Day Five: Still Alive; Hit 4 States; Observations on Mowing

For those who are waiting up wondering if I survived last night – yes! I did not become alligator bait. Guess the foil survival blanket worked! The photo above is the swamp which was adjacent to the tent camping area. I was a little concerned. Turned out the biggest threat was raccoons. In fact, I was awakened twice by raccoons fighting with each other over food they found in the campground. They sounded really nasty.

My supplies came through the night safe enough. The varmints knocked a bottle over on the table which then hit my metal cup, making a nice crisp “ring” around 4a. Fortunately, they never came for the supplies I had sealed up in the North Face duffle and shoved to the bottom of my bivy. The duffel is 2 feet long so it was kind of an interesting experience trying to sleep around it. I also determined that the bivy is not a great answer for areas of high humidity because there is literally no room for air to circulate around you. At least this Wiggy Bivy is made of Gore-Tex so it lets the internal moisture out. This was the first time I used it in the rain – I woke up nice and dry.

Here are a couple other residents of the campground. Seriously, the Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles, LA, is a wonderful place. In fact, the shower rooms were nicer and cleaner than some hotels I have stayed in! I highly recommend anyone traveling through this area stop and enjoy the park. Just remember your bug spray and make sure you have a mosquito net – it is neat to lay there hearing the buzzing bastards struggling fruitlessly to get at you.

So Lake Charles is on the far West side of Louisiana. I travel from there to visit the Cabela’s store just South of Batan Rouge. I have been a fan of the Cabela’s catalog for many years but never got a chance to visit one of their stores. I must admit I was somewhat disappointed – it looked and felt just like a Bass Pro Shop. Now understand that I do like the Bass Pro Shop, but I expected something more different from Cabela’s.

From Cabela’s I jumped back on I-10 through New Orleans and then out of the state. Next up was Mississippi. Now this may have been the best part of my day. Through some odd coincidences, I found myself wishing there was a military surplus store around (I thought I had lost the sniper veil I use as a damp scarf to keep the sunburn off my neck and to help cool my core). Coming into Gulfport I see a sign for Leon’s Army Navy Store. Let me tell you first off that this was one of the cleanest, most organized military surplus stores I have seen and there have been many in my history to use as reference points. But beyond that, turns out Leon is very serious about his motorcycling. He and his wife were both extremely gracious and nice people. I believe Leon and I spent at least 45 minutes just talking about motorcycling. Seriously, these two had so much in common with my personal interests that I know we would be great friends if we lived anywhere near each other.

Fully rested again, I jumped back on the bike and headed East again. There was a great rest stop just before the highway leads out of Mississippi. Timing was with me. I pulled in and saw a picnic table under a tall tree with thick foliage. Dinner time! I pulled out my little stove and enjoyed some Mexican Rice and Beans with a strong cup of coffee. I mentioned timing because while I was standing at the picnic table heating my coffee water, a sudden storm let loose. Everything around the area was soaked, but hardly any drops made it through the trees.

With a full belly I rolled across the border into Alabama. FYI, Mobile only has about 8 tall buildings, but I must report that 2 of their tall buildings are truly beautiful. Beautiful would also be a good way to describe my first view of the Gulf of Mexico on this trip as I crossed the long bridge on the East side of Mobile.

Hang on, Alabama isn’t as wide as Mississippi down here so I made quick work of the state and actually entered Florida. Tomorrow should be a relatively easy ride to my destination.

The last thing I wanted to share today is about mowing the median strips. In most of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, there is simply no need to mow the median and shoulders of the roads. At best you will have some scrub weeds and an occasional tumbleweed. As we hit the Eastern part of Texas I started seeing highway medians and shoulders being mowed. The state was using mower decks with whirling chains  to knock down the undergrowth.  But once I got to Louisiana there was real grass growing around the highway. The rest of the states all were using gangs of rotary mowers to provide a nice even cut. It may be a little odd, but I was intrigued by that.

Now to get some rest to bring the first major leg of this journey to a close tomorrow…