Club Rides 2023
May 17
Riders: Tommy, Antoine, Brandon
Destination: Kenner Seafood - Kenner
Comments: Antoine, Tommy, and Brandon took a nice albeit bumpy ride on 3127 to Kenner Seafood. After a good meal and conversation, we headed back on Hwy 90 to Raceland making it home before the sun fully set.
May 20
Riders: Tommy, Brandon, Matt
Destination: Elsie’s Plate and Pie - Baton Rouge
Comments: Tommy, Brandon, and Matt crossed the Sunshine Bridge and rode the River Road all the way to Downtown Baton Rouge. Our destination was Elsie’s Plate and Pie on Government St. There was no wait for a table, but the wait for the food took quite some time. If you ask me, it was well worth the wait. I can’t speak for Tommy’s burger or Matt’s Atchafalaya crab cakes, but that Seafood Pie was delicious. We returned by the same route.
May 25 thru 28
Riders: Tommy and Antoine
Destination: Decatur, AL
Comments: We left Thursday morning for a trip thru Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. The trip destination was visit friends of ours in Decatur AL. We rode US 61 to Natchez, then onto the Natchez Trace heading for our first night destination of Tupelo, MS. Traffic was almost non-existant until we neared Tupelo. Due to a confusing highway turn off to our motel, we missed that turn and ended up riding way out of our way to return to the turn to our motel. After a great meal at Texas Roadhouse and a fuel run, we called it a night.
Friday morning we continued on the Trace until we reached the closed section and had to exit on MS 25. From there we took US 72 East heading to the BMW dealership in Huntsville to replace my front tire. While there, the BMW technician found that my rear brake was not functioning properly. He flushed the brake fluid and bled the brake lines with no improvement. He determined that I needed to replace my rear master cylinder which they did not have in stock. For the remainder of the trip, I had to pump the rear brake pedal to get some rear braking, but had full front braking action. We left the shop later that afternoon and took a scenic route to the Werstler's home.
Saturday, we followed Tom & Pam to meet up with a couple of the Alabama BMW Club members at the Stash House cafe near Cullman AL. After a good meal, Tom led us back on another meandering route.
Sunday dawned cloudy and cool. We left the Werstler's home and headed to Ditto Landing, the former site of the yearly Chicken Rally in Huntsville. The pavillion at Ditto Landing has not changed much since the rally was last held there. After pictures were taken, I led the group on the scenic ride that I previously led riders on for years to the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg TN. Arriving in Lynchburg at lunch time we went to the Lagnaippe Retaurant ( previously known as the Iron Kettle and Lynchburg Fixins under different ownership) owned and operated by New Orleans born Certified Executive Chef Rod Stutts and his family. As expected the menu has a definite New Orleans flavor.
After a good meal, we walked over the the Jack Daniels Distillery to visit the Squire House. Antoine, Tom, and I are Jack Daniels Squires, members who each "own a square inch of property" at the distillery. On each visit to the Squire House, we are given souvenirs, an engraved shot glass and key ring. In the past the souvenirs used to include an engraved drinking glass with the name of the current Master Distiller and also a small sample bottle of one of their whiskey blends. Over the years, the glass and sample bottles were eliminated. After taking some photos, Tom led us back to his home in Decatur.
Monday, was a travel home day for Antoine and I. We left Decatur with temperature at 58 degrees, but by the time we got to Louisiana it was in the upper 80's and lower 90's.
Tommy