hppants
Well-known member
Friday brought a very rare Canadian cold front to the Gulf Coast. Temperatures for Saturday night were forecast into the mid 20’s, so I cancelled my shake down bike camping trip. There will be plenty of chances this year to test the new camping gear. OTOH, I wasn’t going to just sit home on a sunny Saturday. So I contacted Southern Cruiser to see if he was down for a day trip.
The trip ended up being about 225 miles for both of us, and the bikes ran flawless as expected. We were planning to ride to Natchez, MS to eat some of the finest BBQ this side of Memphis. But when I got to Opelousas for the ride start, the temperature was 42 degrees with a fierce 20 mph north wind that was producing wind chills well into the 30’s. The forecast along the coast was 52ish, Natchez was 44. So, we decided to stay closer to the coast instead. Hope you like the pics.
Good looking pair of bikes
We left Opelousas, LA heading generally East across that horrible wind. Before too long, we turned South along some winding twisty roads I like. 70 miles later, we stopped at the Plaquimine Lock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaquemine_Lock_State_Historic_Site
Originally used to facilitate navigation between the Mississippi River and the Atachafalaya Basin Swamp, the lock is now a Historic Site. Unusual architecture for this part of the country
Old man river is running high with strong currents. This huge push boat is likely sporting nearly 10,000 hp.
I don’t really have cold weather riding gear – we rarely need it. Still, I’m ATGATT
Back at the bikes, Southern Cruiser lets us know what he thinks about the Gen I feejer.
We gear up and head down the river road toward White Castle, then turn southwest through the swamps to Belle Rose, Louisiana, home of No Problem Raceway.
https://www.noproblemraceway.com/
Today was one of the first local points races of the year, and we decided to stop and check it out. I visit this track often and for $10.00, if you like a good bracket race, it’s hard to beat. There are some pretty fast cars here. Here’s a Top Dragster with a carbon fiber skin.
This baby will run in the mid 6’s at around 240 mph – that’s a big blower on top that v8
We walk around the pits, checking out the cars.
Very nice and straight Mopar
A big-tire camero running alcohol and a charger… should go low 9’s all day long.
A lot of the racers were certifying their chassis, so we walked that way to look some more.
The paint job on this vette was really clean.
We also walked among the bikes, but there weren’t many. A couple of stretched ‘busas and a late model ZX-10, along with a couple of old Kawi KZ1000 drag bikes. The FJR’s were willing to run, but we passed.
We each ordered today’s special. A massive loaded double meat swiss cheese burger, fries, and a drink for $10.00. Then we sat down and waited for the race to start. We watched the kids on the Junior Dragsters finish their bracket. Sadly, the race track was not very well organized with the weather and this being early in the season. So, things didn’t go very fast. During the driver’s meeting, a decision was made to go 1/8 mile because of time and weather. Although we couldn’t stay much longer, we did see a few dozen passes. Both of these cars sounded very healthy.
Big block Opel in the far lane. The sled doesn’t look too shabby either.
Vega v/s Monti Carlo
How about a 9 second grocery box? Some of these cars were running around 125 mph in the eighth. Remember, they are all geared for the quarter mile too.
Here’s a guy testing and settin gup his brand newly built race car. It’ an outlaw 10.5 cobra with a massive turbo on it. When he dials that car in, it will be sick.
That was all my camera batteries could produce. At 3:30, we started heading back toward home. Riding mostly West, that crosswind kept us alert. Close to my home, I broke off and bid Southern Cruiser a safe ride home until next time.
Can’t wait to do it again.
The trip ended up being about 225 miles for both of us, and the bikes ran flawless as expected. We were planning to ride to Natchez, MS to eat some of the finest BBQ this side of Memphis. But when I got to Opelousas for the ride start, the temperature was 42 degrees with a fierce 20 mph north wind that was producing wind chills well into the 30’s. The forecast along the coast was 52ish, Natchez was 44. So, we decided to stay closer to the coast instead. Hope you like the pics.
Good looking pair of bikes
We left Opelousas, LA heading generally East across that horrible wind. Before too long, we turned South along some winding twisty roads I like. 70 miles later, we stopped at the Plaquimine Lock.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaquemine_Lock_State_Historic_Site
Originally used to facilitate navigation between the Mississippi River and the Atachafalaya Basin Swamp, the lock is now a Historic Site. Unusual architecture for this part of the country
Old man river is running high with strong currents. This huge push boat is likely sporting nearly 10,000 hp.
I don’t really have cold weather riding gear – we rarely need it. Still, I’m ATGATT
Back at the bikes, Southern Cruiser lets us know what he thinks about the Gen I feejer.
We gear up and head down the river road toward White Castle, then turn southwest through the swamps to Belle Rose, Louisiana, home of No Problem Raceway.
https://www.noproblemraceway.com/
Today was one of the first local points races of the year, and we decided to stop and check it out. I visit this track often and for $10.00, if you like a good bracket race, it’s hard to beat. There are some pretty fast cars here. Here’s a Top Dragster with a carbon fiber skin.
This baby will run in the mid 6’s at around 240 mph – that’s a big blower on top that v8
We walk around the pits, checking out the cars.
Very nice and straight Mopar
A big-tire camero running alcohol and a charger… should go low 9’s all day long.
A lot of the racers were certifying their chassis, so we walked that way to look some more.
The paint job on this vette was really clean.
We also walked among the bikes, but there weren’t many. A couple of stretched ‘busas and a late model ZX-10, along with a couple of old Kawi KZ1000 drag bikes. The FJR’s were willing to run, but we passed.
We each ordered today’s special. A massive loaded double meat swiss cheese burger, fries, and a drink for $10.00. Then we sat down and waited for the race to start. We watched the kids on the Junior Dragsters finish their bracket. Sadly, the race track was not very well organized with the weather and this being early in the season. So, things didn’t go very fast. During the driver’s meeting, a decision was made to go 1/8 mile because of time and weather. Although we couldn’t stay much longer, we did see a few dozen passes. Both of these cars sounded very healthy.
Big block Opel in the far lane. The sled doesn’t look too shabby either.
Vega v/s Monti Carlo
How about a 9 second grocery box? Some of these cars were running around 125 mph in the eighth. Remember, they are all geared for the quarter mile too.
Here’s a guy testing and settin gup his brand newly built race car. It’ an outlaw 10.5 cobra with a massive turbo on it. When he dials that car in, it will be sick.
That was all my camera batteries could produce. At 3:30, we started heading back toward home. Riding mostly West, that crosswind kept us alert. Close to my home, I broke off and bid Southern Cruiser a safe ride home until next time.
Can’t wait to do it again.
