Day 15

I don't know why, but I tossed and turned all night. It was quite windy, so maybe that's what kept waking me up every hour or two. Anyways, by 7:00am I had had enough and decided to get the day started. As I stepped out of my tent, I though, wow the wind is really blowing! Anyways, made some oatmeal and with some difficulty packed up the bike. Trying to fold up a tent with a good strong wind blowing through can be quite a challenge! Especially by yourself! Anyways, I hit the road by 8:30am. Since I had all day and was very close to Houston, I decided to take the long road! I first head north via 171, and then eventually cut back soutwest via rt. 12. Before crossing into Texas, I got back on I-10 so that I could go to the Texas welcome center. I forgot to mention that I tried to do this in Louisiana, but it was closed for repairs! Anyways, got some good info and got back on the road. I decided to go down to the coast and follow rt. 87 down to Galveston, and then cut back north to Houston. I'm sure it's a beautiful road, but with the weather being gray and looming, as well as a very strong wind gusting in from my port side, I didn't get to enjoy it much. I was concentrating on just keeping the bike upright! Also, as I got to the ferry crossing which would take me over to Galveston, I heard on the radio that this area and others surrounding was in a tornado warning. Time to get to Houston and the safety of my hotel room! So I hoped onto I-45 and headed into Houston. Wouldn't you know that the rain started 15 minutes before pulling into the hotel! Oh well, atleast I did not get fully soaked, just a little moist.
After I checked in, I took a nice long shower and then was surprised by a call from a former student who was here in Houston for USITT as well. So we got together for dinner. Afterwards I looked over the schedule for the next couple days and then off to bed. I have a full week of seminars to attend!

The few pics I took today:

Day 14

Woke up arond 7:00am and made some oatmeal for breakfast. Eventually packed up everything and was on the road by around 8:30am. Drove around St. Bernard parish and took some pictures and then into New Orleans. Drove around downtown for a while, Decatur Street, Canal street, and of course Bourbon street. Stopped to take a few pictures and get a post card for Shyla's class. Also swung by the Super Dome. Went out of town via rt. 90 west, but eventually onto rt. 14 for a bit, and finally onto rt. 82 which I stayed on all the way west, until cutting back north via 27 towards Sam Houston Jones state park. It was a beautiful road, going through a lot of wetlands and marshes!
Eventually pulled in to my night's camp ground around 5:30pm. Just as I was about to set up the tent, some nice little showers came through. Yeah! Anyways, I finally got the tent set up and then cooked some dinner and went to bed as there was nothing else to do. Tomorrow, Houston and USITT!

Pictures from today:

Day 13

Well I left Mobile, Alabama today. I have to thank the Nicolson family for being so generous in hosting me these last couple of days; I have greatly enjoyed being in Mobile and look forward to coming back at some future date. From Mobile, I made my day down to Dauphin Island, where I checked out Fort Gaines. Then had to backtrack a little bit to get to route 90 west which would take me almost all the way to New Orleans.
The road across Mississipi, and eventually into Louisana was beautiful, but I have to admit that it became a little depressing after a while. I am of course referring to the still evident signs of destruction left behind by huricane Katrina, several years after the fact now. Pretty much, as of Biloxi and on, I could not get away from it. Empty slabs of concrete, front stoops leading to nothingness, parts of white picket fences, gutted out buildings of all kinds, all these littered the road side as I made my way west. In Louisiana, I had decided to spend the night in St. Bernard State Park; this of course took me through St. Bernard Parish. Well, all I can say about this is that all the pictures you've seen on TV just does not even come close to putting it into true perspective.
I made it to St. Bernard St. park around 6:30pm, and as soon as I arrived and got off the bike, the next door neighbor came and offered me a free beer. Alright, I thought, this is a good start! Anyways, turns out he's a bike fanatic as well. Eventually I got my camp set up, and started to cook dinner. While dinner was cooking I started gathering stuff to make a fire, just for the fun of it, and a truck going around the camp ground stopped and asked if I wanted to fish fillets to grill out. Apparently they had gone fishing and got more than they could eat. I gratefully declined as I already had some dinner cooking on the stove, but was pleasantly suprised by the local hospitality.

Well that's about it, here are some pics.

Day 12

Started out much as yesterday, got up, shower, breakfast, etc.... Late in the morning, Alex, his sister True, and myself took about 6 or 7 of Alex's gun and went out target shooting. It's been a while since I've done this, and I had a load of fun. We shot several kinds of guns, from .22's to AK's! All were fun and made me think about getting back into this sort of thing when I get back home. We also drove around the property where we went to shoot. Afterwards, we went to meet Alex & True's mother who was with her uncle, who was having a picnic of sorts. He's in the forestry business, and apparently every year he has a group of yale forestry students come down to Alabama and spend a week with him. Had a great lunch, and some good conversation with some new people. Then back to the house in Mobile to relax for a little bit. I did a little bit of packing to get ready for my departure towards New Orleans tomorrow, and also got in a little nap. Then this evening we went back to Alex's mother's uncle's house for another group dinner/get-together. His house is on Dog River, and it was just beautiful; both scenery wise as well as temperature wise. Not to mention the great food as well! Now I'm back at the house in Mobile and just getting my things all packed up and ready to go for tomorrow.

Next stop, New Orleans!

Pics from today: