hppants
Well-known member
I spent 2 days riding about 600 miles through Central Louisiana and East Texas with my friend Mike. I’ve been itching to try out my new camping gear and Mike has warned me that “once you try motorcycle camping, there’s no turning back.” The bikes ran perfectly and my fuel mileage was about 40 mpg – a tad low but I was loaded and at times I was riding, well… spirited. Hope you enjoy the pics.
At my age, hooting and hollering for Mardi Gras has become a thing of the distant past. Rather, I now have a great opportunity to get away. Loki invited me to join him in the Ozarks, but unfortunately, I found myself on call this Mardi Gras weekend. Saturday dumped about 4 inches of rain across Louisiana, so I bided my time. I found a co-worker to take my call for Sunday and Monday, so I called my buddy Mike and we decided to give it a go. Sunday morning met me with a strong North wind and temps in the low 40’s under a cloudy sky. Warming up my horse…
After meeting Mike at the gas station, we hit the I-49 slab to quickly move North. After about 75 miles, we stop to warm up a tad and allow Mike to pick up a phone charger. The bikes are loaded, but they are ready to tow the weight.
Heading still further North, we leave the slab for the Kistachie National Forest. We ride around Camp Claiborne, an old army training camp. We decided to stop along Lake Kincaid. The forecast calls for the sun to break later today – it can’t get here fast enough for me.
Nice place
We press on Northwest to the Kistachie Scenic Byway.
https://www.fs.fed.us/outernet/r8/kisatchie/kisatchie_national_forest/kisatchie_rd/trails/kisatchie_rd_longleaf_trail_scenic_byway.html
As promised, the sun started shining. We stop at a scenic overlook
Not much topography, but when you live 24 feet above sea level, anything seems high.
The pine trees smell nice as we ride through the byway. We continue heading North and my stomach is telling me it’s lunch time. We stop for gas – uh…. I’m not quite in the mood for “meat pie gizzard”.
We press on to the town of Natchitoches and stop to eat at the Mariner’s Restaurant. A bit more pricey than I normally like, but the blackened chicken was very good.
Loki called me there, and I learned that he is having his own kind of fun a good bit north of me in the Ozarks. After lunch, we ride down the Cane River National Heritage Trace.
https://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/caneriver/learnmore.htm
It’s a wonderful twisty road that follows the Cane River and features plenty of plantation homes and other places to stop and visit. This one built in 1821 is gorgeous with 200 year old live oak trees forming an alley to the front door.
A neat old country store.
Looks like a red bud tree has been fooled into thinking it’s Spring time.
A bit farther, we stop and sit by the river. Even in February, Louisiana offers plenty of green.
This metal truss bridge has been abandoned.
Seems everyone is enjoying the sun this afternoon.
Then it’s back on the bikes for a little more riding. We are taking it real easy on the throttle, opting rather to enjoy the sights and the smells. A while later we stopped at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park
These are old slave quarters – although history is not always pleasant, it’s always worth remembering, IMO.
We walked around this old plantation store. All of these buildings are made of virgin cypress and are in pristine condition.
Now the sun is starting to get lower, so we wind our way back toward the national forest and decide to set camp at the Lotus Campground along the scenic byway. There is only 1 other pair camping about 100 yards from us. We’ve got the place virtually to ourselves.
2-man huh? Uh, I don’t think so.
We gather some firewood – mostly wet from yesterday’s deluge. Now it’s getting dark so we light the fire and start sipping on some tequila.
I told Mike I was going to invite a Chef to cook for us tonight.
Dinner heated up nicely over the coals. We washed it down with a Little Debbie brownie.
After a couple hours of story telling, we decided to turn in for the night. Once I got the tent to stop spinning, I fell asleep like a baby.
The next morning we were greeted with 39 degrees, but I was toasty warm in my new sleeping bag and insulated air mattress. I got up and stoked the fire back up.
Meanwhile, Mike made the coffee. I will be buying one of these little stoves – nifty.
After a breakfast of fresh fruit and a granola bar, we broke camp, packed the mules and headed down the byway looking for adventure. It didn’t take long as we stopped along the Kistachie Bayou. With all of that rain, the water is running nicely.
A bonified waterfall in Louisiana!!!
On the other side of the road, we walk along the Bayou and find another set of cascades. The sandstone is real soft.
Back on the bikes, we are now heading generally West toward Toledo Bend. The roads are great – very smooth, curvy, and no traffic to speak of.
At one purly random location, we stop and Mike makes us a snack (peanut butter on a bagel). I thought this old Acadian style cottage was well kept and made a great homestead.
These little critters are rooting around near the edge of a pond. I enjoyed watching them while I ate my snack.
Back on the road, we make it to Toledo Bend. There, we stopped to do a little beach combing.
That’s Texas on the other side of the lake, and I’m going there right now.
We rode around the South end of the bend and into Texas. Then we head north on Hwy 87. It’s a fantastic road for motorcycling. It’s got a 70 mph speed limit and it’s very curvy but with good visibility. The road is glass smooth and has tons of grip. So, for about 30 miles, we loosen the reigns on the big girls and let ‘em go for a while.
We end up in Hemphill, Tx and we stop at a nice diner that I know of. The Steak Fajita Quesadillas are today’s special – tasty.
After lunch, we cross the bend on Hwy 6 back into Louisiana. We are taking our time, riding the twistier roads and really enjoying the bikes. The weather is perfect – about 60 degrees and very sunny. We ended up in the town of Florien Louisiana and stop for gas. A quick check of the map reveals that we are close to Hwy 118. I remember riding that road a year or two ago. It was real twisty but as a logging road, it was kind of beat up. I asked Mike if he wanted to give it a try. Boy am I glad he said yes!!! Fresh asphalt – I mean brand spanking new. The rain has washed all of the debris off the road, and we are greeted to 21 miles of this.
I ripped these bunny hops at about 80 mph and lost my stomach more than once. What a hoot!!!
Here comes Mike down the roller coaster. Yee Ha!!!
When the sport bike riders get wind of this, they will be all over it. Then the cops will show up and it will be over. But for now, what a good time.
BION, that was the last picture I took. We wandered Southeast to the town of Forest Hill where we stopped to stretch our legs. From there, we slabbed the last 60 miles south back to Lafayette.
If this is what motorcycle camping is like, then Mike’s absolutely right. There’s no turning back now.
At my age, hooting and hollering for Mardi Gras has become a thing of the distant past. Rather, I now have a great opportunity to get away. Loki invited me to join him in the Ozarks, but unfortunately, I found myself on call this Mardi Gras weekend. Saturday dumped about 4 inches of rain across Louisiana, so I bided my time. I found a co-worker to take my call for Sunday and Monday, so I called my buddy Mike and we decided to give it a go. Sunday morning met me with a strong North wind and temps in the low 40’s under a cloudy sky. Warming up my horse…
After meeting Mike at the gas station, we hit the I-49 slab to quickly move North. After about 75 miles, we stop to warm up a tad and allow Mike to pick up a phone charger. The bikes are loaded, but they are ready to tow the weight.
Heading still further North, we leave the slab for the Kistachie National Forest. We ride around Camp Claiborne, an old army training camp. We decided to stop along Lake Kincaid. The forecast calls for the sun to break later today – it can’t get here fast enough for me.
Nice place
We press on Northwest to the Kistachie Scenic Byway.
https://www.fs.fed.us/outernet/r8/kisatchie/kisatchie_national_forest/kisatchie_rd/trails/kisatchie_rd_longleaf_trail_scenic_byway.html
As promised, the sun started shining. We stop at a scenic overlook
Not much topography, but when you live 24 feet above sea level, anything seems high.
The pine trees smell nice as we ride through the byway. We continue heading North and my stomach is telling me it’s lunch time. We stop for gas – uh…. I’m not quite in the mood for “meat pie gizzard”.
We press on to the town of Natchitoches and stop to eat at the Mariner’s Restaurant. A bit more pricey than I normally like, but the blackened chicken was very good.
Loki called me there, and I learned that he is having his own kind of fun a good bit north of me in the Ozarks. After lunch, we ride down the Cane River National Heritage Trace.
https://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/caneriver/learnmore.htm
It’s a wonderful twisty road that follows the Cane River and features plenty of plantation homes and other places to stop and visit. This one built in 1821 is gorgeous with 200 year old live oak trees forming an alley to the front door.
A neat old country store.
Looks like a red bud tree has been fooled into thinking it’s Spring time.
A bit farther, we stop and sit by the river. Even in February, Louisiana offers plenty of green.
This metal truss bridge has been abandoned.
Seems everyone is enjoying the sun this afternoon.
Then it’s back on the bikes for a little more riding. We are taking it real easy on the throttle, opting rather to enjoy the sights and the smells. A while later we stopped at the Cane River Creole National Historic Park
These are old slave quarters – although history is not always pleasant, it’s always worth remembering, IMO.
We walked around this old plantation store. All of these buildings are made of virgin cypress and are in pristine condition.
Now the sun is starting to get lower, so we wind our way back toward the national forest and decide to set camp at the Lotus Campground along the scenic byway. There is only 1 other pair camping about 100 yards from us. We’ve got the place virtually to ourselves.
2-man huh? Uh, I don’t think so.
We gather some firewood – mostly wet from yesterday’s deluge. Now it’s getting dark so we light the fire and start sipping on some tequila.
I told Mike I was going to invite a Chef to cook for us tonight.
Dinner heated up nicely over the coals. We washed it down with a Little Debbie brownie.
After a couple hours of story telling, we decided to turn in for the night. Once I got the tent to stop spinning, I fell asleep like a baby.
The next morning we were greeted with 39 degrees, but I was toasty warm in my new sleeping bag and insulated air mattress. I got up and stoked the fire back up.
Meanwhile, Mike made the coffee. I will be buying one of these little stoves – nifty.
After a breakfast of fresh fruit and a granola bar, we broke camp, packed the mules and headed down the byway looking for adventure. It didn’t take long as we stopped along the Kistachie Bayou. With all of that rain, the water is running nicely.
A bonified waterfall in Louisiana!!!
On the other side of the road, we walk along the Bayou and find another set of cascades. The sandstone is real soft.
Back on the bikes, we are now heading generally West toward Toledo Bend. The roads are great – very smooth, curvy, and no traffic to speak of.
At one purly random location, we stop and Mike makes us a snack (peanut butter on a bagel). I thought this old Acadian style cottage was well kept and made a great homestead.
These little critters are rooting around near the edge of a pond. I enjoyed watching them while I ate my snack.
Back on the road, we make it to Toledo Bend. There, we stopped to do a little beach combing.
That’s Texas on the other side of the lake, and I’m going there right now.
We rode around the South end of the bend and into Texas. Then we head north on Hwy 87. It’s a fantastic road for motorcycling. It’s got a 70 mph speed limit and it’s very curvy but with good visibility. The road is glass smooth and has tons of grip. So, for about 30 miles, we loosen the reigns on the big girls and let ‘em go for a while.
We end up in Hemphill, Tx and we stop at a nice diner that I know of. The Steak Fajita Quesadillas are today’s special – tasty.
After lunch, we cross the bend on Hwy 6 back into Louisiana. We are taking our time, riding the twistier roads and really enjoying the bikes. The weather is perfect – about 60 degrees and very sunny. We ended up in the town of Florien Louisiana and stop for gas. A quick check of the map reveals that we are close to Hwy 118. I remember riding that road a year or two ago. It was real twisty but as a logging road, it was kind of beat up. I asked Mike if he wanted to give it a try. Boy am I glad he said yes!!! Fresh asphalt – I mean brand spanking new. The rain has washed all of the debris off the road, and we are greeted to 21 miles of this.
I ripped these bunny hops at about 80 mph and lost my stomach more than once. What a hoot!!!
Here comes Mike down the roller coaster. Yee Ha!!!
When the sport bike riders get wind of this, they will be all over it. Then the cops will show up and it will be over. But for now, what a good time.
BION, that was the last picture I took. We wandered Southeast to the town of Forest Hill where we stopped to stretch our legs. From there, we slabbed the last 60 miles south back to Lafayette.
If this is what motorcycle camping is like, then Mike’s absolutely right. There’s no turning back now.
