Reconnecting and Revisiting

I had a great ride yesterday with an old friend. Byron and I went to school together, but weren’t close back then. Over the years, we would see each other from time to time here and there. Around 15 years ago, we worked out at the same gym for a while and kept in regular touch during that time. At one point way back when, we were both into trail riding with dirt bikes and would sometimes cross paths. Then a few years ago, I ran into him again at an ice cream shop.

(Pants) “I got back into street bikes lately.

(Byron) “So did I, whatcha riding now?”

(Pants) “I went through a couple of old Hondas and just recently bought a nice used Yamaha.”

(Byron) “So did I – which Yamaha did you buy?”

(Pants) “I bought an FJR1300 – have you ever seen one of those?”

(Byron) “Are you shitting me? That’s what I ride! Which year is yours?”

(Pants) “Mine’s a 2005 – she’s a pretty blue.”

(Byron) “I know it well – mine is an ’05 as well.”

Small world, indeed.

Over the past few years, we’ve ridden together once or twice but typically, we seem to have trouble getting on the same page. Can’t really put a finger on it - just stupid timing and scheduling I suppose.

As luck would have it – yesterday the stars aligned and we got a chance to spend the day with the bikes. The weather was gorgeous – upper 40s in the early morning, warming up to around 73 by mid-afternoon under blue bird skies. All told it was about 225 miles and we stopped often to look around and shoot the bull.

I led Byron on some rural roads and sights that he had previously not seen. We basically rode a large loop around the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp. It was a very relaxing mental health day. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The Route

https://goo.gl/maps/m6Cq4



I got up early and took my time getting the bike and myself ready to go. I drank an extra cup of coffee with the newspaper and the dog. With a 9:00 am meeting, I had plenty of time to pack. This time of year, I tend to bring all of the clothes and layer up or down during the day. My top box was packed fairly tight for a day trip.



I rode 15 miles very leisurely to Byron’s house, where I find him finishing up on his own packing. Byron’s 2005 has 22K on the clock, less than half of my bikes’ 57K. But both bikes are in great shape.



Byron leads us from his driveway directly onto Hwy 83 where we are off on our adventure. We head generally south and east toward the coast. It’s going to be a great day – I can feel it.



This crawfish farmer has set his traps and will soon be harvesting the critters for holiday feasts all around this great land.



There is still a little bit of green left in the coastal marsh.



It is flat as a board down here on the coast. That “hump” ahead to our right is Weeks Island, a huge salt dome that is mined today by the Morton Salt Company.



Warehouse Bayou looks very peaceful this morning. In the Spring I set some jug lines from my boat and catch some beautiful (and delicious) Blue Channel Catfish.



We roll past Weeks Island continuing on our ride at a very easy pace. The weather is fantastic and I have the perfect amount of clothes on. I’ve got my windscreen set low and the sweet morning breeze is nice.



That sweet breeze is deliberate. This is sugar cane cutting season and the harvesters are hard at it today.



Otherwise, we’ve got the road all to ourselves except for the occasional road kill.





Here is what the sugar cane harvest operation looks like. The harvester separates the cane stalk (where the sugar is) from the leaves. The leaves are discarded in the field where they will be burned. The stalks are delivered onto the wagons.



The product is transferred from the wagon to these trucks where it is brought to the mill. Sugar cane trucks are notoriously overloaded and the drivers are known to push their fatigue limits, so riders know to give them plenty of room. Furthermore as shown, they tend to sprinkle debris on the roads so the riding this time of year has to be a little less aggressive.



We stopped near Baldwin, Louisiana. Byron was a little chilly so I loaned him a layer. The twins are looking sharp in the sun.



We ride through the town of Franklin – a typical agricultural community in south Louisiana.



Many of the antebellum homes here have been renovated and are very nice.



Main Street is lined with huge live oak trees.



Byron is enjoying his ride and quite frankly, I do not blame him one bit.



Franklin is a nice place to ride though.



Peace to you, brother.

We turn East on Hwy 90, turn the reigns loose, and let the horses run a little. Crossing the Wax Lake Outlet bridge….



We pull into Morgan City at 11:00 am and a thought appeared in my mind – CUBAN SANDWICH. I know that sounds weird but Dr. Pavlov was a genius. One would not think that an industrial back swamp town like Morgan City, Louisiana would be home to some world class ethnic food, but Pants has a knack for rooting out the good stuff. I found this place a few years back in downtown Morgan City. Been here many times and it never disappoints.



Imagine my disappointment when I saw this…



One of the owners greeted us at the front door. It seems they had a private party planned for today and closed the restaurant. I told him that we rode nearly 100 miles just to have lunch there, which was a bold face lie, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I asked him if he could make us each a Cuban sandwich and let us eat it on the front patio, to which he humbly obliged.

These puppies went down like aspirin tablets.



After lunch while Byron checked in at home, I walked around a little. Morgan City boomed from the Cypress timber industry and the simultaneous discovery of oil from 1900 to around 1920.



Many of the old buildings have been preserved. I like how they depict the year built on the façade.



Cool



This is the draw bridge for the train across the Atchafalaya River.



I’m sure the train engineers often pray that the bridge operator doesn’t fall asleep on the job.



We turn north on Hwy 70 riding on the western edit - EASTERN levee of the Atchafalaya Basin swamp.



The levee is lined with metal sheet piling. In the spring, when the nation’s snow melt reaches here, on some years, this piling is the only thing that keeps Morgan City from floating away.



Fall foliage, Cajun style. The cypress trees just turn brown. Not exactly picturesque, but it is beautiful in its own rite. I visited that bell tower a long time ago, but today I decide to press on.



Byron seems content.



There are lots of camps and houses on the water here. During the summer, this place is a lot busier.





We detour off Hwy 70 for a short ride to Lake Veret. Some times I see Bald Eagles near here. This road is lined with moss draped trees and is kind of twisty as it follows a little unnamed bayou to the lake.





We sat by the lake shore and split a Hershey chocolate bar. It is very peaceful here today.



No eagles to be seen, so after about 20 minutes we gave up and started gearing up to leave. Then something caught my eye on the lake. It was a mature Bald Eagle flying toward the woods behind us. I grabbed my camera and got this pitiful shot way too late.



Byron was glad to see an Eagle and so was I. What a great day we are having.



Back on Hwy 70 we roll toward Pierre Part, Louisiana which is home to Troy Landry and the Swamp People bunch. As you can tell, they live in a metropolis.



Later we stopped to answer the call of nature and drink some water. Plenty of adventure out here, man.



Soon we pull into the town of White Castle, Louisiana where the sugar mill is running literally “full steam”.



There we turn south EDIT NORTH on the Mississippi River levee road. I took a quick shot of the famous Nottoway Plantation as we blasted by.

https://www.nottoway.com/html/plantation-photo-gallery.htm



A small sign on the road caught my eye….



I stopped here about 5 years ago on my Honda Nighthawk 700s and forgot all about it. The story goes that the farmer on this land in the 1830s had a son that was deathly ill. He prayed for his recovery and told God that if He spared his son, he would build a church. It would appear that both of them kept their end of the deal.



You just can’t find this kind of stuff on the beaten path.



And we are WELL off the beaten path now.



We ride further south Edit NORTH to the city of Plaquemine. There, I stopped at this historical site.



The Plaquemine Lock was used for boats and ships to connect the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya Basin for commerce. The lock and pump house has been impeccably restored.





Although the lock is now permanently closed….



…. the city turned the place into a nice recreational area.



We walked around the lock and pump house and looked around. Byron soaked up all of the displays like a sponge.



Back outside, we walked to the bank of Ole Man River and sat down to discuss the meaning of life for a little while.



Once we had that figured out, from Plaquemine, we head northwest on Hwy 77, yet another desolate and curvy stretch of asphalt. Devoid of sugar cane, we found this road very clean so we flushed the throttle bodies a smidge.



As we cross the Bayou Gross Tete, the sun is getting lower. The days are quite short now and my adventures are clipped appropriately.



In the community of Grosse Tete, we turn due West on Interstate 10. Byron broke off to his home in New Iberia shortly thereafter. I paid my penance as I puttered through the Christmas shopping traffic across Lafayette to my own house, arriving safely about 4 pm very relaxed and refreshed. Today was a wonderful day.

It’s getting harder for me to find uncharted water in my backyard on the bike. However, there is much pleasure in re-visiting these places with friends, witnessing the excitement of their own discovery, and being a part of their adventure on the motorcycle.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

Nice RR! I used to live in Hammond and had a friend in Morgan City. Never rode while I was there, but I did manage to drive around the state a few times. I, too, enjoyed the catfish!! Had it once or twice at Pass Manchac, at a place called Middendorf's, if I remember it correctly. Right now though, I'm jealous of the weather you enjoyed. My FJR is surrounded by crap in the garage for the winter, not to see the light of day until spring.

Beautiful day for riding with an old friend, thanks for sharing.

Nice RR and pics. Looks like you had a perfect day to ride.

Excellent pics, excellent RR. I have been itching to hit Hwy 77 on the FJR, that road always challenged me on the ST1300. The two '05s looked very good together.

I take exception to your continually referring to the "Bald" eagles. Why can't they just be Eagles? Or perhaps White Headed Eagles? Can't we just stop picking on them because they are bald?

I am sorry that I once again turned down your invitation. I am STILL!!! on 12 hour nights and don't know when that will end. At least I am riding Scar to work every night.

wnyfjr. Middendorf's is still in operation and has been extensively renovated. I understand that they now serve pond raised catfish instead of local, wild-caught catfish. When I was a child we ran trot lines in the two passes that separate Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain and sometimes we sold our fish directly to Middendorf's.

Nothing better than a pair of FJRs exploring back-roads.

Thanks for sharing the RR 'pants!

--G

Excellent, as your usual. Enjoyed the pictures of the twisty roads, too!

Drove to Grand Isle one time, along Bayou Lafourche which is really a canal. Gorgeous, but as flat as flat could ever be. Next time? LA 23 along the big river.

Very nice RR with great photos!

Thanks hppants for sharing with us!

Nice RR and pics. I wandered around east of the river back in my LSU days (early 70s) but never west of the river. Of course, that was pre-motorcycle. Would love to have my bike down there now. Its going to bed for a few months after I jump on some 50 degree weather with it today.

Thank you for reading my report.

Wyn - Middendorf's is a very well known place. They used to fry the catfish in hog lard. Trust me - you fry a turd in hog lard and it's going to taste wonderful. Don't know if they still do it that way but I suspect not.

R/H - you and Scar are overdue for a ride down Hwy 77. I scraped pegs left and right on those open curves just outside of Plaquimine. Good stuff, man.

Hud - Bayou Lafouche is a special place. I've spent many good times there - many of those people have lived their entire lives detached from the real world. Hwy 23 (New Orleans' version of The River Road) is "meh" to me. It's gotten too congested with joggers, cosmopolitan types, etc. I prefer the unbeaten path for my rides.

It was a great ride. On the last stretch of slab by myself, I thought about the 52,xxx miles my FJR has taken me all over the country over the past 40 months, give or take. Many (MANY) of those miles are on local roads that I never would have seen without the motorcycle. We've said it many times, but there really is plenty of adventure right in our own backyards.

That was a great RR, well stated!

Well that looks a lot more inviting than the local riding scene this time of year. Thanks for letting me virtually tag along.

Galaxy Blue looks pretty good in LA.

Great report.

This is in green because of my jealousy!!!!

Nice report, love the country and agricultural pictures.

Now that Byron has the right bike you can work on him to dump the open face helmet, jeans and tennis shoes. Just tell him you love him like a brother (another lie won't kill you) and just want him to be safe.

Pants I really enjoyed your pictures and narrative. I have never been east of the Mississippi so any pictures east of the river are new to me. I guess it would be more accurate for me to state that I have neverbeen east of the river in the US. I have been to Halifax, Nova Scotia and a good share of Europe that are both east of the Mississippi.

Luisiana never looked so good until seen in Galaxy Blue.

Keep the shiney sides up!

cheers,

Jer - just a technicality, but the entire ride was WEST of the Mississippi River on Saturday. I do have some context errors on my report regarding direction (for example, I stated "Western levee" when in fact it was Eastern levee. I need to go back and correct that.

Cheers.

Nice RR, and pics, especially the food porn.