Had a week off and went over and met Mike Hunter-Mallett in Slidell and picked up a set of stock pipes I bought from him. Previous owner of my bike had cut all the cans out and welded Cherry Bombs on. The cherry bombs had rusted out and the core/baffles were gone, so there was no back pressure. By the way, in case you didn't know, I now have a new Valk - '97 - Grace.
Anyway, wanted to test out the new pipes after changing and try out a new helmet I had bought. I had a BILT - good helmet but the liner would come out when I removed the helmet, so I went with a Sedici they had on sale. Good helmet as well and the liner stays in. Well, my wife had some medicine called in where our daughter works, but she had already left for the day and was off the following day. She was going to have it transferred over to a local pharmacy and I told her, "Man, it is only a 15 mile each way trip, I will run over on the Valk and pick it up". "Ok, why don't you go riding when you do go?" "Well, okay dokie, if you are going to insist....."
So, got about a 100 miles in. Left out around 10 am and shot down Bayou Tortue Road.
Over to St Martinsville and the obligatory stop at Evangeline Oak.
Stopped downtown at Duchamp Opera House. The Opera House was built in 1830.
Went and got my wife's medicine and then shot over to Oak and Pine Alley.
Ride through some curves to Bayou Benoit and then over to the Henderson Levee and rode the levee road to Henderson and back.
Long way back to St Martinsville on roads with some sweepers you can take at 60-65 mph - very sweet. It was lunch time, so all the funky places were chocker block full, so just stopped at the local Sonic for a burger and strawberry malt. Ok, here is the Strider food shot.
Rode over to the Evangeline State Park and then back to the house, the long, LONG way home. Got back around 3:00 - even though short, hey, wind is wind and soothing to the soul.
Next day, wife was going to take a nap, so shot into Lafayette to the Borden's Ice Cream Shop. This is supposed to be the LAST retail Borden's Ice Cream shop in the world and was built in 1940. It is a shame that our fast paced, fast food lifestyle has led to people no longer sitting at a counter or in a booth and go through a drive trough instead and places like this have gone to the wayside. Face to face with the person making your banana split and TALKING to them......awesome. The split had 6 (YES, 6) scoops of real ice cream......have to admit, I think my ice cream jonesing has had it's fix for awhile.
Anywho, safe winds - back at work, but planning on doing some riding when I get off next time.
Hack, hack................. WHOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!
