Story & Photos by Jeff Davison
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he route was just obscure enough that there was
not even a Welcome sign. But the Cajun accent that
greeted me at a roadside stand serving shrimp and
crawdads told me exactly where I was. Other clues
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house trailer and Linda Ronstadt’s “Blue Bayou” was playing
in my head. It was not on my itinerary to explore Louisiana,
but as I traversed its northern width, a siren song began calling
my V-strom 650 south toward New Orleans. The conversation
between the voices, murmuring into each ear from my shoul
ders, went like this:
“It’s a four-hour ride one way on the bike.”
“Yeah, but it’s a four-hour ride one way on the bike.”
And that settled it. Highway 71 led through small towns
like Montgomery and Colfax, as well as through the congestion
of Baton Rouge. Approaching “Nawlins,” I began to see moss
hanging from every tree and the highways became long, low
bridges that skimmed above the spillways and bayous below. I
checked into India House Hostel, where I found a comfortable bed
and, even more important, air conditioning. In the humidity of the
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to the French Quarter, where I enjoyed historic Jackson Square
and the bustling nightlife of Bourbon Street. Even on a weeknight,
the clubs were jumping and the buskers were hustling, and an
ambitious speaker of Creole convinced me that my boots needed
shining. In the downtown core, I rode past a small tent city of
homeless people taking shelter under a tangle of overpasses, then
past the sports dome where thousands had taken shelter during
Hurricane Katrina.
Ahead of the Storm
At 5:30 a.m., I was awakened by a roll of thunder and suddenly
remembered some of the guests discussing a tropical storm forecast
for the weekend. I decided to get up and on my way, hoping to
see a few more sights before I headed north and, hopefully, out
of the storm’s path. I arrived before the gates opened at Lafayette
Cemetery No.1 in the Garden District. The district is famous Remnants of Mardi Gras past hang in neighbourhood trees.
Jackson Square, site of the LouisianaPurchase in 1803, was designed afterthe famous 17th-century Place desVosges in Paris, France.