Last Three States: Day Four

11/2/2011 - Left Biloxi, MS this morning. Perfect weather again. About 50 miles later, we crossed the Louisiana state line thus completing my quest to ride my motorcycle in all 48 contiguous United States. I felt quite accomplished.

New Orleans streets suck to ride on. They are almost all one way and they're never going the way that I want to go. I almost got peeled by a Nissan Armada (about 2 feet separated my front wheel from his bumper. There was copious tire squealing.)

Kevin and I met Tim and Dan at the Holiday Inn in the French Quarter. We got a room and parked the vehicles, and proceeded to go on a quick walk about on Bourbon Street. While resting our feet on the steps of the St. Louis Cathedral we were people watching. Met a homeless guy named Kevin Bennett. Tim says "Of all of the homeless people I've met, he's doable."

Interesting things we saw: Crazy drunk trio with wet asses and washcloths picked a fight with another guy drinking a can of Old English 800. Tons of strip clubs with barkers trying to pull us in with promises of the cleanest girls on Bourbon Street.

We ate dinner at the Pier 424 Seafood Market Restaurant. I had the Surf and Turf which was out of this world. After dinner we mosied back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool. It was warm as bath water and really relaxing. After swimming we really just spent the rest of the evening back out on Bourbon Street people watching. Finally I'd had enough so it was time to turn in. We leave on Thursday morning for the trek home.

Last Three States: Day Three

11/01/2011 - Day three was great riding. The weather was perfect and the roads were uncrowded. The ride from Bessemer, AL was rather uneventful. The roads AL-5 and US-43 were actually kind of boring. They were just plain straight roads through farm country; although, one advantage was being able to open up the throttle. We had a couple of opportunities to BRIEFLY hit the 100MPH mark. It was awesome. US-43 took us right into Mobile, AL where we picked up I-65 to I-10 so that we didn't have to drive into Mobile.

We made a quick pit stop at Subway for lunch/dinner at 4:00 and then proceeded to hop onto US-90 for the trip across the Gulf Coast. In 20 miles we were at the Mississippi border. We stopped for a quick photo shoot and were then on our way again. At fist, US-90 sucked. It was like driving on Polaris Parkway at rush hour; however, once we got into Biloxi, MS we were right on the Gulf of Mexico riding into the sunset. In fact, it was so pretty that is where we decided to stay for the night. We got a room at the Quality Inn with a view of the ocean. It was nice not to be riding after dark for two days in a row. We spent much of the evening hanging out at the picnic table looking out on the water. Ask me about the white Honda Odyssey sometime.

So the total mileage for the day was 291 and we have 81 miles to get to the French Quarter today. As of this writing Tim and Dan are 151 miles from New Orleans. They've been driving all night and we'll all meet up later today. So I'm off to collect my last state today. I'm beyond excited.