona Beach at what is called the largest Harley-Davidson dealership in the world...it is really big. The entire complex, called Destination Daytona, covers several acres and includes not only the dealership but a hotel, 2-3 restaurants, a couple of night clubs and tons of motorcycle-related stores. There's also a large covered pavillion...about the size of a football field...where I can only guess they have concerts, dances and parties. This area is very popular with the bikers during Bike Week in the spring and Biketoberfest coming up later this month.

Of course I had to do the requisite shopping in the dealership...no looking at new motorcycles though. Been there and done that. By about 4:00pm, I was back on the road headed to Jacksonville. Except for a short potty break at a rest stop, I stayed on I-95 until intercepting I-10 where I turned west and headed toward Tallahassee. Driving into the setting sun was murder but it only lasted about 30 minutes...then it got dark very quickly. About 7:00pm, I decided to call it a night in a small city named Lake City, about half way between Jacksonville and Tallahassee.

Oh, I almost forgot...there was some excitement about 20 miles north of Daytona. As you can see from the picture, there apparently had just been a wreck where the car departed the interstate and caught fire. A fire truck headed for the scene got on the interstate when I did so I followed him down the highway...thinking I shouldn't pass him like other motorists did. It was a few miles down the highway before you could see the column of dark smoke...I thought it was a grass fire...which it was, only there was a car in the middle of it. Several cars had pulled over and there was one trooper's car at the scene but there was nothing they could do except wait for the fire truck. I pulled over and took a couple of pictures...one of which was the long line of cars on the other side, thankfully.

I found a decent Days Inn in Lake City and now I'm sitting on the bed, typing this blog and eating a Domino's Pizza delivered to my door.

Day 3 is going to be a long one. I'll probably get up early and hit the road in an attempt to get on the west side of Tallahassee before the morning rush hour really gets heavy. Once I pass the city, I'll find a place to eat breakfast. My plan is to try to make it to Baton Rouge but that might be a bit optimistic...we'll see.

Check in again tomorrow and see where I ended up.

Papa Jax