Travelin' Man
Monday May 6, 2018
We are up before 6:00 AM, packed before the kids are off to school at 7:00 AM. We give and get long hugs and a few tears before pointing the Wing up the hill and away, heading west.
It's a bright blue-sky day, a little crisp at 67F, and I'm riding with the jacket liner and my LD Comfort "sleeves," while Kitty has added an extra layer of a thick long-sleeved t-shirt. Developed and manufactured by my friend Mario Winkleman, LD Comfort garments are a staple in the long distance rider community because of their ability to transfer moisture from the skin, their seamless construction, fit, and the quality of the garments. We have LD Comfort underwear as well as these sleeves that we use when it's a a bit chilly. They can also be used when it's hot by soaking them in water; when in motion, the evaporation can actually make you a bit chilly even in very hot weather. (Of course, the cooling effect only lasts as long as the garments are damp.)
I recall when most of I-10 on the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to Texas was almost impassable because of how rough it was. That has changed: It's a beautiful, quiet, and smooth ride across I-10. We hold steady cruise control speed of 70 mph for about 130 miles to Baton Rouge.
At our first stop, we shed the jacket liners and sleeves. I wear two-week disposable contact lenses; today I started a new pair of contact lenses, and inexplicably got them reversed. My distance vision is passable but I've been squinting and guessing at everything I see on the GPS and in the cockpit; so I take out the contacts and reinsert them into the correct eyes. The world seems a much clearer place!
We're just ready to leave when a couple from Yuma, AZ pulls around in the SUV. They've just bought a 2019 Gold Wing and are very inquisitive about the Inner Workings and Hidden Mechanisms of an extended two-up tour: How to pack, the types of helmets we use, the headsets, the gear. By the time we take our leave, we've exchanged contact information and consumed the equivalent time of at least two stops. John is a regional manager in the F-35 US fighter plane program, based in Yuma, and he invites me to Yuma for an up-close-and-personal tour of the F-35. Well, it won't be this trip because they're headed for Florida while we head west. If it were otherwise, I'd jettison plans for some of the trip and make our way to Yuma. Because not only am I a space geek, but a flight and aviation geek as well.
We make our way across the Achafalaya Basin's 18-mile bridge while stealing glimpses of the vast mysterious swampland on both sides. Achafalaya is the largest wetland in the USA ("wetland" being the polite name for "swamp") and one of the richest eco-systems on the planet. I'm fascinated by the way I-10 has been built mile after mile on giant concrete stilts across the watery expanse. Every time I travel this road I would like to stop and take photographs and enjoy some of the views. But it's I-10. Business only on this bridge, although there is a really nice visitor center at the western terminus. We don't stop today, for today I'm a travelin' man.
By the time we cross into Texas at Beaumont approaching Houston, it's after 1:30 PM. I contemplate 50 more miles of intensifying business traffic with a 75 mph speed limit on bumpy concrete, and opt off the Interstate near Beaumont; there, we pick up TX Rt 105. This is mostly a two- or three-lane route with speed limits varying from 65 mph to 75 mph, a nice change from a travelin' man's Interstate. I always enjoy riding in Texas because it feels like one of the few states where speed limits seem about right. Herds of Angus and Brahma cattle dot the green fields of Texas ranches, often with buildings set back a quarter mile or more from the road, sometimes not visible from the road.
This seems like a good alternative choice until we near Conroe, TX, where, dozens of traffic lights later, I wonder if Houston traffic would have been better. "Probably not," says Kitty in the headset. Apparently my musings have spilled out into the headset. She's probably right, but I'm done with traffic lights!
The last stretch out of Conroe and Montgomery to College Station is a nice 70 mph run to US 6 where the speed limit is 75 mph, so we knock off the remaining miles quickly.
Including just two stops and a long three-hour last leg of the trip, we arrive in College Station, TX in a nine-hour ride of just under 500 miles. It seemed easy, although Kitty was a bit squirmy for a while during that last stretch. We've made arrangements with our daughter-in-law's parents, who live here, to meet for a steak dinner. They pick us up at our hotel and although we haven't seen them for several years, it seems like yesterday and the evening flows quickly.
For a travelin' man, it's hard to travel with a camera looped around a neck to squeeze off some quick shots, so there are no pictures today.
Tomorrow I hope to put Kitty to the test: Royer's famous apple pie vs. her own. Or maybe vs. the memories of her mother's or my mother's apple pie. Or maybe some strawberry-rhubarb pie? Stay tuned.
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| Highlighting the ride from Gulfport MS to College Station TX, plus routes from past several days |
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| Entire route to date |
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