This morning it was actually a little foggy in Alexandria, but that didn’t last long.  Soon it cleared and the sun was warming things up.  I was still on hwy 84 but somewhere along the way my GPS gave me a turn that put me on county road 8.  Now I’ve been rather unkind with my criticism of Louisiana roads in the past, but this was a very good road.  Almost no traffic and very smooth – this road is one I’ll remember as a very pleasant exception to the Louisiana bad road rule of thumb.  It actually seems like the road is getting better the closer to the Texas state line I get.

Well – this explains a lot.  Great – no cell coverage so I can take a look at Google maps and plan an alternate route.  Let the adventure begin.  I head back east and take the first turn I come to; it happened to be southbound.  And, it actually turned out okay – only cost me 30 minutes or so.  But this bridge looks like it’s been out for a LONG time.  I’ve updated my maps on the GPS so I’m a little disappointed about that but whatever – all part of the adventure.

Buying water in a gas station is difficult in some places.  I guess people think – “Water, what, you want people to pay for water?  Water is free, look around you it’s everywhere.”  Louisiana is one of those places.  They have one brand of water, it’s about 80 cents a liter and the bottle and labeling looks like something somebody put together in their back yard.  I bought a bottle of this “water” and then I saw these Chick-O-Sticks.  I’ve heard that these things are awful, but I’m gonna see for myself.  On the wrapper it says crunchy peanut butter and toasted coconut candy.  So with an open mind I tried it – Yuck.

The reason I picked College Station is that they have a Harley dealer here and I need to get my oil changed.  I have all the stuff to do it myself but it can be a mess and it doesn’t cost all that much to get it done.  I rolled into Independence Harley Davidson about 2:00 and they got me in and out and even washed and oiled my air cleaner.  After all that rain in Florida I’m sure it needed some attention.  Anyway – big shout out and thank you to the service dept at Independence H/D.

College Station is called that because it’s home to Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University – or Texas A&M for short. It’s the states first public institution of higher learning and has been making Aggies smarter since 1876.  My grandmother went to college here and my father was all set up to go to veterinary school here before he had to put plan B into effect.  It’s a big enough town to have a Harley dealership and that’s why I’m here; otherwise it’s San Antonio or El Paso & I don’t really like either of those towns.

First Day of summer is coming up tomorrow – my dad in Phoenix says that it’s supposed to be 120 there on Saturday, that should be fun & my wife says it’s Africa Hot there in Thousand Oaks – looks like I’m going to be riding into a furnace…