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3-D Trip, December 16-18, 2007

Sunday, December 16, 2007

KIM!

Okay, KIM. I wasn't going to actually add anything to my blog for this little trip, but KIM nearly insisted. Kim's excuse for not reading my past blogs too thoroughly (aside from being "too wordy" -- Kim's most common criticism of me), KIM's NAME wasn't mentioned in them. So despite the fact that I hadn't VISITED KIM before and thus had no reason to MENTION Kim, Kim was still unhappy. So I figured I'd better mention KIM on this trip to keep KIM happy.

Okay. The 3-D trip. It's my "3-D" trip for several reasons. First, it's 3 Days. Second, it's 3 Dinners. And Third, once finished, I'll have changed in 3 Dimension (width, depth, and weight).

Day 1 was a short 5 hour run down to Mandeville, Louisiana, which is right on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain. That's the monstrous lake on the north side of New Orleans. An entirely uneventful ride down -- except that it seemed to get cooler by the mile.

I met KIM and Randy Ponthieux there for dinner. For those of you who may not know this very dynamic duo, Kim worked with me for several years as a computer training specialist, and later became slave to a couple other boneheads at Regions. Wisely, she no longer works for that banking disaster. Her husband, Randy, was the King of Kings Compliance Guru for the bank; until he and his entire team was ceremoniously jilted from Regions as well.

We had a great time at dinner, though it was all too short. I just don't understand why restaurants have to CLOSE so early! But we had time (barely) to get caught up on what everyone's been doing, and began hatching plans for another get-together.

I headed back to the local State Park near Mandeville for the evening. Surprisingly, I was NOT the sole tenter in the park. Some other fools had pitched their tent as well. (Admittedly, I didn't actually see anyone there, so they may have put up the tent for looks, then went to the Holiday Inn where the heat was turned on.

I got off the bike next to my trusty tent and donned my trusty "headlight" -- you know, one of those geeky flashlights that you wear on your forehead. They're great for camping, amongst other things done in the dark. I lifted my head and was met with four pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness. At first I wasn't sure if they were raccoons (I'd been warned they were heavy in the area) or deer. As I walked toward them, though, it became obvious they were deer. They have me that stare. They ALL gave me that stare.

Oh, come on; you know which stare. That "Deer in the Headlight" stare, of course. But they had better things to do than bother me at night. I'm not sure WHAT, but I'm sure they had things...

In the morning, I again hated to get out of the sleeping bag. KIM had said she was worried I'd freeze over night, since the lows were supposed to be around freezing. Truth is, it crossed my mind as I was lying there trying to fall asleep, that I was actually WARMER in the sleeping bag than I am at home under the electric blanket. And while that sounds like a good thing, it actually worked too well ... I was actually TOO hot most of the night, and it kept me awake. Of course, when it's near freezing outside, there's a TRICK to cooling off the inside of the sleeping bag just a little. Unfortunately, I don't yet know the trick.

But it WAS cool in the morning. I think it was about 34 degrees, give or take a couple. Cold enough to leave frost all over my bike, helmet, boots, and anything else that didn't move during the night. (Don't worry -- all the important things moved.) So once again I packed up a frozen tent. The instructions say to never pack a WET tent -- but it doesn't mention anything about a frozen one.

Monday, December 17

Another short ride, up to Little Rock. And also uneventful. Sorry.

I rode for about an hour, then entered Mississippi. A couple hours later I entered Louisiana. That was a bit confusing, but my GPS rarely leads me astray. Eventually, after riding through some very strangely named towns (including the one indicated by the photo here), I made it to Little Rock and a local park operated by the Corps of Engineers. I was pleasantly surprised that my National Parks Golden Access pass allowed me to stay here for half price! This made it all the more enjoyable.

And my campsite -- well, there was good news, and good news, and bad news, and bad news, and good news, and bad news.

• The good news was that my camp site was right next to the bath-house.
• The good news was that the bath house was VERY well heated.
• The bad news was that the hot water heater was broken.
• The bad news was that the maintenance folks hadn't yet shown up to fix it yet.
• The good news was that as I was setting up my tent, the maintenance guys DID drive up.
• The bad news was -- they turned around and drove off, without even going inside to fix the water heater.

Thus I was forced to proceed with our dinner plans while stinking of road grime, dead bugs, old leather, and other detestable smells. I had a delightful dinner with Doris Green and Pat Embrey -- two other former coworkers at Regions -- and Doris's husband, Ray. We dined at a relatively new Mexican restaurant called El Porton. Actually, the food there was great. And as KIM, Randy and I did the night before, we "closed the place down" -- getting thrown out at 10 when they turned the lights out on us. We all agreed, though, that we sure wish KIM had been able to join us.

However, anyone pulling up to the place after hours may have second thoughts about eating there -- seeing what looks like two of their customers keeled over the railing.

Tuesday, December 18

It was supposed to reach the low 30s in Little Rock, and it was probably close to that. But it didn't seem cold at all. I packed up in comfort -- not having to chip ice or scrape frost -- and headed toward Montgomery. I made it home with just enough time to spare so I could take a shower and don new clothes (both MUCH appreciated by our chapter membership) before heading to our annual Christmas dinner and meeting.

So, 3 Days, 3 Dinners, and I'm now bigger in 3 ways. Not a HUGE trip, but fun just the same. Right, KIM? Happy now?

Until next trip.

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