Saturday, July 15, 2006

Day 8, Natchez, MS, thru LA to Abilene, TX


July 10, 2006
(Click on photos to see full size)


At this quiet state campground I had electricity and water at my tentsite, and a bathroom and shower not too far away. I woke up early, but took my time showering and packing up. I fired up my cup heater and made a cup of coffee, but decided this was way more trouble than it was worth. I'm sure eBay will produce a better camping coffee-maker.

About 2 miles before the end of the Parkway there was a dead deer with many vultures enjoying the carcass. It was a sad scene, and its contrast with the young deer I saw shortly after entering the Parkway yesterday reminded me of the circle of life and the beginning and the end of all things.

And so, on a sad note, ended my ride down the Natchez Trace Parkway. The best roads of my trip were now behind me and it was now more about piling on miles and getting home. The city of Natchez looked pretty interesting, but I spent only enough time there to take a couple pictures and I was on my way through Louisiana.

Looking north up the Mississippi River.

The bridge to Louisiana.

A casino built in the style of the old river gambling boats. I probably should have taken a few minutes to check it out.

I meant to have breakfast across the river in Vidalia, but there were no restaurants on the main road. I rolled on to Ferriday and stopped for Gatorade and Ibuprofen (should've brought more). A nice lady in line at the cash register advised me to stay on 84 all the way to Shreveport instead of heading north to pick up the freeway early. It turned out to be good advice.

When I got to Jena I was hungry and tried to stop for lunch. Every street in town, without exception, was on a hill of some type and I couldn't find a safe place to park the bike with the extra weight of the trailer. I eventually gave up and continued up the road.

I got as far as Winnfield and was just too hungry to keep going. I pulled into several more restaurants, all of which were closed. Actually many, many businesses all along Highway 84 through Louisiana were closed. I was amazed at the poor state of the economy. I didn't make an opportunity to chat with anybody in LA at all, so I don't know how much of this poor economic state is a result of Katrina. It was quite sad in any case.

I gave up finding a "local-flavored" restaurant on 84 and pulled into a McDonald's, mostly because it had a level parking lot. I had avoided fast food other than Subway up to this point and wasn't pleased with my choice this time. Inside was a girl applying for a job and talking with a manager. Her friend, standing in line in front of me, was shouting across the room trying to converse with her about boyfriends (I think), seemingly oblivious to the fact that her friend was engaged in a job interview of sorts. Her language was as strange as her behavior, and it reminded me of my first days in Kalihi trying to understand the local dialect of Hawaii. The dialect I heard in Winnfield was at least as unique as "outer-island" Hawaii's and I regretted not having more time to hang around and learn to understand it a bit.

Standing in line I remembered the coffee float I had last year at McDonald's in Bangkok, and decided it would be a great way to cool off. I ordered the ingredients and enjoyed the first of several I was to make on the road.

Except for the economic blight, the scenery in Louisiana was quite beautiful, and left me with a resolve to return to this state to get to know it better. I gassed up again in Shreveport, got on the freeway for the first time in many days, and started the interminable trek across Texas.

Somewhere in East Texas I stopped for fuel and decided to park the Wing-a-bago next to similar vehicles. I was still feeling the pain of not being able to find a parking spot at all back in Jena.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the truckers came out of the truckstop and said, "Nice rig you got there." I was glad he got into the spirit of my feeling.

Nobody claims that Texas is a scenic wonder. I took more of a Zen approach to the ride, turned on the cruise control and turned off the mind. A little Ibuprofen for the shoulders and drone on. I didn't want to ride too far at night, even in Texas, but made it to Abilene before the sky went completely black. I pulled in to the familiar big red 6 and promptly went to sleep.

This was a record day of riding: 586 miles. 2663 since Boston. Tomorrow is just a short hop to Lubbock to spend some time with a great old friend.

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