I'm now back home from Honolulu

While Honolulu and all of Hawai'i seems to be the ideal place for a 3 month assignment, it had gotten to the point I dreamed of home quite often.  That and the fact that I was about to be a grandfather again kept me preoccupied much of the time.

Meet Hazel, she was born December 28.  She's the one being held by the old guy in the leather jacket.

Since Ms Darlene needed the car to get around and work, I was at the mercy of my motorcycle to get around for 4 weeks after Oahu.  One day, I had stopped off at the Harley dealership when one of the employees walked up to me gave me his card and introduced himself as "Snake".

I had a personal card of my own so I gave him one of mine.  I'll have to say mine seemed a bit bland up against a card with "Snake" on it but nevertheless, the exchange was made.  Snake mentioned that he and several other riders took a long ride each Sunday and asked if I was interested.  Explaining to him that I was not in town that much, I pretty much dismissed the idea of riding with a group.  I had taken part in a few group rides before but it just wasn't really my thing for a number of reasons.  That's a story for another day.

A few days later, I got a text from him inviting me on one of the rides so I sent a text back declining the invitation, citing a trip I wanted to make visiting my mother, brother and our son up in Monroe.  I figured that would be the last of it.

A week later, I get another text inviting me to meet up for a trip up to Middendorf's restaurant in Manchac where the waterway connects Lake Pontchartrain to the smaller Lake Maurepas.  That restaurant is known locally as having very thin cut catfish and a favorite for people in the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and southern Mississippi.

So after church that Sunday, I rode up to the Twin Peaks restaurant in Baton Rouge to meet up with these guys.

My arrival was maybe 10 minutes before the appointed ride time and there was already several bikes out front so I parked Boudreaux along side them.  I walked in and recognized Snake and was introduced to several others.  Wanting not to seem unsociable, I ordered an ice tea when the waitress approached me. Hey, it was Sunday.  They all were having a beer. 

Chatting it up with some guy on the merits of a Windows cell phone, I turned to see one guy wearing a Glock on his belt.  Now, I don't know the percentage of income ratio between alcohol and food at this place or the legality of it all but the pistol on his belt gave me an immediate recall of a shoot out at the Twin Peaks in Waco last year between the cops and some motorcycle enthusiasts which ended badly for nine and jail time for a several others.  What possibly could go wrong here?

Anyway, I took my ice tea and went outside and sat on my bike until the others joined me.  Of the two dozen riders that were at the bar/restaurant, there were only nine of us who actually took the trip, not including Roy Rogers the pistol packer.

Once out on the highway, the trip took us eastward along scenic highway 22 to Ponchatoula and down I-55 toward Manchac (Akers post office) and stopping once for a guy who forgot to fill up with gas before we left. .

Arriving at Middendorf's we had a wait for around 30 minutes where most of us ordered thin fried catfish fillets.

As we were finishing up, the temperature began to drop and clouds were appearing dark so another rider and I elected to head south to LaPlace and take I-10 west back to Ascension Parish.  The others re-traced the original route.  I do not know if they ran into rain or not.

I've ridden in rain and I've ridden in cold and can deal with both but I try to avoid the combo of rain and cold when I can.