My cousin, Brad, from Cleveland, happened to be visiting his uncle an hour north of Houston. Because I was so close, and it was random we were both in Texas at the same time, he invited me to his uncle's house for a night. His uncle, Pete, has a gorgeous house on Lake Conroe. After the short 148 mile drive there, Pete cooked us up some burgers and dogs, and we ate outside facing the beautiful lake. We did a little night swimming in the neighbors pool, and called it a day.
In the morning, after some kayaking on the lake, I thanked Pete for his hospitality, interesting stories from his 30 year career as a pilot, and headed for Louisiana!
It was a bittersweet ride to Louisiana. It was Sunday, June 19th, Father's day. The joy at reaching Louisiana was fighting the sadness of Father's day. After all the miles I've ridden, it's starting to feel like the home stretch. I made it a short day of riding, and stopped in Lake Charles after only 166 miles.
Monday morning I woke up to an overcast day, which soon became thunderstorms. I stopped and put my rain gear on, then the sun would come out. So I'd take my rain gear off, and get back on the road. Then it would storm again. It continued like this all morning. When I was ready to ride it would start raining. When I'd stop because of the rain, it would become sunny. It was like the clouds didn't want me riding, and when I'd attempt to get on the highway, they would spit on me!
Again, thoughts of quitting entered my mind as I drove 20 mile in two hours because of thunderstorms. But I forged on, and the afternoon was humid, but it didn't rain very much.
I was also remined of the contrasts in America. I'd spent 6 days in Texas, where it was very dry. In Louisiana, however, right next door to Texas, I'm surrounded by swamp! In the afternoon I crossed the border into Mississippi. Ever see Mississippi burning? No, I don't mean the movie. On either side of the highway Mississippi was burning. Smoke engulfed the highway, and fire crews were working to put out a fire. I wouldn't call it a forest fire, but the ground was smoldering on either side of the highway, in an area about the size of a football field. Odd considering I had just driven through swamp land. Riding through the smoke I felt like Ghost Rider!
After 284 miles, I stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi, a place that has bad memories from a road trip gone bad 3 years ago. But that's another story.
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