You call yourselves fans?

I don't know how many the stadium holds, but there were only about 10,000 people there.  It was pretty tame and quiet during the whole close match, and then everyone got excited with the lead in the 8th.  I always route for the home teams, even if they are in our division, and I always wear my Red Sox jersey & hat.  I only paid $12 for Section Nosebleedteen, but sat down the first base line row 5.  Try finding an open seat in Fenway!  Game ended at 9:40p, streets cleared, pubs were light - everyone goes home early I guess.

From Minute Maid to Tropicana

I left a bit early Tue, and experienced a fantastic 200 miles of open road along the coast and through the woods.  Low 80 temps, hardly any cars, lights or...towns for that matter.  Riding early I can put on tons of miles with little concern.  Then after 11am the sun starts to boil your skin as the temps reached 95+ again.  I thought I left that in Houston, but I know the further south I go the worse it gets.

However, the last 70 miles were pure torture.  Not only is it a billion degrees, but there must have been one traffic light every mile!  It was like Nashua on repeat for the second half of the day (did I mention it was 70 miles?  Seriously, who needs that much commerce).  I thought of Chevy Chase saying, "look kids, Big Ben, Home Depot, McDonald's."  I swear I was doing loops because the same stretch of stores kept popping up.

I rolled into St. Petersburg with no destination, found the ball park and took the closest chain hotel I could find.  It's smart to ride in boots and jeans, but it sure is tough when it's this hot.  I later took a walk to the bay and found the Dali museum but didn't have time to go in.  It's kinda fun how the lizards are all over the sidewalks. They kept darting away my whole walk to Tropicana Field.

Journey to a Mullet Toss

Alabama was a blip on the map.  I stopped in Mobile and drove around looking for something fun, but it was just a down-town concrete jungle.  I headed straight for the coastline and found Pensacola, FL.  About 200 yards of "sugar sand" to the left and 100 more to the right, and this Gulf Road is literally in the Gulf.  I don't know how it doesn't wash away every year. 

I quickly ran out of road and headed up to Rt 98 passing signs for Niceville and Watercolor & through a wonderful little town called Destin.  People further along tell me it's only good for shopping, but the restaurants and atmostphere looked great.  I considered stopping there and the next five towns because it was getting late, and I was beat.  But the further I go each day means the less next day.  I came upon a bridge not on my GPS that headed out to a little island, so of course I had to check it out.  St. George's Island had a motel and bar, so I called it quits.  I was a little sad that I'll miss the Mullet Toss (until I found out later that it's also a fish), but the motel view was nice:

Last night offered no wifi, no cell service and poor gps reception! how's that for 'the lost florida coast'? Cool little island away from everything

Buffet Dinner

For dinner I tried a few new things: crawfish, crab & gumbo.  The first two are a lot of work to eat, but tasty.  I also had mussels, shrimp, ribs, cheese biscuits, mashed w/ gravy, and at least four desserts.  Technically I skipped breakfast and lunch today, so I had to make up for it.

TX -> LA -> MS

[Disjointed message because I missed a day of writing]

Internet access is proving hard to find in these parts. My aunt I'm staying with in MS doesn't even have an answering machine never mind a computer ;) Getting harder to steal wi-fi too!

Had breakfast Sat. just outside of Houston with a distant cousin, Robert.  He's been wanting to get a motorcylcle for a while, and I think this trip talked him into it.  That was before 365 miles in blistering heat, but on a highway built right through a swamp! 

When I crossed the Mississippi River, it was so high that it was nearly burstin at the seams.  The national guard was down there in Baton Rouge, and they wouldn't let anyone down on the river walkway.  The river crested almost a week ago, so I don't know why the big concern.

Last night was spent in the French Quarter. Like any good tourist, Randy and I stayed out until 3:30am. I got up first at 11:45am, but after getting ready realized I had to take off sooner than breakfast allowed. Today was a short ride of about 100 miles from New Orleans to Biloxi to the home of an aunt I have never met. My uncle died before I was born, and his wife Anna has been down here since. A friendly neighbor, Ed, who watches over her, came over for a quick visit as soon as I pulled up on the bike. He has an older Honda that hasn't been ridden in a long time. Tonight, Anna took me to her favorite weekend spot - the casino.

Tomorrow will be a long day. I'm not even sure how far Panama City, FL is, but I can also pull over at AnyTown if I get tired.  A friend recommended I visit the FloriBama bar at the border for lunch - we'll see if I can find it.

[Not much scenery down here.  Not like a snow-capped mountain every few miles like my last trip through Canada :)]

Nice coastal ride through the LA bayou - much more scenic and windy than interstate. Katrina wiped out all casinos and they rebuilt further inland

Standing in MS Bay on a cloudless night. nice temps in air/water. Lost $40 at casino but got free buffet and beers

Houston

Today was my "day off" from riding.  So what did I do?  I rode 135 miles to Galveston and back.  Houston is about 93°, and will be for the next many days.  Galvi was about 5-10° cooler and had a nice breeze off the Gulf, but I still got burned after applying SPF30 three times.

Tonight was the Astros game, and despite their 5-0 lead throughout most of the game they still managed to lose 7-6 to the Diamondbacks.  It was worth it in the end, though, because of Fireworks Friday.  Minute Maid Park makes my 30th ballpark.  There are currently 32, but I've seen few teams play at their new stadiums as well.  I still have yet to see the Rays, Marlins and Angels.

Rocking chair w/ ice cream and frozen daquari in Galveston. Rebuilt three years after it was obliterated in the hurricane

Breakfast

My first order of business was to find some food - my dinner consisted of approx. eight pretzles, 19 peanuts and some 90 proof "liquid pain medicine".  I walked straight to Minute Maid Park hoping to find not organge juice, but a diner.  I didn't see any, so I bought a ticket to tonight's HOU vs AZ game at 7pm.  Along the way back I passed a bail bondsman store on every corner...but no breakfast places - at least any that open before 11am.  Walking back along Main St. I found a few Irish pubs that will be visited after the ball game :)  Luckily I found a great breakfast cafe (along Houston's 'Bellagio-Lite' water fountains) that I also considered hitting tomorrow morning too...except they aren't open on weekends.  After tonight I will have just three more MLB parks to visit before "collecting the whole set."

Touchdown - Texans! Or rather...I landed in Houston

After a two hour delay to board in Manchester, we finally made it to Atlanta...about 13 minutes after my connecting flight to Houston was scheduled to take off.  Anyone who has been to "the world's busiest airport" knows that it's at least five miles (best estimate when rushing to find my connector) between gates.  After sitting on the tarmac for at least 20 minutes while the pilot apologized for ATL's poor airplane parking situation, I checked the departure board and saw that my second leg had not departed, but the status said CLOSED.  I booked it to the next gate section, and was the last one to board - basically hopping from the jetway to the plane.  After the taxi ride to downtown, I checked into the hotel at about 2:15 am (CST) and passed out.

Left my speedpass at home but remembered my jacknife. Thanks dad for turning around before i got to security!

Pre-trip anxiety

It's amusing to me that I have no reservations about driving the trip, but I'm starting to get anxious about all the little things before the trip.  Of course I've done this twice before, and this one is shorter in time and distance, but still a lot of things run through your mind on an adventure of this scale.  Did I stop the mail, did I call the credit card company, will my bike be ready at the dealer in Houston before I get there, is the furnace shut off...?  All of my clothes and wet-gear are already packed on the bike, so I only need a tiny carry-on for some electronic gizmos and my helmet.  Maybe I try and plan too much instead of just letting it be.