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[Ride Report]East Texas Ride to Hodges Gardens, La. 03/29/03

Tourmeister

Keeper of the Asylum
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Huntsville
First Name
Scott
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Friday
Howdy,

:tab Well this is the first "official" tour for my company, Backroad Motorcycle Tours. I already know everyone because they are all riding friends nice enough to lend their support to the cause! I have been nervously watching the weather news leading up to this weekend. We have had a run of really nice weather and I am hoping it will hold out for this weekend; however, they are predicting rain on Friday and cold temps for the weekend. Not good.

:tab Friday evening, Achim Felber, John Morin and Will Bird arrive in time for dinner. We grill some sausage and Beth makes her famous home made salsa. The cold front has moved through the Huntsville area and the rain has stopped. We sit around a fire in the BBQ grill and enjoy the cool clear evening while discussing recent events.

:tab Saturday morning arrives and finds us with grey overcast skies, high winds, and temperatures in the low 50's. Not exactly ideal riding conditions, but as along as it does not rain, we're still good to go. Jim Huber, Art Dumas and Debbie McMullen show up around 9:30 am. The whole crew is here, seven riders and one passenger (Debbie).

:tab As is usual for rides, everyone is mulling around doing last minute stuff and we get behind schedule before we've even left the house. Also, I have to get the obligatory bike group shot before we leave. Art is riding his Honda RVF 400, Will is on his Triumph Trophy 1200, Achim on his Triumph Speed Triple, Beth in on her blue VFR800, Jim on his red VFR800, John on his BMW R1150GS, and me on my red VFR800. Debbie is riding pillion with me.

:tab 10:30am and we are getting gas. 10:45am and we are heading out of town. It's cold. I am wearing my rain suit over my regular riding jacket, a pair of long johns and my jeans. The suit makes an excellent wind breaker. Debbie is a little apprehensive as this is her first overnight bike excursion and the weather is looking a little iffy. As we head out of town, we pass large clumps of Indian Paintbrushes growing in the ditches and along the shoulder of the road.

:tab The wind is amazing today. Even when we are down in the woods, the wind is whipping us from side to side and I am actually having to continuously work at holding my lines through corners. It seems that the wind has more of an affect on the bike when I am carrying a passenger. Of course, I am also fully loaded with an E50 topcase and two E21 side cases on my GIVI rack. The first fifteen miles or so are pretty gentle curves so I can get a good feel for how the bike is going to react with all the extra weight behind me.

:tab We head out towards Trinty via some of the local backroads. We cross over the Trinity River and hit a nice little section of up and down twisties through the pine trees. The bike is tracking pretty good but I am having to lean a little more forward over the front when leaned into a corner, otherwise the front starts feeling a little vague. Picking up the throttle out of corners has to be done a bit more delicately. If I get on it too hard, the bike rotates around the rear axle and lifts the front while we are still leaned over. Debbie does not like this :shock: But she is a trooper and rides on, an excellent passenger.

:tab We pass through Trinity and head out over the North end of Lake Livingston. Traffic is not too bad and we can keep up a fairly good pace. When we get out over the water on some of the causeways, the wind is really cranking! I keep the bike nearer to the center of the lane so that I have more room to weave back and forth as the gusts hit us. We soon reach Onalaska and start heading East again. All along the way we have been seeing lots of Dogwood trees blooming. They are scattered all over the place under the pine trees, their bright white leaves standing in stark contrast to the dark trunks of the pines.

:tab Passing through Onalaska we hit some heavy traffic. There is a rally in support of US Troops in Iraq and the police are directing traffic. There appears to be quite a turn out. It only takes us a minute to get beyond the traffic before we can hit our next backroad. Then we are back out into an area that has almost no traffic. We head into the woods North of Livingston.

:tab This area is one of my favorite places to ride. The roads have good quality pavement and the curves are all great. I cannot recall a single decreasing radius curve. There are lots of homes with huge Azalea bushes in their yards in full bloom. In some areas, there are patches of Wysteria vines so thick that we can smell them before we even get to them. The soft supple shade of purple hues seem to attract the eyes and the scent lulls me into a world beyond. I've yet to encounter a man made product advertising "Springtime Fresh" that even comes close to comparing.

:tab After an hour or so of some highspeed sweeper work mixed in with some fast esses, we reach one of the numerous tiny East Texas towns and stop for a break. Everyone seems to really be enjoying themselves even with the cold and the wind. Despite some "brisk" corners, Debbie is having a good time on the bike. Most of the time I can't even tell she is back there. I don't know if it is because she is scared stiff or because she is into the groove and moving with the bike ;-) We finish our snacks and head back into the woods.

:tab For the most part, the next fifteen or twnety miles is just more of the same great stuff. However, at one point, the road has sections that have been cut out of the pavement and filled with hard packed gravel. There is no oil or tar, just gravel. A few of these are even in the corners and that makes for some interesting moments. Fortunately, most of them are on the shoulder side of the lane and we can move around them without to much trouble. There is one though that crosses the entire road, no choice but to look through it, get my butt out of the seat and get on the gas. No problems for me, but it makes for a heck of a dust cloud for the guys behind me hehe. The last time Achim rode out here with me, he took a rock to one of his Speed Triple's headlights and it shattered the lens :-(

:tab Eventually, we come out onto US 190 by Martin Dies Jr. State Park and start making our way East again. The lake is really churning up because of the wind. At one point, while crossing the causeway, a gust hits us hard enough that I have to really lean the bike over pretty far to the left just to keep it in the lane :shock: That gets Debbie's attention and mine as well! I really would prefer that it not be quite so blustery.

:tab Right before getting to Jasper, we take a short detour to the South on a fun little backroad that winds right down in the woods and has some really fun curves. Before we set out on it, we stop so Art can turn on his video camera. He has a HelmetCamera mounted to his fairing and a video camera in the tankbag. Once he is ready, we take off. Achim and John decided to swap bikes while we were stopped. We are not too far into the fun when I hear a loud BUZZING coming up behind me, like an gigantic atomic mutant bumble bee out of some 50's era horror flick. Then in an acoustic assault, it blasts by us and disappears around the next bend in the road with John hanging on like a bull rider, it's angry buzzing fading among the tree leaves.

:tab We catch up to John at the end of the road and wait for everyone else to gather together. Debbie informs John that he scared the crap out of her! She was not expecting him to come by so quickly and the sound of the Triple on full throttle was a little startling. I swear I saw some little tentacles dangling out of the back of his jacket as he went by us :P The excitment over for now, we head into Jasper to get lunch.

:tab A few weeks ago I was out here with another group of riders from this forum on an East Texas Butt Burner Ride. When we found the BBQ joint I was planning on visiting had been closed down, we chanced upon the Cedar Tree Restaurant instead. It is your typical Southern fried everything on a buffet style of place with a friendly wait staff. Based on the hearty recommendations of the group, I decide to bring everyone here for this ride. Once again the food is good and everyone stuffs themselves. Beth and Debbie have a bit of a snickering fit as a result of me getting a slightly frozen corn dog. The running gag lasts most of the weekend :roll:

:tab After a heavy lunch, everyone drags themselves back out into the parking lot. The sun is trying to come out from behind the clouds and there is a large patch of blue sky showing. Standing around in the parking lot it kind of feels like it might be getting warm enough to shed a few layers. I have learned to resist this urge. An 80 mph wind chill makes a significant difference in the perceived temperature! Now Beth and John have traded bikes and Beth is trying to handle a really tall bike. I am a little leary. John has to lift the bike off the side stand for her. Actually, I'm not so worried about Beth as I am about John on her VFR. It has a strange affect on him. I think it injects Squid DNA into his rear when he rides it. We head Northeast towards Burkeville to run a few more little back roads.

:tab When we reach the first side road, we stop again so Art can get his camera up and running. This road has a good combination of fast sweepers and really tight corners. It winds out into dense woods and through heavily harvested areas of what used to be woods. At one point, a large timber truck is coming at us in the oncoming lane and blows a corner, coming over into our lane. Fortunately, I see him coming and realize he will never make the corner at his speed, so I hang back and wait for him to clear the corner. Achim and John have already buzzed past us a few corners back so we find them waiting at the end of the road.

:tab Apparently, Art was trying to adjust the camera and something on it broke. This is a real bummer because one of the best roads of the entire ride is coming up next. Oh well. We head up Hwy 87 to FM 1414, also known as the Wild Azalea Trail. More excellent pavement, fantastic sweepers and some really good esses with good visibility. Everytime I ride this road I manage to get stuck behind a car or truck right at the best set of curves. This is all the more amazing because each time it has been the only four wheeled vehicle on the road for miles!! :evil: Achim manages to get around the SUV and buzzes off into the woods out of sight.

:tab We reach Burkeville and stop for an after lunch break. Most folks need to stop within thirty to forty minutes after eating and this place is at just the right spot. Debbie is pretty excited about the last stretch of road. Apparently, it got her heartbeat slightly elevated. She has ridden with me quite a few times in the past, but never on roads quite like these :twisted: John is shocked at how fast Beth was throwing his bike around the corners. She is of course acting like she has no idea what he is talking about. :angel: Then she informs me that she has to have a bike like his! Yeah right! Get in line!!

:tab It is getting late in the afteroon and we need to be getting on to the Gardens if we are going to make it in time to visit this evening. So after a quick rest we head for the Southern end of the Toledo Bend Reservoir to make our crossing into Louisiana. As we come across the back side of the reservoir dam, the road makes a really fast tight left handed sweeper that bends back on itself about 150 degrees. The first time I hit this curve it really surprised me. It is so flat and bends around behind the dam so it is hard to look through it and judge entry speed. I give a few flashes on the brakes to wake up everyone behind me and then lean in and roll on the throttle. I love the feeling of accelerating through and out of a good corner! The rest of the ride to the Gardens is short and to the point, which is good because these particular Louisiana roads suck. :|

:tab When we reach the Gardens, it is already 4:30pm and I decide to head straight for the park rather than checking into the motel first. The turn off the main road down into the park entrance is covered with large loose gravel because of road construction. I'm taking it nice and slow because I don't want to dump Debbie. While I am nervously threading my way along, John comes blasting by on the BMZilla kicking up rocks and acting like a punk :lol: Show off! The little road that winds into the park is a narrow strip of asphalt lined with huge Dogwood trees, ferns covering the ground like carpet, and tall pine trees. It winds back about a half mile or so before we get to the ticket gate.

:tab We make it just in time. It is 4:40pm and they close the gate at 5:00pm. Whew! After getting tickets for everyone I take a quick shot of the bikes and then then gate keeper takes a group shot of us. Then it's off into the park to see what is blooming. The first thing we see are some stunning tulip beds. Pic 1 - Pic 2 - Pic 3 - Pic 4 Normally, in the background of Pic 1, all you would be able to see are tons of huge Azalea bushes blooming. Right now they are covered with lots and lots of big buds. A few days or a week and they will be amazing. I sure wish I had the time to come out next weekend!

:tab We spend the next hour or so wandering along the many pathways that criss cross the garden grounds. There are numerous waterfalls all over the park that feed into little streams that flow off into the woods. Everywhere we look there are plants and bushes covered with buds about to burst open. Some of them are already opened up and they are pretty, but the best is yet to come. We follow one of the trails under some large Camalillia bushes to a small secluded grotto with a single statue of St. Francis of Asissi (sp?). For some reason, people always place the flowers in the brid bath, dunno why!? Nearby, along another hidden passage are some more incredible tulips. The colors are so deep and rich, like nothing you'll ever see in a Crayon box, even the monster pack with the cool sharpener built in the back! Pic 1 - Pic 2. Here are a few more shots from the rest of our wandering.

Pic 1 - Pic 2 - Pic 3 - Pic 4 - Pic 5 - Pic 6

:tab It is getting late and getting colder. We are getting hungry so we head back to the bikes and make the lap around the lake on the little winding road. We pass the cabin and camping areas. The cabins are quite nice and are for rent on the weekends. The only problem is that you have to rent both Friday and Saturday nights. Bummer. We get back to the hotel and check into our rooms. I could not help but think that if we had five or six little 50cc pocket bikes, the road through the park around the lake would make a fantastic track :twisted:

:tab While waiting for our dinner at Mulligan's Bar and Grill, I run outside and snap a shot of the fading sunset. The food is really good. The restaurant looks out wall sized windows overlooking a fairway of the 18 hole golf course. The course is beautiful when the Azaleas start blooming. We spend the evening hanging out, sampling the bar's wares and telling stories until they close down and run us out. After some more goofing off in the rooms, we finally settle down and hit the sack. It has been a great day of riding. Fighting the wind has really worn me out. The weather is looking good for tomorrow, hopefully the wind won't be so bad!

:tab Between my snoring, John's snoring and me hacking all night because of a sinus infection, sleep does not come easily. It seems an eternity before I finally fall asleep only to have a brilliant ray of sunlight peep through the curtains to hit me smack in the face. Well, rude as the awakening is, at least the brightness is a good sign. But when I finally step outisde... Brrrr... Is it actually colder than yesterday?! And the wind is still cranking... Grrrr... Oh well, at least the sunshine makes it more bearable ;-)

:tab We check out and hit the road. Some of the people need gas. Here is a really important group riding tip. When the group stops for gas, EVERYONE should fill up even if they don't need too. If this is not done, you will wind up having to make more stops as the people that did not fill up the first time are now needing gas. Everyone will get out of sync on when they need gas. It can be a real pain and waste a lot of time. So I will repeat it. When the group stops for gas, EVERYONE should fill up even if they don't need too!! Whew... good to get that off my chest. :mrgreen:

:tab So anyway, we head back West to La. Hwy 191 and head North. The first seven or eight miles of this is pure bliss. The pavement is unnaturally perfect, the curves slightly banked and of wonderful constant radii, and the road rolls up and down over the surrounding hills. The posted limit is 55mph, but I cannot imagine being able to do that for more than a few seconds on this road before it casts its' spell on you and sucks you into its' snare, lulling you with gentle sweet rythmic curves... calling...

:tab The trance is broken as we leave asphalt and hit hard oil packed gravel. Fortunately, it is not loose and is actually relatively smooth. It only last for a few miles before we hit "pavement" again. I use pavement here somewhat mockingly. The amount of grass growing through the road is astounding! Every grass filled crack is a ba-bump in the rear as we clip along. After a few more miles we come upon a construction crew and the traffic is halted. Hmmm... Ahead I see a large earth tiller grinding Lime into the dirt on one side of the road. The other side of the road is a built up hard pack of rocks and dirt over which traffic is being directed. The workers assure us that it is dry and hard and we should have no trouble as long as we keep the speeds slow. They mention the slow part repeatedly. Apparently, they think anyone riding a sportbike can't help but haul butt in all circumstances. :?

:tab It is finally our turn to cross the dirt pack. I take the lead. It is hard packed, but it is incredibly bumpy and washboarded. It is unlevel and there is loose gravel in the center. The right side of the lane slopes pretty good towards the drop off into the lime and I am having to really focus on keeping the bike from drifting down the slope and falling off that edge. It is a good thing that we only have to go about a half a mile or so before getting back to the "pavement." We finally reach the main highway and find a gas station where we all fill up. Then we head back across the Toledo Bend Reservoir into Texas on Hwy 21.

:tab We are heading to San Augustine for lunch. We take a short detour off of Hwy 21 onto a little single lane FM that wanders deep into the woods. This road totally follows the contour of the hilly landscape. It is not about going fast so much as it is about keeping a smooth even pace and just absorbing the otherworldly atmosphere of being deep in the woods. Dogwood and Wysteria abounds. The smells of spring whisp in and out of my helmet. We pop back out onto Hwy 87 long enough to encounter a state trooper. With a friendly wave we zip on by heading for the roller coaster road.

:tab Once again, we are on another road that had little if any cutting and filling done when the original road bed was laid in place. It is a string of tight curves rising and dipping up and over the quick hill crests. Often times I get the zero G butterflies in my stomach as we crest hills and lean into the next curve followed by being pushed down into the seat as we reach the bottom of the next ravine. It is not long before Achim comes buzzing by again and vanishes in a heartbeart. A scant few seconds later, John goes bouncing by on his GS in hot pursuit. No sooner than I think, "well, now that they have gone by..." and whoosh! Will goes cruising by on his Trophy, nails the brakes going into a sharp corner and is gone... Geez I am cranking 70+ two up fully loaded, but boys will be boys ;-) Everyone loves this road, well... everyone except Debbie. I guess the rapid elevation changes and tight curves were a little unnerving hehe.

:tab We stop in San Augustine for Lunch at Fausta's Chicken Restaurant. They know Fried Chicken! This place is always packed on a Sunday afternoon. It is a real favorite among the locals. They serve a full menu of greasy fast food as well as chicken, all just as good. After some finger licking and relaxing, we suit up and hit the road. We are headed Southwest towards Broaddus. I let Debbie know that the road coming into town before lunch was the tightest twistiest road of the trip so the worst is over.

:tab When we leave San Augustine, we head out onto one of my favorite sweeper roads. It was recently repaved in the last few years and is still quite smooth. I think most of the logging along this road has been completed so the logging trucks are fairly scarce now and don't destroy the pavement anymore. The sweepers are banked and can easily be run at superlegal speeds if you are into that kind of thing :angel: I am in the groove and having a great time. Achim and John do their usual zip, zoom and vanish act. Will and Jim are hanging on my tail. Art and Beth are bringing up the rear at a little more relaxed pace. When we finally reach the next intersection and come to a stop, Debbie whacks me and tells me I lied to her about the worst being over! :huh: But that road was wide open and smooth! Well, we were going pretty quick and doing some serious leaning :twisted:

:tab One of the things that I love about the VFR is that even with her on the back and three loaded GIVI bags, I can still have a LOT of fun. Occasionally I have to lean forward out over the gas tank to get a little more forward weight bias. This helps to improve the feel for the front tire in some of the faster turns. Debbie did notice the front tire coming off the ground a few times hehe. But at no time does the bike ever feel like it is even close to the edge. I engine brake deep into the corners, lay it over and roll on the gas, keeping the bike above 6000 rpms. I could do this all day... wait ... I have been!! Debbie normally has motion sickness trouble in cars, but on the bikes she is fine even with out any medicine.

:tab After reaching Broaddus, we hit the main highways and make some time. It is getting late enough in the afternoon that some of the folks are starting to get antsy about getting on home. When we get to Colmesniel, we turn off the main highway and get back onto the fun stuff. I think Debbie is starting to either enjoy the twisty stuff or she is being desensitized to it, hehe. Although it could be one of those love/hate or pleasure/pain things?

:tab When we finally reach US 59, Jim and Art peel off and head South back to Houston. We do the goodbyes and keep going. It is finally getting up into the low sixties and with all the gear on it is warm when we stop moving. Fortunately, the traffic is light and we don't have to stop very often.

:tab We pass through Trinity and run one of the last fun roads before getting back home. Several of the series of curves are really smooth, fast and fun. A scant few moments before I intend to put on my turn signal, John goes flying by on Beth's bike again, followed of course by Achim. I can see they are really trucking and not looking in the mirrors at all to see my blinker. Sure enough, they blow right by the turn. The end of this road is a LONG way off so I have to go after them :?

:tab I motion for Beth and Will to go ahead and turn off. I see Achim already becoming a dot in the distance! I open it up and get after them. I bring it down to sane speeds for the curves because I don't want to permanently traumatize Debbie. She has been on the bike before when we were moving pretty quick, like when passing someone, but never for sustained periods. Despite really getting on the gas, John and Achim are still pulling away!! The Squid DNA being injected into John's butt must be taking over his entire system, we're talking tentacles dragging on the pavement. I finally catch them when they slow down after the road becomes totally straight, somewhere around eight or nine miles past the turn. For some reason Debbie is really interested in knowing just how fast we had been going to catch them... I tell her she does not want to know and that satisfies her for the moment. John and Achim sheepishly turn around and follow me back to the turn off. We pass Will on the way. He has come looking for us to make sure nothing bad has happened.

:tab The rest of the ride home is uneventful and we make it home with no problems. Debbie is still a little pumped from our short chase, hehe. Now she really wants to know how fast we were going so I let her know... :eek: I think her knuckles are still a little pale from hanging on. :wink: Achim and John take a break before heading home to Austin. Will decides to stay the night with us and then head home in the morning. Beth, Will, Deb and myself head our for dinner. Then we call it a day.

:tab The roads and the company were great. I always hate to see a weekend like this come to an end. It kind of leaves a small empty feeling inside. But there is still the next time...
 
I, too, was a bit concerned about the weather going into the weekend. Then when loading my luggage Friday night I noticed one of my "frankenbolts" missing (the bolt/tiedown combo on the sides of the seat on a VFR)... which didn't do a lot for my trust in luck. It just turned out to be cold, which I'm prepared for, and windy, which is only mildly annoying with no passenger or top case. All in all it was a great getaway weekend that I really needed.

Great ride, Tourmeister!

:chug:
 
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