USA Tour Day 3 New Orleans - Houston Texas
Another long day ahead so we started early John Natrass had been on the tea the night before and felt his usual weary self. We set off over the Mississippi again and US 90 making a quick fuel stop. Two of our group went for a lower grade fuel which was to be a bad mistake. A few hundred yards along the road I noticed Tom's Deuce was puffing grey smoke at each gear change and brought it to his attention. He stopped at a gas station and I chased on to stop the rest of the group. Turns out him and Steve had a bad batch of gas but after draining and refilling we were back on the road. Through Houma and we took a sudden detour as Ron decided to take us to a graveyard at Franklin. This turns out to be where the graveyard scene in Easyrider was filmed so we stopped and posed for some photos. Isn't life fun?On we went to Lafayette where we were to collect two more party members. As we gassed up prior to going to the house there was a sudden entrance by a truck which disgorged a wild red-haired woman like a small whirlwind. " Y'all don't know it yet but am ridin' with y'all " she announced. This was our introduction to Cindy Backer!! She invited us all back to the house for beer and sandwiches and to meet Ted. Ted was a different kettle of fish, as laid back as Cindy is bouncy with a real slow Missouri drawl and dry sense of humour.
Onto the I10 for a quick blast to Houston to get to Jim Galford's house. Texas announced itself with a thunderstorm that we got caught in before we could stop and we got soaked. We turned off and stopped for shelter where we met a local and his girl with the same idea. After 20 -30 minutes we could see it was clearing in the direction we were headed and being soaked already we decided to make a run and dry off as we went. The poor Texan guy stood in amazement as our intrepid band headed off into the rain again. How could the poor fool have known how tough we Jocks and Geordies are and that we get "cold" rain!!
On the road and out of the thunder and lightening we soon dried off in the sun and felt good again. The flat terrain allowed us to see Houston from a distance, the skyscrapers poking out of a yellow haze of smog. We traversed the outskirts of the city centre admiring the huge stadium in the centre. Mile after mile of city passed us by then thinned out to the flatter suburbs. The posse pulled into a gas station near Jim's house where the three kilt bearers changed into their kilts and the rest freshened up. On the bikes again and round to Jim's passing into the housing estate through the "hole in the wall" which surrounded it. This was where Jim had taken the title of our group from and christened us the "Hole in the Wall Gang"
We met the final group member, Bob Hardin along with oodles of Jim's friends and family who had been invited to help us party. Jim had laid on food and drink to excess and we did our best to finish it off making sure we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Jim and I donned our "See You Jimmy" hats to get a photo which symbolises the close ties with Scotland in the group…..bollocks we were pissed and got caught on camera with stupid hats on.
Another one of many great nights on the tour.
