Oh Lord, stuck in Mobile again...

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John's Journal

Day Eleven

Mileage- approx. 160 miles

Route- Hwy 90

The rest of the group parted ways early this afternoon. Wendy & Matthew had a 1:30pm flight and I wanted to get back on the road. It was funny for everyone else, because they will all see each other later tonight or soon after. For me, it seemed as though I should have been going back with them, too.

I was afraid of feeling a bit melancholy after we all split up. You know, spending that much time together and then me going off by myself. The good thing is that I have many more adventures ahead of me!

I took Hwy 90 to Mobile, AL which runs along the Gulf Coast. The skies were overcast and kind of gloomy (rain ??), but opened up a bit the farther I got away from New Orleans. Today's ride is a short one over to Mobile to see my cousin Anne. I liked not being on the highway, going through some small towns, but also having a few parts that were faster moving, too. I passed through some nice wide, white, sandy beaches and went over some little 2-lane bridges.

One bridge we had to stop for about 5 minutes to let a boat go through. However, it was not your typical drawbridge. This one you might call a swingbridge as it swung sideways to let the boat pass. I don't think I have seen one before. The was the typical drawbridge kind, too.

I had flashbacks along the way when I witnessed all the casinos along the coast. AAARRRGGGHHH! Not Vegas, again! I just got through that a few weeks ago. (For those of you who don't know, there was a yearly convention there where it is just hell trying to avoid all the casinos, since we had to work like dogs setting everything up and then stand up and talk to customers for 4 days.) But, I made it through without stopping!

I pulled into my cousin Anne's house around 5:30pm, I freshen up from the ride (boy, sure is nice to have a short day of riding every now and then!), she offers me a beer and some snacks and we sit down on the lovely back porch to chat. As I think I already said, we don't really know each other too much as adults, well, at least since I have sort of been one, that is, so it was good to have the time to do so. I got into town late enough that a tour was not going to work out today, but tomorrow morning we shall.

Her friend, Lois, the actual owner of the house, arrived shortly and started in on a wonderful dinner. While we were on the porch before dinner, Anne and I found that we had a connection regarding Macintoshes and the internet (no pun intended). I wanted her to see my www page, and she was having some problems. After dinner, I could not help, but tried anyway.

They had some good friends come over after dinner for a great strawberry pie with whipped cream. Mmm, mmm, good. It was good to see some again (Patty, the now near-fully grown-up 11-year old that I first met at the Henkel family reunion 2 summers ago) and some for the first time. They were all great fun with very funny stories. Of course, everyone wanted to know about the trip, see the motorcycle, but I think they just wanted to see an actual relative of Anne's.

It's late, once, again. I am sad to have left my good friends from San Francisco, but happy about seeing other good friends and family coming up!