The weekend weather was forecast
to be nice…no rain and highs in the mid-70’s.
I had been looking forward to the ride for quite some time. On Saturday morning, we met at the local
Kettle restaurant to eat a little breakfast…something it turned out we didn’t
need…and go over the plan for the day.
The group consisted of 8
motorcycles, 1 car and 12 people. We hit
the road about 8:30 headed towards Huntsville on State Hwy 30. That portion of Hwy 30 isn’t too thrilling…and
I’ve ridden that road before. We made it
to Huntsville after about 45 minutes for our first potty break. We figured we would use a McDonald’s just on
the other side of I-45 but it was closed due to a local power outage. Seems there were pretty violent thunderstorms
in the area the night before and one of their power stations suffered a
lightning strike. We went further into
town and found a service station with power.
After the quick potty break, we
left town on US 190, which would take us into Louisiana. I knew we would ride through Livingston but
other than that the route for the whole weekend was going to be new for me.
The roadway was good, the weather
likewise. As we neared Lake Livingston,
I began to notice there were the typical bars, restaurants and boat
sales/repair facilities on both sides of the highway. What surprised me was the volume of Mexican
Food restaurants. Most of the towns we
passed through were relatively small…Point Blank, Onalaska, Soda and Indian
Springs. As you might expect to see in
East Texas, we crossed several waterways…Navasota River, Trinity River,
Kickapoo Creek, Big Sandy Creek, Bear Creek, Neches River, just to name a few.
Lunch was planned just outside of
Woodville at a place called The Pickett House.
If you weren’t looking for it you might drive right on by, but luckily
our leader had been there before. The
restaurant is situated in an old frame house.
Once you’re through a small entry, you come into the dining room, filled
with mostly long tables. We paid up
front and sat down at a couple of the long tables. Shortly thereafter, ladies began bringing us
plates and bowls of food…fried chicken, rolls, mashed potatoes, black-eyed
peas, chicken and dumplings and spinach…and it kept coming. I think we had 3 plates of chicken brought to
us. The chicken was great by the
way. After everyone had their fill, they
brought us small dishes of peach cobbler…pretty good.
We also drove through the northern edge of the Sam Houston
National Forest and through the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation…even saw
the Alabama-Coushatta Head Start building.
All along US190 the scenery is pretty typical of East Texas…mobile
homes, RV parks, shacks, all mixed in with nice ranch estates here and there.
Besides Lake Livingston, we crossed over B.A. Steinhagen
Lake. The sign at the beginning of the
bridge said Neches River. The lake
seemed to be just a wide spot in the river.
Kickapoo Creek was also a part of Lake Livingston…you can’t tell where
one starts and the other ends. I guess
people who live nearby don’t care which is which anyway. Near Woodville I saw what might potentially
be my future home…Paradise RV Senior Community!
After lunch we continued
southeast on US190 through Jasper, Newton…where we stopped at the local Dairy Queen
for some refreshments…and Bon Weir.
Shortly after passing Bon Weir we crossed the Sabine River over into
Louisiana. The next few miles, just like
the area we had just driven through, saw many open areas where pine trees had
recently been cut down. I thought it was
interesting that not all of the trees in a particular area had been cut. Occasionally, there would be a few
trees…well, they used to be trees and now were tall, branchless tree
trunks…left standing. After a while, a
bull dozer would be brought in to push all the leftover debris into piles which
would then be burned. Later new
seedlings would be planted and eventually the cycle would start over. I don’t know how long it takes a seedling to
grow into a harvestable pine tree but I’m guessing several years.
The first town in Louisiana we
came to was Merryville, a quaint little farming town. It appeared that perhaps logging and rice
farming were the main staples. At
Merryville, we got off of 190 for a while and followed LA110, through Singer to
Longville where we intersected 190 again.
That relatively short section of Louisiana highway was great to ride
motorcycles on. The pavement was smooth
and the roadway wound through the countryside in shallow turns.
We followed 190 through the
Louisiana countryside, passing rice field after rice field and going through
many small towns, so small that they didn’t even post the population. One thing you’ll notice in Louisiana versus
Texas is that the signs stating the town’s name doesn’t say “city limits” but
rather “corp limits” and only then if the town was large enough. Some towns had only a small green sign with
their name on it…such as Elton, Ragley, Mallet, Swords, Savoy and Lauderdale. We passed through some descent sized
towns…between 2500 and 5000…where you find places to eat, like Subway,
McDonald's, Dairy Queen, etc. One such
town was Kinder. Basile and Eunice were
fairly big towns as well.
This part of US190 is also called
The Acadian Way. We passed through
Acadia Parish (county in Texas) and Evangeline Parish…two names I remember from
high school English. Along the way we
passed through the Atchafalaya
National Wildlife Refuge, an area of protected woods and swamps, home to many
unique plants and animals, such as the American alligator and the Bald Eagle.
About 5:00pm on the first day, we came upon the intersection
of US190 and I-49 at the city of Opelousas where we turned south. I had never heard of I-49 but figured it
would take us to Lafayette. In fact, the
interstate runs north and south and runs from I-30 near Texarkana to Lafayette,
where it ends. We arrived at the hotel
about 5:15pm and had about 45 minutes before it was time to leave for
dinner. We had enough time to check in,
drop our bags in the room and get a drink.
Lafayette is at the crossroads of I-49 and I-10, about 60
miles west of Baton Rouge. When we left
the hotel headed for dinner, I had no idea where we were going. When we got on I-10 headed east I thought
maybe we were headed to Baton Rouge. I
was pretty sure we were going to have seafood so I thought a restaurant on the
banks of the Mississippi River might be in order. However, I was wrong.
We exited the interstate in the town of Henderson, LA and
followed main street further east until it dead ended into a levee. Between the base of the levee and the
water…part of the Atchafalaya Basin…we found Pat’s Edgewater Inn and
Restaurant. This is one of those hidden
gems that you would never find driving along the interstate. We had a very nice seafood dinner and great
service.
Following dinner, we returned to the hotel to prepare for
our 7:30am leave time…and breakfast at a well known place just outside the city
limits on I-49.
After a nice, restful evening, thank goodness, we left the
hotel at 7:30 on the dot. The place we
were going to eat breakfast was only 4 miles down the road…on the way
home. Before we got there we had lost
two riders. Turned out one of them was
losing stuff out of his back…tied down on the rear seat…but the sweeper
retrieved most of it. They joined us
15-20 minutes later and we all went in.
The name of the place is Prejean’s and if you can’t tell by the name,
the menu had a lot of Cajun items on it, even for breakfast.
When we walked in it seemed like we were expected. I thought it was because our leader had
called ahead. Turned out that the local
Harley chapter has their meetings on Sunday morning at 9:00 and the
receptionist thought we were part of that group. Eventually the misunderstanding was cleared
up and they seated us in a dining area off to the side, behind closed
doors. They were expecting about 100
members at the meeting.
Breakfast was amazing.
They had the standard eggs and bacon choices, accompanied by grits and
Boudin sausage. Then there were more
exotic Cajun dishes, such as Eggs Benedict with a Boudin/seafood sauce on top
in place of the standard Hollandaise sauce.
A couple of people opted for that.
I ordered the French toast with a side of bacon. As you can see from the picture, the French toast
was a bit different than that found at your local Denny’s or IHOP…but it was
delicious.
After tanking up with a big breakfast, it was time to hit
the road. We backtracked along the same
route we had come on so there was really nothing new to see…just a chance to
look at something again that you may not have seen well the first time. We made occasional potty breaks and gas stops
and decided to stop in Jasper for lunch.
We opted for the local Dairy Queen because most of our group weren’t
that hungry. I didn’t think I was either
but I did manage to put away the Hunger Buster hamburger and some fries.
I’m pleased to report that we didn’t stop again for food and
arrived safe and sound in College Station a little before 5pm. Strangely enough, I agreed to meet Cassidy at
Cheddars for dinner and ate a big meal again.
I think I’m still feeling all the calories I took in over the weekend
but it was worth it. The weather
cooperated…not too hot, not too cold and no rain. The roads were relatively smooth…except I-10
in Louisiana…and we didn’t have any troubles.
We traveled about 675 miles round trip and got to know each other on a
more personal basis. However, I was glad
to be home, as usual.
The chapter has several trips planned over the next few
months, some only for the day and others over the weekend. On the agenda is a ride to the Hill Country,
a ride to Arkansas, a ride to the State H.O.G. Rally in Abilene and various
rides around the local area so keep checking back for more.
