Day 4: Pensacola FL to Zachary, LA

The minute we walked out of the hotel, we were ready for another shower. So hot and nasty.




Lost another hour at the Pensacola dealership so some of our crew could get t-shirts.



Driving near the Pensacola Naval Air base, where the Blue Angels are based.

In the distance here you can see all the tall beachfront hotels along the coast.  I knew a beach would be nearby.

I turned into a public beach somewhere along the gulf coast. 4 of us jumped in and cooled off in the waves.

No sign of the deepwater horizon polution here!

We felt some skin irritation on our legs while we were swimming. Then I saw a jellyfish in the water. Freaky! The stings were annoying, but I really was creeped out by the idea of swimming with them. They're freaky enough watching them through aquarium glass.

Click on this picture and spot the jellyfish!

This may have been the highlight of my whole day.  It was SOOOOO hot outside.

Continuing westbound, we made it to Port Morgan, AL and caught the ferry to Dauphin Island.

It was about a 30 minute ride. No shade on the boat in 100 degree weather.

Finally getting off the boat! So hot!

20 minutes after we got off the ferry, we gassed up and found this dumpy looking place:






It took us a while before we were sure they were even open.






Fried pickles and ranch dressing. Pretty hard to screw up.






Sausage po'boy. Not that great.






We were able to park our bikes under the shade of a big tree. Thank you to whomever planted that thing a hundred years ago.






We crossed from Alabama into Mississippi and it was nothing but unbearable heat, traffic, and stop lights. We pride ourselves on avoiding interstates, but we needed to pick up the pace so we got on the I-10 after getting a drink here:






90 minutes later, we were in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Doug stayed with the bikes. Apparently one trip here is all you need.






Mom and any other tender-hearted readers--don't look too closely at this picture of a dude either passed out or dead on the sidewalk.






The architecture was cool to see. The rest of the French Quarter smelled like the dude above (again--don't look to closely!).




















Bourbon Street is the main drag of the French Quarter. There were a lot of people. And a lot of really scummy places. Doug was right--once is enough.













I needed to try some jambalaya here, knowing it would be next to impossible to be better than the Gumbo Pot's in Los Angeles. I was right. Nowhere near as good.






I tried deep fried alligator. Takes a while to chew...imagine chewing on a chunk of tire.






Bret ordered these shrimp. I don't do shrimp.






I do do bread pudding though. It was ok. I was a little disappointed not to have banana pudding a third day in a row.






(napkin photo booth courtesy of Tim)

Bret stayed in New Orleans to get his bike serviced at the dealership there. We headed to Baton Rouge and I alone killed several thousand bugs. Cleaned the windshield in Baton Rouge and drove in a nice and cool 80 degrees to our hotel in Zachary, LA.






Nice to be here after a long, HOT day.






Planning on making it to Little Rock, AR tomorrow night. Please comment if you read this!