“So, what brings you to Cajun country?”

“So, what brings you to Cajun country?”

Those words were uttered as I looked up from my table at Micky’s Family Restaurant in Kendall, Louisiana, by a young man, who stood by my table.  This was the second encounter with a curious passerby in this establishment.  The answer should have been, “Divine appointments”.  Instead, I just went on to explain to him, as I had done earlier to the curious, young waitress, that I was on a fund-raiser and awareness campaign, to support victims of human trafficking.

The started with Sandra poking me to wake up.  I had set my alarm for 6 o’clock, but failed to notice that it was set for weekdays only, so instead of being up at 6, I was awakened at 6:40.  This would not have been so bad, except for the fact that my friends Mel, and Matt, who had committed to see me off, and ride with me for a while, were supposed to arrive at our house at 6:30.  Sure enough, as I ran to the window I saw Mel patiently sitting on his black, pin-striped BMW R1200R, waiting outside the house.  I quickly let him in, and set up a pot of water to make turkish coffee.  Joe and Matt arrived shortly afterwards, and between prepping and getting ready, time passed in a blur.

We still managed to take off shortly after seven, so the schedule did not get messed up to badly.  It was especially good to see Matt come along, riding like a champ, on his red Suzuki SV-650.  We took I-10 East, then head North-East for a short while, and hooking then East onto the old 90 road.  Matt was the first to peel off.  It was actually at that point that we noticed Joe had been following us too, in his smart car.  The rest of us kept going until we reached the Liberty bridge.  I had already planed a stop there.  What a better Kodak moment for the freedom ride.  Joe turned back to Houston from there, and Mel and I kept on, making goof time until we reached the Louisiana border.

Liberty

From there on I was on my own.  I spent the day cruising down LA-14, one of the Louisiana scenic roads.  The landscape, while quite flat, offered an ever changing set of vistas of rice, sorghum and sugar cane fields.  The road offered twists and turns quite often, and I must say, the BeMWu handled it all with aplomb.  Like the agricultural tractor it is often compared to, it pulled like a freight train, and handled like a hot knife cutting through butter.  Birds adorned the sides of the road, and often flew in formation above me.  Bugs did not fall behind, though they often made their presence known by crashing into my arms or face.  It is quite amazing, how such a delicate, little mass can hurt when it crashes against a moving body at over 100 km/h.

Around 12:30 I started feeling hungry, but knot wanting to break one of the rules of the road trip, no chain restaurants, I was having a hard time finding a place to eat.  I finally ran across Micky’s where the faithful encounters with two curious, and not so-shy people, allowed me to share the mission of this trip.

After filling my stomach with a fried catfish po-boy, and some fries, I hit the road again, riding past some amazing draw bridges, and the fantastic industrial sites of Morgan, Louisiana. From there, it was a short ride to New Orleans, surrounded by the swamps, with its magnificent cypresses, their knees peeking above the water all around.

Around 4 in the afternoon I made it to my camp site.  I pitched the tent, and headed into New Orleans.  As I approached it from the west, I was greeted by a polished super-dome on one side, while the tombs and mausoleums of the old NoLins cemetery quietly cast a shadow on the other side.

After a short ride in the French Quarter I managed to secure a parking spot on the street, and headed to the old market, where an older Vietnamese man served me a cafe au-lait, and beignetes at the Cafe Du Monde.  While I sat there, jazz musicians entertained the crowd, and an elderly black man sang some of the music we so love at City of Refuge Church.

I am now sitting, next to my tent, jotting these notes as the cicadas compete with the rap tunes of the neighboring housing complex.  It has been a great day.  The Lord has kept me safe, and the prayers of friends and family support me on this journey.
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This entry is dedicated to Matthias Kuch, on his birthday.  He is an awesome friends, grea family man, and a tremendous example to all of us fortunate enough to count him as a brother.