How do you know you are in the South of the USA?:
1 When you enter the lobby of the motel you are staying in with gear to load on the steed, and notice the outside of the entry door is thick with condensation. By the time you reach your bike, you are dripping, and it isn’t even sunup yet.
2 When the freeway overhead traffic alert signs say” Hurricane season is here, be prepared”.
3 When you see an alligator as roadside kill.
So how was to-day? You ask. Well I think the best way to describe it is “as a day of cities and water”. I left Weinar early to beat any rush hour traffic through Houston. It was damp and foggy most of the way in, and traffic fairly heavy. However, it was moving well, and once the sun came up you could see the banks of fog around. I am not sure how much is genuine fog as it could be helped by all the industries there. Plenty of belching smokestacks can be seen. The road system is awesome, loads of freeways, all multi lanes, and spaghetti junctions to your heart’s content. The condition of them is great. I had another HOV lane, and although traffic was light I decided to take it. I had two lanes to myself, and so smooth. I felt I had my own private freeway. One thing one has to watch out for, and I found this is San Antonio and other cities, you can be happily rolling along I10 in the outside 2 lanes, with 4 or 5 lanes to your right, when suddenly you notice that I10 has a fork off to the right. How did that happen you ask yourself?. It is OK with light traffic to suddenly have to jump all those lanes, but in rush hour is no joke. Some of the roads have the highway in large letters on the surface. Houston looks a great city, as I flashed through. Actually so was San Antonio, another great road system.
The weather most of the day was very humid, but doable, not like the searing heat of El Paso. I had some sprinkles early on, and rode on wet roads, but managed to stay dry all day.
Texas seems to be a state of three climates, the dry heat of the west, more humid central, and then the real steamy east.
And so onto Louisiana.
The journey to Louisiana was pretty interesting, but then it became quite something. I10 seems to either be alongside water, or above it pretty much from this point all the way to Mobile. Quite an engineering feat. There was one stretch of some 20 miles east of Lafayette I think, where it is on pylons crossing marsh land, and even after you can see marshes off to the side. You can understand the concern over the oil in the Gulf, it would devastate thousands of square miles. The highway must have been built on fill in many places, besides all the bridges and pylons crossing rivers and swamps. Impressive viewing. Onto Baton Rouge, with again an awesome bridge structure crossing the mighty Mississippi. The view as you cross is incredible.
I could have bypassed New Orleans, but glad I didn’t as it is a great city, and the journey there, across it, and back north is worth the trip. The highway crosses Lake Pontchartrain going in a southerly direction, then across it again going north. Both amazing structures. I did take a photo of downtown (very little traffic around).
Where’s dat?
Into Mississippi, and again either by or on water.
And finally Alabama.
The major city here is Mobile, and as you get closer you round a bend and the city is right in your face, with some beautiful high structures. You enter a tunnel then cross Mobile Bay on yet another bridge.
One strange thing I noticed when entering Alabama, the air suddenly felt cooler, not so humid, and within a few miles decidedly so. Even the sky was now clear, not hazy or cloudy patches. The air moving into me as I rode was refreshing. Odd.
A few more miles and finally Florida.
Pensacola for the night.
Quite an amazing day, one that is hard to describe. As I ride I say to myself, I must remember that, or take a note of that, but so many things happen or are seen that it is difficult to remember them all.
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