3 PM: Riding into Breaux Bridge...

Now I'm at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Here all hell broke loose some time ago, bikes and riders everywhere, familiar faces and new ones, and a long line at the front-desk to check in. Lee already warned me about the mess this new place is. It just opened yesterday and got a complete facelift form the former Best Western Acadiana were we all stayed last year. Lee checked into his room yesterday and when he got into his room there were no beds in it, the next room had no air-conditioning and the third room the TV was not hooked-up, but he could live with that and moved into that one.

The line at the check-in counter, I'll be back later...

So I just parked my bike in the big banquet-room where all other bikes are and left my baggage in the lobby, have to rush to drop off the car at the finish-point of the bike-ride, the Academy of Sacred Heart in Grand Coteaux and then catch the last bus to bring me right back here.

The 19 mile drive to the parking at the Academy of Sacred Heart, where the Honda has to wait for my return on Sunday...

The bus-ride back to Lafayette, what the hell is a " Body Fluid Clean-up Kit"??? ding in a busload full of biking fools...

Back at the Hotel is the big reunion of riders from previous years and meeting of new ones, lots of them remember my name and sometimes I'm almost clueless of how they are, but most the time I did remember them and even remember their names, the line at the front-desk is still way too long, but I stay in there in the hope that I can check-in for Harry Spehar, he is with Karen and Moto on-route from New Orleans. But after the long wait it turned out that Harry's credit card is needed and so I just hop on the trolley-bus that shuttles us all to the kick-off party at the Vermillionville.

Trolley-bus in Lafayette with a San Francisco flair... and my fat gut is presenting the King of Mardi Gras beats...

With Lee & Sarah, off to new adventures!!!

Inside the Vermillionville I hear the music and smell the food, Nathan and the Cha Chas are playing and a "real" Cajun style dinner is being served. Here I also run into more riders I know, what a fun time ahead. I pick-up my registration package where I find cool stuff like a real nice T-shirt and a cap, a gadget to mount on the bike to store camera, phone or iPods, the maps of the ride, wristband, labels for the luggage and lots of brochures about the area here. The T-shirt this year is different, usually we always got the same kind of logo on the front but every year it has been a different, pastel type, color. This year its a real different logo and the color os a bold red

Food and Music... a way to live the Cajun dream, and mine too...

Hmmm... Food so good...

Followed by dancing...

There is a dance-lesson, tips and tricks for the ride, rules of the roads here in Louisiana, and Nathan is putting on a real good show, Love It!!!
But as always, things come to an end and bus-loads of us gong back to the hotel. HArry got the room and I have a place to work some more on this blog before lights-out...

Harry is sharing his hotel-room with me...

This morning is the big hype, we all have to roll out of town at the same time, traffic here does not tolerate bicycles and so we have police-escorts to help us get out of Dodge. That means we have to pile-up twice after that to wait until the howl group is together before the close the maine highway 90 for us to cross it, a challenging task for the local police-force here, and I don't think the people who drive to work don't think it's funny at all when we wave to them...

Finally back on the saddle... 350 riders trying to get out of Lafayette...

After a few miles past the last highway crossing the bikers start to spread out, the faster ones are probably already at the first rest-stop at the UL Experimental Farm while the slowest ones enjoying the view and chat with a fellow rider, life is good for most of us.
After 20 miles of peddling it's time for lunch in St. Martinville, under the Evangeline Oak is Sha-Me_Noo plays some creole tunes and I buy a plate full of Crawfish Etouffee for 5 dollars. I feel great.

Under a sad looking fan is the food served, and SahraLee showing off the dessert...

I walk with Micheal Papas and Harry to the town-square to find the cafe that serves fresh Beignets. Of corse we find Karen, Sharon, Larry and Steve there too also Sarah and Lee joining in and the party is complete. A few of us walk back to our bikes via the bakery to load up on more sweets before hitting the road again.
I take the long route, and this year they changed the route. It lead through a beautiful forest that seems miles long, some lost camps and lots of swamp to see. It ended up that the levee-road, if we'd go right we could have gone to the Lake Fausse Point State Park, but we went left instead and then left again, a short pit-stop at Red's Levee Bar, the local watering-hole before the town of Catahoula. By the time I roll into Breaux Bridge the clock strikes three and my ass is sore from the 50 miles on bumpy roads...