Since my twin bro works near New Orleans, I thought 'hey, that'd be cool to ride this bike back with him...'. Long story short, the bro didn't accompany me back but I bought the bike! Kinda scary buying a bike unseen, but my brother's buddy Mike checked it out and the seller seemed legit. Here are the pics Mike sent:
Ralph, the seller, was even so kind as to change the engine oil and take it to the dealer to get the four recalls done before I showed up. I was frantic trying to figure out the details of this epic trip...what to pack...where to stay...should I pack a pistol? How do I do that? How many miles can I ride in a day? What if the weather's shitty? Wow...lotsa things can go wrong on a trip like this! What the hell was I thinking?! Also, to my surprise, the wife was excited for me. Did she know how dangerous this could be?
Well, fast-forward some weeks...plane ticket was booked (frequent flyer miles) and all my plans were set. My plane was to land in New Orleans at 2:30, Ralph was to pick me up and I will be on the road by 4:00 to a Motel 6 in Marshall, TX for the first night. The next day I was to ride over a thousand miles to Grand Junction, CO where my Grammy would lodge me for the night. The last and easiest day I would ride to Idaho Falls, ID where I'd meet up with my wifey and kids at my parent's place. Plans are just guidelines though...and I was just a little worried when I heard tornadoes ripped through Dallas three days before I was going to ride through. I'd never seen a twister before and I didn't really want to add that to the list of things to avoid on this little adventure...
And for the most part the plans worked great! As it turns out, checking my LCP .380 was easy. Locked the empty pistol, two empty magazines, and a box of ammo in a metal lockbox and told the airline attendant I had a firearm in my checked baggage. After a quick inspection by a TSA agent I was on to security! Sweet! I arrived in New Orleans right on time after sleeping as much as I could on the planes and Ralph picked me up just as he said he would.
He rolled the bike out of his garage and the bike was everything I thought it would be aside from one scratch and a couple small dings in the tank. It also had a few good things he hadn't mentioned like a touring windshield and Michelin Pilot Road 2 tires...which are the best! Things were looking good, so I unloaded my crap onto the bike and finished up the paperwork while he was telling me about how he'd weathered all the hurricanes in the last 15 years right there at his house. The water got about 10 feet from his garage during Katrina. After we were all set I followed him to the closest gas station...he hadn't filled it!
During my fill-up at the station Ralph and his buddy gave me some advice: skip Baton Rouge and Lafayette completely and just go north to Jackson, Mississippi...then west to Marshall. It's a little longer (68 miles more, I found out later), but there is less construction and it's a pretty ride. 'What the hell, why not? These guys are locals and know best...'. So I left the gas station about 4:15 PM. I didn't want to miss the entrance to the freeway so I was a little eager to be in the correct lane in front of everyone at the light. So I thought I'd just 'jook' out in front after the light turned. The light turned green and after the bike was rolling in 1st, I just gave it a bit-o-a-twist...and holy CRAP the front wheel came up a foot! I frantically chopped the throttle and made sure I was in the correct lane before I looked in my mirrors again...everyone was very cautiously moving through the light. I'm sure they were like, 'what the @#&% is that guy doing?! Wow...ok...note to self...no 'jooking' in 1st gear....
The trip out of New Orleans was pretty uneventful. I did see a croc, or alligator, or whatever they have down there in the swamp next the the freeway. There were also quite a few vultures...which reminded me that I should definitely keep it on the road. Oh, and was that Armadillo road-kill? I hope I don't see any live ones...that would be similar to hitting a bowling ball at 60 mph! All-in-all it was really pretty. The weather was a balmy 80 degrees, 80% humidity, cloudless sky, and just a slight breeze from the north. After I was out of the city 10 miles I found out the throttle-lock didn't work. Damn. That would have really helped on this trip...oh well.
About 10:00 pm and 436 miles later I rolled into the Motel 6 in Marshall, TX pretty damn tired. Monkey-butt had set in about 150 miles previous, and my hands were tingling from the vibration through the handlebars. My eyes were red from squinting into the night looking for the reflective eyes of critters waiting to dart in front of me. After re-organizing my crap and checking in with the wifey I hit the sack. Here's a track of the ride that day...
