2nd August, 2016.
Day 11.
Departure day.
4:00 a.m. and it was already 88’F and very humid. I could smell the salt in the sea breeze (Took my mind immediately back to and felt just like the conditions in the tropics).
With vigor and excitement I set off into the still dark morning to rendezvous with “Buster”.
Jeff was not able to make it. Sleep had the better of him.
“Buster” and I pulled into the Exxon gas station at the intersection of S.P.I.D. (South Padre Island Drive, a.k.a. TX 358 and S. Staples St. at almost the same time we had agreed on together.
I noticed he was sporting a new pair of driving lights on Old Silver, as he called her - his BMW R1100 RT.
Promptly, we headed out into the dark of the morning, past the refineries and out of the city towards Refugio, TX.
It was pitch dark along TX 59. Not a light in sight except for those of the Honda and BMW. Fog slowly blanketed us, reducing our visibility and forcing us to slow down from our already sedate cruising speed. Chances of a deer strike at this time of day were high and real.
Extra lights on the BMW came on. His amber fog lights pierced the dark foggy morning effortlessly, giving me improved visibility even being at that distance ahead of him. Impressive. These Clearwater brand of lights were worth looking at and to be researched. I made a mental note of that.
Well, as all good things come to an end, we arrived in Refugio and pulled into the Snappy Foods convenience store parking lot and spent a little while chatting and finally bidding each other farewell. A quick “selfie” together and we promptly parted ways.
He needed to make it back in time for work in Corpus Christi.
So now at 5:30 a.m. prompt, the ST and I headed in the opposite direction away from Corpus Christi into the still-dark morning, northwards along TX 59.
Sunrise at 7:00 a.m. found me in Ganado, TX.
I pulled off the highway for some “wake-up” time.
I was surrounded by silence and solitude. It is times like this that I cherish and appreciate so much. Out on the open road, I get to think of all my various blessings in this particular aspect of my life. That which I am so grateful to experience and hope to share with others in the hope that it will be infectious enough to get them to experience it for themselves.
Looking ahead to my journey, I would be traveling “point-to point” or destination to destination.
I had not chosen any specific places to visit and this stretch of the country was nothing but Interstate traveling through a lot of industrialized areas.
The plan was to knock down the miles, traverse the states and get to overnight destinations along the way.
One of my pre-determined stops along the way though, was to be in Prattville, AL.

In search of "Bamarider".
Fast rewind to September 2007.
My ongoing search for an ST model Honda was actively underway.
Through the magic of internet searches, I was totally immersed in my computer each and every day and night. I was scouring every page of results that I was linked to, through which I came across information leading to a gentleman who seemed to have so much background with respect to experiences in life pertaining to motorcycles, in common with me.
Naturally this stoked my curiosity.
I found it uncannily interesting that this person, worlds apart from me and of a totally different background had so much in common with me, with respect to my thoughts about and passion for motorcycling.
I thought I was the only person in this world who was this passionate about motorcycles and traveling, enough to dream about and have such a great desire to get on a machine and ride off to far away places of personal interest.
How wrong I found out I was!
My dreams and wishes - he had lived them all already!
Many times over.
I would love to meet him and hear his stories and experiences.
Experiences that seemed to run a strong parallel with some of mine, from half way across the world.
I have subsequently come to experience and witness in life that we are all very similar in a lot of ways, no matter where we come from.
So as the months rolled into years, I persistently and continuously began to try to find a way to get to meet this person one day, if possible.
For a couple of years gone by, I had all but given up because to date my efforts had come pretty close to, but not yielded the end result I was hoping for.
So as I began to plan this trip, thoughts of him crossed my mind, knowing that I would be passing through the state in which I had come to know he lived in, I decided to put in another effort.
Again, with continued concerted efforts and through the magic of the internet I was able to make contact with him 3 months before embarking on this present trip/tour.
I was excited.
I was anxious.
I was nervous.
I hoped he wouldn’t think I was some kind of a “wierdo”.
So with his current address in hand, I sent a letter describing my self in brief detail and how and why this had all come to this point for me.
Needless to mention I was overjoyed when he responded, saying that he would be more than glad to meet me as well.
Now, 9 years later, he and I were on a path to finally get to meet each other.
I looked forward to that.
I had so much I wanted to share with him - stories from my background that seemed to run such a parallel with his, although as I had said we were of such different backgrounds, and I was even more so excited to hear more of his stories of life on the road as well.
So back to the present time, I kept my eye on my next destination for the trip.
Not having the luxury of much time to accommodate all the miles I needed to traverse back to Ohio, I needed to stay on the Interstate highway system in order to manage the journey and destinations I had planned for this return journey.
I “pounded” the highway all the way to Breaux Bridge, LA. my only excitement being an extremely strong thunderstorm and rain which forced me off the highway for about an hour.
The rain so heavy, I could not make out vehicles in front of me!
It was a clap of thunder and the sound of a lightning strike (which felt like it was right next to me) that made me exit the highway at my earliest opportunity after that.
Boy was it scary!
My stuffed animals, ahem, I mean my pillion riders, were instantly drenched/soaked. I had to get them to shelter.
All this time, they never complained one single bit! They are such great riding companions!
As I recall it, on all the rides/tours we have taken together, they’ve never complained one single time - never complained about the ride being too fast, too slow, too hot, too cold, too wet, too scary, too far …………….
I mean these guys are great!
They’ve never even asked me to pull over for a “potty break”.
I couldn’t ask for better riding companions!
So I ducked into a Shell gas station and took advantage of their gas pump island for shelter from the rain and now submerged road. Cars going by were deep in water up to their rims.
Within seconds, other motorcyclists rolled into the station and joined me and a handful of cars here under the roof.
They were In the same boat as I was!
We had become a gathering of shelter-seekers and with that in common, conversation flowed freely.
We were all curious about each other and exchanged our stories amongst each other.
It made the time go by so quickly and after what seemed to be such a short period of time, the downpour of rain subsided and water drained off the streets.
As the remaining clouds shed what was left of their water, the sun began to peek out, signaling safer conditions for us all to resume our individual journeys.
I rolled into Breaux Bridge and checked into a hotel/motel.
A typical industrialized town, birthed around the oil industry, the parking lot “smacked” of traveling representatives of various oil industry support services, truck loads of tools, materials and parts for the various companies and a handful of journeying tourists like myself.
A good shower, and dinner (a hamburger I picked up just ahead of my arrival here) and I was ready for some good sleep.
So with phone calls dispensed with I settled in for a good nights’ sleep.
It had been a 494 mi (790 km) riding day. Tomorrow was to be more of the same. Another 400+ mi. (640+ km)-day was in the plans.
The plan was to continue eastwards across Mississippi, Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle then turn north and back into Alabama.
I would be getting off the Interstate highway system after Prattville in order to experience and enjoy some more Appalachian Mountain riding.
All was good.