Leaving Louisiana behind...

I don't know long I napped, but it did me good. In this heat it is hard to sleep sound at night and eventually it'll catch-up to you, or even better, to me. But now it's time to wake-up and get some action. To start with, how about some coffee, I brew it in my Stove-top espresso maker, when it is poured into the cub I add some Heavy Whip Cream. Now I feel better, let's get ready to fix the 2 ceiling-fans here in Karen's house. The first one in the living-room had only a pull-chain problem, an easy fix. The other one on her porch was trickier, I had to replace the on/off switch that controls the lights, for that Karen and I walked over to the local hardware-store, we got there minutes before they closed at 6. The other luck is that I found the right replacement part. 10 minutes later once we were back home the thing was fixed and all is well. Back to the computer to get some more stuff done until it is time to figure out what's for dinner. Hmm, dinner, the list of places I have not gone yet is long, but my time here in Louisiana is up, and my body-weight is up too. So no Oyster's at Drago's, no luch at Mother's no more fried sea-food at R & O's, no mexican at the new El Pancho's, no lunch with Larry at the chinese buffet, and, and, and. Moto started her diet today, I should call her and ask her about it, Karen is about to do the same, she's just waiting for me to be gone. But what the hell, it is my last night here, why don't we just walk to "The Galley" down the street and have some more oysters.

A beautiful evening sky over Metairie...

FA almost full moon is already high in the sky!!!

Karen and I walk there right before last seating at eight thirty, we order each a Abita Amber, split a dozen b.b.qed oysters, Karen has a fried scrimp PoBoy and I have a fried oyster PoBoy, both dressed, that means mayo, tomatoes, lettuce, the works! Ahh, I also have a order of Sweet-Potato Fries, got a have something to put some Ketchup on. I gained my last few pounds right here, it got me almost to the ten pond mark, a few more days and I belong to the 200 pound club, but not yet.
At home we're both exhausted, the heat is getting to me, after shower and all that jazz I lay down, fall asleep faster than I could open a book and slept pretty good, maybe dreaming about my new adventures ahead of me. And this is my plan in the morning, get ready to leave Karen's house, leave New Orleans and even Louisiana. But in order to do that I had a few more things to do, besides repacking my car, fill the motor-oil to its propper level, and lock the bike. It is cloudy and 97°F, a humidity that makes me sweat without doing anything. There is always that computer, maping out a few things ahead of me, writing the last few e-mails, check Facebook, my community-news-buletin, more face-taging on the Picasa Photo-album and more of this and more of that, Karen went to work and is already coming back again and I'm still here, what's wrong with this picture. I'm close to ready, just checking if I got everything, check the garage, bed-room, the fridgerator, and the rest of the house. Making a mental shopping-list, say good-bye to Karen the second time and fire-up the car.

Waving good-bye to the camera...


The trip-mile meter on the Honda is on 3469 since I left Berkeley. I'm out of here... well, not quite, I need to get some road food and so I stop at Rouses one more time. Another block of this delicious Headcheese, cheddar-cheese, bread, a six-pack of Abita "Red Ale", peanut-butter and jelly, apples, bananas, some tomatoes, heavy whipping cream for the coffee, more tea-bags for the road, and lets not forget the ice to keep all this stuff cool until tomorrow. I charge 78.32 onto my VISA card and at 1 o'clock I'm packing in all the grocery goods to their proper places. I leave the Rouses parking-lot onto Airline Blvd. and take the coolest intersection to get to the Causeway Blvd. Where Causeway and Airline cross is a roundabout in between them, but everything is on a different level. Airline goes underneath the roundabout, Causeway goes above it, so you only have to get onto the roundabout if you change from Airline to Causeway or the other way around, this is a genius intersection, it impressed me the first time I saw it and I have never seen one like it yet.

Satellite photo of intersection...


But after that Causeway Blvd. turned into a parking-lot, traffic moved slower than molasses down the wall. Crossing I-10, then Veterans Blvd., towards Esplanade, still no relieve, until I see that there is an accident on the left lane, Police and Tow-truck are in action. Smooth sailing after that little incident. Sailing across Lake Pontchartrain is about the right feeling, being close to the water, only a few times a bump that lifts the roadway hight enough so that boats and ships can get under, it's just like sailing. After the 24 miles sailing across the ocean of Lake Pontchartrain the road gains solid ground underneath again. Passing the outskirts of Mandeville, then Covington where I turn right onto LA-21 North, right here is where the Tammany Trace crosses the intersection and also the turnoff to Abita Springs. Great memories of fun friends, interesting bike-ride, delicious locally brewed beer, and fulfilling burgers that added to my body-weight. Out of city civilization back into the rural jungle of Louisiana. Passing through Waldheim, missing the town of Bush by a mile, through Sun, Varnado and Angie. Crossing over into the State of Mississippi on LA-21 that turns into MS-35. 3 miles later I turn off the road and get ready to eat some lunch, but not before taking a 3 o'clock picture at Trip-Mile 3558. I'm out of Louisiana until the next time...

It's fun to be on the road again...

Snacking on some Headcheese with bread and tomatoes!