Day 7...maintenance and medicine

Day 7…Maintenance and Medicine

The theme song today is all about rising from the ashes…the bike got new fluids and a front tire and I got antibiotics for my foot.  With the right maintenance man and machine are both good to go…  Never Give Up...Never Surrender!

I have to give kudos to BMW of Baton Rouge.  I was there at 8am and the service department was primed and ready to go.  The full 12K checkup is rarely done in a day…but they knew I was on a mission and moved me to the front of the line.  I got a loaner bike (a crotch rocket that ran like a scalded dog) to use while mine was being worked on.

So back to the motel and I emailed photos of my inflamed stitches to my doctor…and waited.  Then I researched camera stores in Baton Rouge so I could get a replacement lens cap for my camera (mine went missing somewhere between Houston and Baton Rouge)…but there are no camera stores in Baton Rouge.  The consensus was that if there was one to be had it would be in Best Buy…but they didn’t open until 10AM…so I waited.

Back at the motel I was preparing to extend my room another day…but miracle of miracles, the bike shop called and said my bike was ready.  Really?   Then a couple of minutes later the doctor called and said he’d send a script for antibiotics that should do the job.

The bike WAS ready…they did everything but strip down to check the valves.  The head mechanic said the bike was running so well he didn’t think it was worth the cost to tear it down.  Instead, he said I should continue the ride and get the valves looked at when I get home. 

 

So I picked up the bike, packed it up and went to the pharmacy down the road for my prescription…it wasn’t ready.  So I went to Best Buy and they had the lens cap I needed.  Back to the pharmacy…and I waited…and waited.  An hour later I asked what the issue was and they told me my insurance company was experiencing issues and was offline.  I asked what the meds cost if I paid the whole amount…$12.  So I gave up on the insurance and just bought the pills. 

And I was back on the road.

How to describe my ride through coastal Louisiana and Mississippi?  Well, the operative word would be wet.  So wet that everything grows.  The trees are tall, the undergrowth thick, and the vines tie it all together to make it impenetrable.  In his science fiction book, Dune, Frank Herbert places the protagonist on the desert planet Arrakis...where water is beyond scarce.  The indigenous people, the Fremen, have a phrase for the ultra rich who actually BATHE in water... they call them "water-fat".   Louisiana is 'water-fat'. It has so much while parts of the country are baked and parched and in the throes of a multi-year drought.  It's a shame we can't take some of this liquid gold and give it to eastern Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas.

I got off the interstate as soon as I could and went down highway 190 to get a better feel for the state and its people.  Driving through the country was like driving down a green tunnel…with lots of little bridges spanning creeks, rivers, and bayous.  And of course the ever present Spanish moss to give a slightly creepy look.

 

 

I knew I wouldn’t get a full 300 miles today, but I did make it across the border into Mississippi.

 

The Gulf Coast beaches in Mississippi were nearly deserted at 5PM on a Monday... but the sand was white and powder fine and really quite inviting.  The 'Long Beach' area is full of beautiful beachside homes and has miles of unbroken beach.  There must be a sizeable shrimp industry along this coast.  At one point I rode past a fleet of boats that absolutely reeked of shrimp.  It made me want to roll up the windows!

 

 

The shadows were getting long so I stopped in Biloxi and took a room in the visiting officers quarters at Keesler AFB.  It is a huge VIP suite…but it was the last room on base and I got it for $50 for the night…not a bad deal. It is a very nice looking base... I'd nearly forgotten how neat and trim a military base can be.  The view out my window was across several acres of mown grass fields with the BX across the way.

I needed a couple of little things so I showered and walked over to the Base Exchange (BX) and mingled with all the young people who are either here for various training courses or as instructors for those courses.  It kinda made me feel old…but I was also proud that there is another generation of USAF warriors stepping up to the job and taking on the responsibility.

There was a T-33 (T-Bird) jet trainer from the 50s on display near the BX…it was the first airplane I ever rode in.  I was a cadet going to summer indoctrination in 1972 when I got my flight in the back seat with a pilot who had just returned from Viet Nam and was willing to show me aerobatics and simulated strafing runs.  I was hooked after that ride.

It is my goal to get as far down the coast of Florida as I can tomorrow…I’m packed, gassed up, and ready to get started.