For the past five years, we have chased away the “winter blahs” by taking a March vacation riding our 2000 1500cc Aspencade with Dale and Jackie Crowl of Chapter B in Mansfield, Ohio, who ride a 2004 1800cc.  Having vacationed in Arizona and Georgia in the past, we decided to trailer the bikes to Clarksville, Texas.  On our journey there, we decided to spend the night in Sikeston, Missouri, and eat at the famous Lambert’s Café, home of the throwed rolls.   A snowstorm hit overnight, and when we started out the next day SR 55 was covered with two inches of ice and snow.  The only two exit ramps were closed due to jack-knifed trucks.  It took us 4½ hours to go 100 miles!  We were just glad we weren’t on the bikes.

Leaving our trucks and trailers in Clarksville, we began our vacation by taking a leisurely ride through Louisiana on our way to New Orleans, sticking to secondary roads.  The ride across the 25-mile long bridge over Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans was beautiful.  Once in New Orleans, we sampled some real Cajun cooking before taking a bus tour around the city and into the parts of town hit by Hurricane Katrina.  We even saw the eco-friendly homes the Brad Pitt Foundation is building in the Ninth Ward that was hit so hard by the hurricane.

Leaving New Orleans, we traveled back to Texas and rode down the coastline outside of Galveston.  Nothing could have prepared us for the devastation we witnessed caused by Hurricane Ike in September 2008.  The entire area looked like a war zone.  Hundreds of homes and businesses were totally destroyed and hundreds of others still stand with walls missing.  We even had to change our route because two sections of the highway were washed away.  After witnessing such devastation, we were ready for something to lighten our mood so we headed for the rodeo in Houston and a Reba McEntire concert.

From Houston, it was on to San Antonio where we took a trolley tour around town stopping to tour the San Jośe Mission and the Alamo.  After the tour, we took a 45-minute boat ride on the Colorado River at the world famous Riverwalk.  Leaving San Antonio, we started heading back north, stopping to visit friends and relatives along the way who treated us to their Texas hospitality with BBQ cookouts.  We ate so much we could hardly get back on the bikes to head back to our motel!

During our travels we rode over 2,700 miles, meeting many fellow GWRRA members along the way.  Every Member we met told us of places to go and things to do in their area.  With the exception of three rainy days spent in our motel rooms, the weather was great and the company even better.  We are already making plans for our vacation next year together.  If you have never taken any extended trip on your Gold Wing, you don’t know what you are missing!