29 Oct 2010 - posted by Dennis
OUTIS TOO, Dorothy, the oyster shucker, black aligator eyes watching us ride by from slime green roadside canals. This is LOUISANA swamp & forest country, green & lush with aged cypress oaks dipping with Spanish Moss encrusted with chittas & red itchy bugs. It gives you that eerie southern feel & you can imagine grey clad confederate soldiers marching through a low clinging mist in this landscape that today is peppered with the occasional shack that is literally rotting into the ground.
It was 2008 when we happened upon OUTIS TOO, an Oyster Bar nestled into the forest, a few bikes parked haphazardly amongst the trees, a stage with good ole biker boys in bibbed jeans chewing the fat. Then inside we meet Dorothy in her blues & American Flag bandana. She owns this fine establishment & shares her hospitality over steamed oysters & tasty blackened Gropher with Hush puppies.[ spicy deep fried corn meal balls ] We politely turn down the offer of a pottle of Boiled Peanuts which are an acquired taste experience for new comers.
Hold on a moment. Our adventure actually started in CHICAGO which was an outstanding experience for all of us. Magnificent in its buildings from the stylish uptown glass structures of the world of money & finance. Did you know it was here the Futures Market was first conceived & started. Elevated trains rumbled overhead, then disappeared amongst the skyscrapers that had amazing sculptures by artists like " Piacasso" & his STEEL HORSE, THE EYEBALL, & other futuristic metal forms. Then downtown was littered with Cafes & Bars. We enjoyed a few quite's at DILLENGERS which came complete with his letter to the Ford Motor Company stating that he only used their cars for a bank robbery because they were reliable & fast.... that was if he could steal one first !
OH NO, RAIN. we are in ORLANDO Florida now & have just taken delivery of our Harleys just as Hurricane Dianne pasted over with BIG WINDS & driving rain. [ which was warm ] But after waiting for 3 hours we hit the road & in the rain that evening we passed a town called CHRISTMAS. There it was, a road sign, neon christmas tree, a little nativity crib, a few old wooden shacks & we were out of town - BRILLIANT.
The next day dawned clear, sunny & hot as we embraced the many expressways & bridge overpasses into the Art Deco south end of MIAMI. It reminded me of what America is really all about.... CONCRETE & CARS.
Thumping & bumping Baby, laying it down at 85mph in the fast lane on a 8 lane turnpike crammed with vehicles, ain' t life grand !
Picture this, we are sitting on the beachfront bar cruise, margaritas in hand, scimpy talent smiling as they glide by, warm evening breezes & a colourful flowing shirt .... life is pretty good. After a brief flirtation with the Bridges of the Florida Keys, some more blackened fish & a glass of wine, we are ready to continue. Mid morning saw a smiling bunch stepping out of a swamp air boat ride & Margi exclaiming that there were plenty of gators gazing back at them with unblinking black eyes.... " Don't rock the boat Dai "
The Biloxi to Gulfport coastline sparkled with its super white crystal sands & amazingly there were no signs of the recent oil disaster although some of the coastal mansions remained wrecked and flattened from Hurricane Katrina's winds. Then our eyes popped as we rode into a Cruise Weekend. HOT RODS & grossly oversized muscle cars were everywhere, fabulous in the sun with owners bloated with pride to be part of the American Dream. Many vehicles were for sale & most reasonably priced ....oh well !
The night air is shattered by a thunderous high revving Nitros breathing V8, its HUGE & the sole purpose of this monster BAR STOOL is to lay rubber doing donuts in the carpark .... we are at PANAMA CITY BEACH for Bike Weekend, a small gathering of about 60 thousand bikes & biker that have far too much money to waste. Outlandish colourful paint jobs, neon lights over engines, very stretched swing arms with Nos Bottles & the marvellous drone of motors in the night air while Molly Hatchett played to a very distracted audience.
Approaching NEW ORLEANS [ N'AWLINS as locals call it ] we are now riding on a dual lane bridge with a separate dual lane bridge for traffic coming towards us & hell there's another dual lane bridge about half a mile away all going across this sparkling sea to a shoreline so far away that we couldn't even see it. The style & shapes of these bridges will blow you away & the length of some - hell mother, the longest one was 24 miles long & dives into a long tunnel at the other end. Even sitting on 80mph it takes more than a few moments to cross.
I am not seeing well this morning, could it be riding into the sun yesterday, the late night on BOURBON ST. or the Absinthe, ... never mind it's all good as we explore The FRENCH QUARTER with its fabulous aged buildings & balconies covered in greenery. JAZZ hangs in the air from street performers & bars & all the while funky types slide by as donkey drawn carriages full of tourists listen intently to the history of N' AWLINS as recalled to them by a Negro with a southern drawl through a mouthful of pearly whites & a pink straw hat. LOVE THIS TOWN.
AHHAH ! that was lunch at CROSSROADS, the site of one of The Civil Wars actual battlefields. Jo O' Neill with his new grey Confederate cap & Paul Spearing in his new Yankee blue cap emerged from the historic log cabin store & so we could lunch. We had PO BOYS toasted & to die for pizza on the way to Memphis before heading out on the highway to play again - really it is The Purple Heart Highway & all the traffic on this dual lane interstate is sitting on an exhilarating 80mph [ legally posted at 70, but 80's ok ] even the " OVERSIZED" & labelled big rigs were in amongst it, complete with pilot vehicles carrying flags & flashing lights, and occasionally one of these monsters passed us which meant they had to be doing 100mph or so. The Cottonfields we have been riding through looked marvelous because it is harvest time but are now giving way to grasslands & deciduous forests that are turning to their autumn colours.
The PLANTATION ALLSTARS in BEALE ST, MEMPHIS are really world class & produce a wall of sound, swapping from Jazz to Blues, then a sensuous little Negros lass from the crowd blows our minds when she sings the Blues, gob smacked we are, especially when mid number the lead guitarist went to the bathroom still playing, the electric power cord under the door .... moments later he appeared still playing & takes his seat.... now there's talent.
"Just step around those parts" says Lew Elliott. Lew owns SUPER CYCLE which in its day was the place where ELVIS came to get his custom bikes & trikes. The shop appears to have stood still in time with gorgeous windows of 1960's choppers, signs & just plain old stuff all covered in a generous layer of dust & cobwebs. Not to be outdone the whole shop is like Burt Munroe's shed. Parts & piles of bike bits, paperwork just waiting for Lew to get around to it, but at 75 or so, he's in no real hurry nowadays, wonderful.
This the bible belt & roadside billboards have messages such as, Prepare to meet thy God. If God intended money to grow on trees there wouldn't be any shade. The 10 commandments are not a multiple chose question, and people have names like, MILT, POLK & JEB, wow.
A dry county you say ! " Yees Sir" says al ocal from the cab of his old green faded pickup .. " but ifs you's go 25 mile down thata ways into the next county ... they sells it, we only gots shine." Fair enough but nevermind, our bed for the next couple of days is BLUE WATERS MOUNTAIN LODGE & that has a licence & moments after our arrival we are diving off their jetty into the warm waters of this beautiful mountain lake which is surrounded by a Tennessee autumn forest, no other houses in sight, just us & on our return a waitng Budweiser - perfect !
The next morning finds us at "The Tail of The Dragon" DEALS GAP. Known to the biking world for its 318 corners in 11 miles of exciting banked & cambered corners threading their way through the mountain scenery. A great ride which lands us in CHEROKEE Nations Homeland with its stunning rivers, the occasional fly fisherman & sunlight casting shafts of light down on sparkling waters - damned it was a memorable ride.
Well surprised I was! CHARLESTON sure enough was the riches's capital city of per Civil War days but I didn't know where its wealth came from. RICE !!!! How amazing ..... but really obvious because the delta land was low & water was everywhere, although it took an army of slaves to move more dirt than the total tonnage of rocks to build the Pyramids when they constructed the rice fields, dams and canals of Charleston & Savannah.
Ya Welcome Ya All ! The Bohemin Hotel in Savanna was a hit with its oyster shell lamps, shrimp languine & reasonably priced menu ...everyone loved it ! The rooftop bar at dusk, the lit up bridge & temperature was a BIG hit.
A quick stop for lunch while we check out ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, where the Spanish first landed, then the British forced them out only to have the Spanish take it back.... & now its American. That history has left behind some authentic old buildings, great Spanish influence and a real treasure to behold. But its off to DAYTONA BEACH for us.
My god, they're all here. Good old boys who make a Harley look small, lots a babes riding rowdy stretched out choppers with outstanding paint in colours, really wild colours, a trike in flames & the shape of a 56 chevy, rats & bobbers, hell stop me but the convoy of bikes totals thousands with them lining the roadside & bars outside Broken Spoke, Iron Horse Saloon & White Eagle Saloon & Froggies ... time to party. Buds up crew.
But Daytona Beach BIKETOBERFEST is much more than the 160 thousand bikes that turn up, its brilliant uncrowded beaches with walk right in warm water, the beach side fresh water pools & spas, all with Pelicans surfing the breeze of the coastal hotels. Well that was our month long ride, we enjoyed the hell out of it and may be next time you will join us, hope so, cheers Dennis & Jo, JD's motorsickle tours.com
