Hurricane interruption

Well I was ready for a great ride but mother nature intervened.
I rode the river to Audubon Park, from there I toured Uptown on the way to the quarter.
Took a few pictures. One is a pic of Erato St. it's a brick or cobblestone street that still
has streetcar tracks from years past. Another is the Greater St. Stephens Catholic Church,
where else can you find a German Gothic architecture Roman Catholic Church in a French Spanish City, and naturally across the street from the church is a large bar room.
I've enclosed a self portrait, The picture of the house on the corner was once the office of Dr Mattingly. Dr Mattingly was our family Dr. but back then his office was as grandiose as it is now.
impressive.
Then I heard it on the Radio, Hurricane central , hurricane ,what ever her name is, is heading for us. OH OH, I headed home with great speed, wound up with 40 miles anyway. Marie went to fill up with gas I went to the grocery, boarded up the windows, picked up the yard, covered the turbines on the roof. See house picture of hurricane preparedness. What a pain in the ass.
Packed up our clothes, Stacy has rooms in Beaumont. She's 9 months pregnant,
I'm against the trip but my vote isn't counted. I'm packed but not sure where I'm going, but was told I'm getting out of here. Will ask Uncle Elster and Aunt Essel if we can stay with them in Baton Rouge, or if the storm moves to the east a little may try to stay at Stacy's. It would be a good time to visit Jimmy, Peggy, Erin and Allison in New Jersey If your interested in hurricane conditions call me on my cell 504-388-7534, I'll be reporting... and taking pictures. .
later
gary

Sunday Morning Smooth ride.

Got up at 6:00 am started to ride at 6:30. Stepped outside to be greeted by sprinkle of rain.
NO problem, don't stop nothing, had to leave the camera home, put my phone and mp3 player in plastic sandwich bags and headed out. The temperature was great, si never did rain and
my legs felt great, I felt like I flew through 30 miles in no time. You have to have a flood of
endorfins crowding you head to really appreciate Gods creations. The trees, the sky, the birds,
the insects, music, the sprinkling rain. What a feeling, I love this sport..
NO pictures today , but hey still a great ride.. 75 mile weekend. Time's running out , gotta to add some miles next few weeks. . .

What a hot one.

Had a great ride today, 45 miles in 92 degree heat. Slept late, didn't start out till about 8:30
rode to the quarter and didn't want to leave, the streets were shady and cool, still rich with the air conditioning that poured out the night before, I was there till about 10:00, there were a lot of people out and about by then. I spent some time stopping to take photographs, listened to some music and posed for a few tourist pictures, It was so hot I spent some time diving off bridges into the water to cool off. The silver bridge over Bayou St John, The Lakefront bridge over Bayou St John and the Greater New Orleans over the Mississippi, very cooling . I also spent some time looking for Rus and Tone'. They were supposed to be in the quarter this morning so I checked there usual spots, never did find them. Stopped at Ursuline Convent and asked a Nun
if they'd been there, she laughed so hard she dropped her habit, smoking and gambling. Ha,ha,.
Stopped to watch someone paragliding at the beach. Looked exciting, think I may need to try it sometime. It's was too hot to get too philosophical, just pushed through the ride. Enjoyed the sights, enclosed a picture of a real Streetcar. . Exhausted, time to recover and eat everything in sight.
I love this sport,
later
gary

Great Sunday Ride.

Had a great ride today, 35 miles on top of the 45 yesterday makes a great weekend.
Rode the River Levee today. Hot, boring but smooth and fast. Ran into Frank, he was jogging.
When I say the river rats at the Grain Elevators are big, I mean big, I had to stop and fight one to get by.
I was so far from home I ran into a herd of Zebra.. They just watched me go by, no problem.
toward the end of my adventure I had to duke it out with Godzilla, he allowed me to pass.
Needless to say I had plenty of time to think on this ride and cleared up a few things in my mind.
My imagination went wild , thank goodness, things were beginning to get boring. 80 mile weekend, getting there......
later
gary

Hot Saturday

Great Day, Slept late, started riding at about 8:30. Started at the lakefront, rode down Canal to the quarter the followed Bayou St. John to the Lakefront. Great weather , no toothache, no flats,
no broken spokes or bones, nothing but me , nature and hot weather. I took it slow,
watched my hydration. I was able to sneak in 45 miles. Passed through my old neighborhood,
hadn't in a while, passed by the Dixie Brewery, as kid I could lay in bed at night, windows open with the big window fan sucking in the outside air that smelled of that sweet corn cooking at the brewery. Passed by Fretags Bakery, no longer Fretags bakery ( best Eclairs on the planet)but the building is still there.
Got a picture of a real neutral ground, Galvez St neutral ground with a walk down the middle and grass on the side for playing football, flying kites and for hiding when your throwing water balloons into the open windows of the busses that come by. Found my next bike purchase, picture enclosed, went down Palmyra St. It's not too different, the house I grew up in is still there, I thinks it's in the National Historic Building Registry as the house Gary Gauthier grew up in, yeah, right. . Stopped to photo the new streetcars on Canal Street, I'm not happy with them , they have air conditioning, they are red and don't make those screeching noise that streetcars make. The originals are still on St Charles Ave. I hope they keep the old green ones going.
Last week I put up Bourbon St. in the morning , this week it's neighbor, Royal St.
some asked for a more closeup of me, so I enclosed a closeup of me. . (self portrait)
The food was smelling great, bacon, coffee, bienets, cafe o' lait, and leftover beer scuzz from the night before. mixed all together it smells like cotton candy.
Its been a great day, I hope for a great tomorrow, or even a tomorrow will be fine.
Never forget what that great philosopher "Dorothy " said. Toto, I don't think were
in Kansas anymore. No shit Dorothy, wake up , she had to have been from Chalmette or Weggaman prior to movng to Kansas.

later
gary

Sunday Morning

Drove to the Lakefront again to ride, didn't want to get too far from vehicle in case tooth acted up. Decided to go across lakefront west end to east end and back, 10 miles per trip.
If you've ever gone to Pontchatrain Beach Amusement Park to swim in the pool, or wade in the lake, or ride the rides or see your favorite act or just hang out, well it hasn't moved.
The Park is gone but the lighthouse at the entrance is still there, the beach is still there and
accessible and usable and on the beach picture I've posted you can see the Wild Mouse base house in the far left. I had to stop and get some sand on my feet. Its was breezy , I was struggling against the wind but no mind, I stayed focused, listened to breakfast with the Beatles.
Climbed the Bayou St. John Bridge twice. When I hit 20 miles my tooth started to throb.
I pushed 3 or 4 miles real hard then called it a day. did 25 miles.Next week I'll have to work harder and longer. At least I didn't break a spoke. Got to get to the dentist.
later
gary

Beautiful day

What a beautiful day, not too hot, sunshine , clear and dry. Did a hard fast 12 last night ,
even worked Frank to a sweat. Parked at the Lakefront and took beautiful Canal Blvd and Canal Street to the Quarter. Good legs , plenty hydration , felt great. Rode around the quarter,
up and down Bourbon, Royal, and Decateur. Followed the street cleaners down Bourbon,
smelled the pork sausage frying at the restaurant's , they fry other things, but all you can smell is that pork sausage and sometimes bacon. I stopped to take a few pictures, Madison street was lonely, see if you can see the fish on the wall on the second floor, the River was very low and
a shot of me on Bourbon , it's empty early in the morning, but there's still plenty to see.
Late night drinkers, early morning tourist, club musicians going home, and street musicians
going to work. It was then I felt that throbbing in my left upper jaw, the blood pumping set off either a growing abscess or I have a cavity. That ruled the rest of the day. It progressively got worst but I continued on. I left the quarter and took beautiful Esplanade Ave toward the Lake,
If your not familiar with Esplanade Ave it's lined with oak trees and mansions.
Beautiful boulevard, shady and cool. I reached Bayou St John and took the daring ride on the cement ledge along the bank, it's about 15 inches wide, I can't help taking a chance , but no I didn't fall in today. I had moments of inspiration but my toothache didn't allow sustained good feelings. On the way to the Lake I stopped in City Park , I noticed all the out of state cars parked at Tad Gormey Stadium, it was the AAU Junior Olympics, big crowd plenty young athletes walking around . Stopped around the Lagoon to talk to the swans and found a oak tree that's almost as old as my American Legion buddies. . It was a tremendous tree with medusa hair looking trunks. Rested a few minutes and continued on , tooth hurting more and more.
Reached the Lakefront at 20 miles , called the Dentist on my cell phone, can't fit me in today,
did prescribe me some antibiotics, sound like an abscess growing. The wind was blowing briskly and the lakefront , not a lot of other riders, put 10 more miles and called it a day.
40 was my goal, did 30 with a toothache , still happy just not inspirational today.
The one thing great about life is tomorrow it starts all over. .
later
gary
ps: its 8:00 pm , tooth is feeling better...