If you missed our 13th annual Cajun Christmas weekend frolic deep in the heart of Cajun Country you missed a whole lot of fun! This years event was one of the best, and I have that from an excellent source: Long time Louisiana members David and Sherita Miller, who have been present for every event since it was first established by Ken Treas. David and Sherita attended with their two beautiful little girls, Samantha and Rachel. These two little angels got the unanimous vote for the worlds best behaved children. Their smiling faces brightened up the over cast weather and not a whine or whimper was heard from either of them the whole time.

Other Louisiana members present were State Co-directors Bob & Stacie Chappuis, Bill Ellis and Sherri Ourso and Drew Newcomer. Cajun Christmas veteran Max Hendrix on his resurrected ST1100 lead a motley crew of Texans, Gary Shuhart on a Yamaha FZ1, George Robinson on a VFR, Gary Sinclair and his 17 year old son Daniel an two Ducati's. The elder Sinclair happens to be current Bonneville World Speed Record Champion on an 850 Norton Commander and Daniel owns the CMRA Lightweight SuperBike Amateur class championship. Tennessee members Phillip Donovan and George Merrill arrived in George's RV towing identical 2002 BMW K12 RS's and a sack of Hot Tamales. Luckily, the Park was good enough to give them the campsite closest to our group of cabins and they were able to make their beer runs on foot.

Stacie and I left St. Francisville around 11:00 am Friday. We crossed the Mississippi via the ferry and headed up HWY 1 to Simmesport where we crossed the Atchafalaya River and worked our way to Chico State Park via some back roads, arriving at the park around 2:30. Drew Newcomer rolled in about 3:00 in his pickup. We had invited (via email) those who we knew were arriving Friday to join us for supper in Ville Platte but most had replied that they expected to arrive too late and to start without them. However, shortly after a quick beer and grocery run to VP, the Millers and the Texans arrived followed by Bill and Sherri. We had just made plans for dinner when I got a call from George Merrill, asking for directions to the restaurant. Amazingly, everyone arrived at the Jungle Restaurant just a few minutes before our table for 14 was ready. We proceeded to enjoy some excellent Cajun Cooking and HSTA comradery.

The food was great but slow in coming so by the time we got back to the Park there was little time for anything but more partying! Everyone got to know each other and eventually the conversation came around to riding. Although Stacie and Sherrie seemed disinclined to make an early morning ride, Max the Instigator and the Texans quickly talked Bill and myself and the Tennessee guys into a 9:00 departure.		Stacie offered Drew the loan of her Ninja which he accepted without much arm twisting. A cold front was due to roll through during the night with a Saturday forecast for cool and clear so everyone retired looking forward to a good ride. True to form, Max was at each cabin door around 8:00am with a wakeup call. What would we do without good ole Max?
	Gary Sinclair kindles a blaze while Max expounds on the Tradition of the Christmas Yule Log

It was just about then that the clouds opened up. Luckily we were not far from a gas station with a cover and we ducked in there. Most of our group was well equipped with riding gear: aerostich or equivalent suits. However, as Drew had not anticipated doing much riding without a bike he had nothing but a helmet and gloves and he was understandably anxious to get out of the rain. Half of us elected to head straight back to camp as soon as the rain let up a bit as it was obvious the bad weather was here for the day. Max and the Texans were hungry and decided to find some chow in Marksville. Drew got away ahead of me, Bill, George and Phillip and it was a while before we would see him again. He made a wrong turn somewhere and got lost. The 4 of us carefully navigated the treacherous roads (wet pine needles and mud left by sugar cane trucks) and headed back to base where we enjoyed a lunch of locally made hot boudin. Eventually, the rest of the group all made it back safe, if not dry. Click the map for a full size image showing our track as recorded by my GPS.

The rest of the afternoon was spent B.S.ing, starting the campfire and trying to fix our shorted Christmas lights. Despite having an electrical engineer on hand we never managed to get them to work. But we did manage to start a new Cajun Christmas tradition: the Yule Log. We have burned a few big logs at past Cajun Christmases but usually it was mainly to try to keep warm. This year we found a huge log and someone decided to try to burn it down to nothing, someone else pronounced it the "YULE LOG" and it became the object of night long prodding and poking and the center of various other activities. If it sounds like a bunch of kids playing around a campfire, well what can I say? Christmas IS for KIDS, right?

The all night blaze served us well, providing heat to keep us warm and for cooking steaks and Cajun sausages and andouie. From the cabin kitchens came delicious Italian salad, potatoes au gratin, dirty rice, and possum pasta. Don't ask....all I can tell you is it was DELICIOUS, in fact it ALL was DELICIOUS. And as usual there was way more than enough to go around.

When everyone was full, we gathered all the gifts for the gift exchange and squeezed into the porch of our central cabin since the drizzle was fairly steady. We drew numbers and the gift exchange began. There were several highly desirable gifts and the stealing was intense. It took the new guys a while to catch on to the larcenous flavor of this fun event but before long they were snatching prized gifts without mercy. Despite stooping to a little covert spousal collusion, I was unable to take home the trick digital multi-meter I stole from someone but was able to end up with a good bottle of wine. Stacie, however was able to hang on to the coveted Wee Willie Windshield Wiper. (Maybe she will let me borrow it)

After the gift exchange the drizzle let up a bit or maybe some of us just no longer noticed it, as we gathered back around the blazing Yule log to talk and enjoy the remainder of the evening. Gary Shuhart demonstrated his beer bottle melting techniques while Phillip Donovan explained the proper techniques for a hot lap of Deals Gap on a K12.

Around midnight, the Texans, who planned an early departure, said their goodbyes and turned in. The rest of us were pretty much out of gas (or unable to maintain equilibrium) and soon followed suit. The next morning we cleaned up and packed and said goodbyes. Based on the very positive feedback I received from each attendee I can say that everyone had a great time. Stacie and I would like to thank all of you for joining us for Cajun Christmas and we look forward to seeing each of you next December!

Wayne's Excellent Motorcycle Adventure

We started our trip on Thursday August 30th from Shreveport after a meeting I attended that morning. The day started out fine but by the time we were able to leave the rain started. This lasted until we passed Dallas, then it cleared and we had dry roads again. Our destination was the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at the hotel in Grand Canyon on Saturday about noon, dropped the trailer and headed for the park. We toured the park that afternoon. Then Sunday morning headed out to the desert view and highway 89 north towards Utah. In Utah we found a camp ground and spent our first night of the trip in the Kwik Kamp. Monday morning we headed for Bryce Canyon riding through the Red Canyon to get there. It was beautiful riding and with great weather. Just cool enough for the leather jackets. After touring the two canyons we doubled back and took highway 9 through Zion National Park and then on to Vegas for the night. After finding a camp ground and setting up the camper we rode in to the city to find the famous Vegas strip. Lights, lights and more lights with lots of traffic. Being a little tired we cruised the boulevard and headed back to the camper. I have never been lucky at the slots so we did not stop in to visit any of the Casinos.

From Vegas we traveled to California and to Sequoia National Park. Spent the night at Lodgepole camp ground in the park. This is bear country so you have to lock your coolers and any thing that might smell like food in the bear proof boxes provided by the park. I guess we did it right no bears tried to get in during the night. The next day was spent riding through the rest of Sequoia and Kings Canyon stopping in Oakhurst for the night. The next morning we toured Yosemite stopping to see Bridalveil Falls, Glacier Point and traveling Tioga Road through the park to highway 395 to Lee Vining. (Stopped for gas here $2.49 a gallon) Heading North on 395 took us to our next stop for the night Lake Tahoe. Tahoe was beautiful, we stopped at the over look to take in the beauty and read some of the history about the lake. Because of its depth the lake never freezes in winter. That morning we stopped at Tahoe City and had breakfast at Rosie's Café. After studying the map I decided we would head north again and highway 89 would bring us to highway 36 and to Red Bluff where we caught I-5 north. Wanting to make time we blasted up I-5 and stopped for the night in Yreka.

The next morning we headed for the coast of Oregon and highway 101. This is a breath-taking ride with the high cliffs and sandy beaches, small towns and lighthouses spotted along the coast. The wind coming off the ocean was cool and made for a very pleasant ride. When we reached Lincoln City it was late afternoon and time to find lodging for the night. After setting up camp it was back on the bike and another ride to see the sun set on the Pacific Coast. The next morning wanting to make time I found the most direct route to I-5 and it was on to Washington State. That day we traveled to Port Angeles. At Olympia we caught highway 101 again, this brought you through some more scenic highway along Hood Dabob Bay and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. At Port Angeles we found a KOA and set up camp.

September 10 we headed across the Strait to Victoria Canada. The ferry ride took 90 minutes and gave you a good view of Mount Olympic. There we toured Butchart Gardens and the city of Victoria. Had we followed our original plan to stay in Victoria over night we might have been guests of Canada for another day. The boarder was closed on the morning of September 11.

This day started out a little slower after finding out about the attacks in New York. As we traveled I kept up with the news. By afternoon we had reached Grants Pass and called it a day. The next morning we headed south on highway 199 to Crescent City. Crescent City would be our starting point of the coast highway. Again we were riding along the Pacific Ocean and the high cliffs were just as pretty here as they were in Oregon. The skies were over cast but that did not take away from the beauty. After Eureka highway 101 goes inland and at Pepperwood we turned off and road through the Avenue of the giants. This is a 33-mile ride through red wood forests.This ride is a must do if you ever have an opportunity to travel this area. At Phillipsville we turned on highway 101 and stopped for the night in Leggett. To ride on the coast again you must take highway 27 to highway1. Highway 27 was an interesting ride it reminded me of the roads in the Smokies. Highway 1 was a beautiful ride.

We reached San Francisco about 4pm with just enough time to see the Golden Gate Bridge before it became engulfed with fog. The sun was at our backs to give us a good view of the bridge. The bay was busy with boat traffic and there were a couple of wind surfers sailing from shore to shore. After a few pictures were taken we crossed the bridge to head for Pacifica for the night. Friday morning we headed into San Francisco to tour Fisherman's Wharf and ride the cable cars. Saturday we headed south again on highway 1. We rode through Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and San Simeon. At San Simeon we stopped to tour The Hearst Castle. This is a beautiful estate over looking the Pacific. Another must see if you travel this area. We finished the tour late in the evening and the sun was starting to set over the pacific as we traveled down to the visitors center. The estate was donated to the state of California and they run the tours. Pismo Beach was where we found a nice RV park and called it a day.

Today we traveled highway 101 to make time and caught highway 1 again and stopped in Malibu at the Malibu RV Park. This park sets on a hill over looking the Pacific. Here we had a campsite that over looked the ocean. This was with out a doubt the best campsite of the trip. We used this site as a base to travel to Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We walked on the Walk of Fame and to the Chinese Theater to see the hand prints, footprints and signatures of the stars. We tried to get close to the Hollywood sign but found that impossible so we found a good place to just take a picture of it from a distance. We also got to check out Rodeo Drive. I hid Margaret's credit card before we got there just in case she had thoughts of shopping there.

The last 2000miles of the trip are just I-10 to New Orleans. It was interesting to see the wind generators in Southern California and all the cactus in Arizona. New Mexico and Texas were also hot and dry. This was a three week 8,105 mile trip and if I had an opportunity I would do it again tomorrow. But would want to have about six weeks to travel. There were a few places we wanted to see but because of the distance we had to travel that day made it impossible to do.

NEW VOLUNTEER!

Bud Logan has agreed to serve as New Orleans Area Assistant Director, see the ride info below and see Bud's article in the November issue for more information

UPCOMING RIDES!

NEW ORLEANS AREA RIDES

Member Bud Logan led the first of what will be a recurring "Couples Ride" on Saturday, Dec. 15. Bud reports it was a great ride with 4 couples participating, look for a story and pictures in the next issue.The next ride will be another couples ride to the north shore and will meet at Shoney's just South of I-10 at the Clearview exit on at 9AM Sunday, January 20. Please put this on your calendars. Ed. note: You by no means need to bring a passenger to attend these "couples" rides. Although Bud's idea here is to stick to a pace that is designed to not terrify a passenger, all who have ridden with Bud can attest that this does not mean slow.

BATON ROUGE AREA RIDE

We will meet at Starbuck's at Corporate and Energy Plaza - 9:30, Sunday, January 13. Look for updates on the web site and in your email box.

That is it for December and 2001! Thanks to each of you who have participated in club activities. Although Stacie and I were without rides for half the year we have managed to squeeze a lot of fun into the last six months. And special thanks to those who have helped out and offered moral support. MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Prosperous and Healthy NEW YEAR to all of you. KEEP IN TOUCH!
chappuis@demco.net (225)635-3171 (Home) (225)281-0799 (Cell).
and Ride Safe,

Bob Chappuis