Day 1

Day 1

Got on the road at 10:30. This was a little later than I had hoped but JoAnn and I got up and went to Waffle House for breakfast. What a zoo. First a guy started playing dance music on the jute box. Jo thought he was still drunk, I just though he was a little old for that foolishness. Heck he was going bald, maybe early thirties. So he was in the booth with his buddy and he was singing a dancing. If that wasn’t enough, then a cat fight broke out between a waitress and either then shift manager or a cook about her sausage wasn’t being pulled. That’s when I noticed that the other waitresses were lined but behind her in what appeared to be an ordering queue. None of them were paying her any attention, maybe this in normal.
After we got out of there we went back to our room and packed up and checked out, and headed to LA1 north to the Texas – Arkansas – Louisiana border. The ride was hilly but the road was good. We got to the boarder and as unusually I expected more. There as a Welcome to Louisiana sign and an old Texas sign made out of stones (the nice readable sign was about a hundred years north. No sign of Arkansas except for the bar that was on the side of the road and has all three state flags flying. I can picture a brass medallion in the dance floor marking ‘The Spot’. Sort of like the medallion at Four Corners. I though that would be really cool but when we got there not much, a few vendors, some flags and a medallion. Oh and don’t forget he tourist taking pictures (and yes we took our pictures to).
We go the bike loaded and Jo and I said a prayer and I was off. Hills were ok; in fact on one of the down hill runs I got a max speed of 30.2 mph. Needless to say that didn’t last long.
Stopped and bought an ice cream in Vivian. I remember going there as a child to visit my dads old aunts. Went through Oil City and made a detour to see the State Oil and Gas Museum, which was closed for the holiday (Easter is tomorrow). This side trip didn’t take long. I was amazed to see all the oil wells in Oil City. In peoples front yards in some cases, and the size was smaller than I had remembered at my grandparents home in Mississippi. Some were about the size of my bike! Some were bigger.
The next thing I passed was Caddo Lake which claim to fame is the world’s first offshore oil well was drilled there in 1911. The lake is still dotted with small oil platforms.
A little after 3:00 I made it to the outskirts of Shreveport and decided I would cross into Bossier and make my way to the 8th Air Force museum. I make it to Barksdale AFB at 3:58 and the museum closed at 4:00 so I was turned around by security. Just my luck, we were running 100% on museums and this side trip was about 15 miles. I made my way back to the next bridge across the Red River and found the planned route blocked. I stopped and ask the police officer for directions and he, after some debate (with himself) sent me down the blocked road to the next bridge. Seems he felt the other bridge south of us (Jimmy Davis Bridge) was too dangerous to cross on a bike. I got back across the Red River and back to LA1 South. At this point I started looking for a hotel. Using my iPhone and Google Maps I located several hotels that were close to my route. I went and checked in and took a long warm shower.
After my shower I ask the clerk at the front desk for restaurant recommendations and he suggested Southfield Grill. I took a short unloaded bike ride back north for dinner. The restaurant looked like a dinner out of the 50’s. Food was country cooking and was good.
Stats:
Total miles: 66.35
Max speed: 30.2
Total time: 7 hrs (including stops)