Hot food keeps chilly December beer bust sizzling

When the weather gets chilly what you need to warm your belly is a little "gumbolaya".

The Cavaliers Motorcycle Club held its third monthly beer bust Dec. 26 at the Phoenix and this time we brought hot food. David made a pot of gumbo to share, but somehow it mysteriously turned into jambalaya by the time he and Michael W. got to the Phoenix. It was still very yummy, and everyone seemed to enjoy some hot food on a cold night.

The evening was full of fun and friendship. This was our third monthly beer bust and each month we continue to meet more people and tell them about our new club. We have a good crowd of regulars who show up each time, such as Poncho and William and their friend Michael, as well as Michael D. and Doug.

Phoenix bootblack DB was on hand as always to polish up those dusty riding boots. We also had a few members of the Hot Ash club enjoying their cigars on the patio.

And what beer bust would be complete without an impromptu butt tattoo contest? (Can you guess who the contestants were?) You can always be sure of a good time at the Cavaliers monthly fourth Friday beer bust. Be sure to join us next month.

Cavaliers blaze a trail to Festival of the Bonfires

OK. So we got a little lost. But sometimes getting lost means you see things you otherwise wouldn't, and that's just what happened when the Cavaliers rode to the Festival of the Bonfires in Lutcher on Dec. 15.

it was a bright, mild fall afternoon when the Cavaliers made their rendezvous at the Phoenix at 4 pm. Poncho arrived on his 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic. Tedd showed up on his 2002 Honda Reflex, and David and Michael W. showed up on David's 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE. Tedd's partner, Tom, came along in the chase truck.

It was a brisk but sunny 63 degrees when we left the Phoenix and headed out Interstate 10 toward Lutcher. We got to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the marshes as we crossed the Bonnet Carre spillway, but with a setting sun came cooler temperatures. We took the Gramercy exit and headed toward the river, turning off onto the river road just before the Gramercy bridge over the Mississippi.

This is where the ride got really interesting, because as we rode the river road, we could see dozens and dozens of the homemade bonfire structures sitting on top of the levee. It's a southern Louisiana tradition to light bonfires on Christmas Eve to light the way for Papa Noel as he makes his journey into the bayou country. These "Feux de Joie," or "fires of joy," create a spectacular holiday atmosphere when they're set ablaze for mile after mile on the night before Christmas.

But with Christmas still 10 days away, we got to see these haunting structures standing along the levee in the twilight as we made our way down the river road. A few were tended by the local people who built them, usually with a small campfire nearby.

Unfortunately our directions to the bonfire festival were a bit fuzzy, and we continued on the river road well past Lutcher because we didn't see anything that looked like a festival. We continued on until we got to the town of Convent, where we realized we must have gone too far. But it was worth the 20-mile detour upriver just to see the Manresa retreat house decked out in its beautiful holiday lights. In the deepening twilight, it was one of the most beautiful sights we've seen.

We turned around and rode back toward Gramercy, finally discovering the festival grounds just a few blocks off the river road in Lutcher. It was a wonderful nighttime festival, with the lights of a dozen carnival rides setting a festive mood.

We wandered around the fair grounds for a bit, spending most of our time in the food tent, where we ate ourselves silly. I had some of the most delicious seafood gumbo (but OH was it spicy!). Poncho chowed down on shrimp kabobs and a crawfish boat. Tedd and Tom had some tasty curly fries. But Michael hit the jackpot with the funnel cake, which was light and fluffy and sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with chocolate sauce. I helped him eat one, then made him get another one to share. It was indescribably yummy.

All the while we were stuffing our bellies, we were enjoying the great band in the adjacent music tent. They had a great band called Bits and Pieces which did some great uptempo swing and R&B numbers.

So here we were at the bonfire festival, but there wasn't any bonfire. The bonfire festival lights only one bonfire each night, and they take visitors on a bus ride to see it. We all climbed in to Tom's truck and made the ride over to the levee. It was about an hour after the bonfire was lit, but instead of a giant blaze on the levee, we only saw a small flickering flame. For whatever reason, the bonfire wasn't working very well that night. So Tom drove us around to where our bikes were parked and we saddled up and headed home before it got too cold.

We made a quick gas stop in Gramercy, then got back on I-10 for a chilly ride home. All in all it was really a fun ride, especially the twilight ride along the levee, the detour past Manresa, and the delicious festival food. If nothing else, the Cavaliers know how to eat well!

Cavaliers celebrate citrus on ride to Fort Jackson

The Cavaliers took a chilly but fun ride on Dec. 8 to the Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival at historic Fort Jackson near the mouth of the river.

It was one of those brisk fall days where it feels so good to be bundled up against the cold while you're out enjoying a long ride through the countryside. Temps were in the upper 50s with an overcast sky, but it made for great riding weather.

Poncho and William rode up to the rendezvous point at the Phoenix on Poncho's 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic, to meet David, who was waiting on his 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE. They hung out for a while to see who else would show up, and just as they decided it would just be the two bikes, Mark came roaring around the corner on his 1998 Honda Shadow 750. We exchanged quick hellos and headed off toward the wilds of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes.

We decided to take a relaxed ride down the river road on the East Bank, passing the Chalmette battlefield on our way toward Violet and Poydras, where we turned on to LA Hwy 39 for the ride down river to Point a la Hache. This is one of the great rides in south Louisiana, passing grand homes and trailer parks, churches and countryside, the river's grassy green levee ever on your right, snowy egrets and pelicans and buzzards taking flight as we roar past along the ribbon of pavement that follows the sweeping curves of the river. A finer ride on two wheels would be hard to find in these parts.

Hwy 39 skirts past Point a la Hache and makes a U-turn in a middle of nowhere place called Bohemia, before returning to the ferry landing at the point. William said later that he told Poncho that he felt like we were so far out in the country we were taking him out there to rape him. Poncho reassured him he had nothing to worry about unless he heard banjo music. This part of the state definitely gives you the feeling you're pretty much alone in the world. We saw little other traffic along the highway until we got to the ferry landing. We were first in line and had to wait for the ferry to make the return trip from the west bank before we could board, but there were several other vehicles who joined us on the southernmost crossing point on the Mississippi. Once boarded, we floated west across the muddy stream, while the Cavs humored David who couldn't keep from doing his Leonardo diCaprio "I'm king of the world!" impression on the bow.

After a short gas stop in Port Sulphur on the west bank, we high-tailed it down four-lane LA Hwy 23, slowing down only to enjoy the view from the top of the bridge at Empire. It's an amazing sight of the narrow marshy wetlands straddling both sides of the river as it juts southward into the Gulf of Mexico. Except for the substantial fishing fleet docked at the marina at Empire, you really get the feeling of being at the end of the world.

This time of year Hwy 23 is also lined with produce stands offering great locally grown citrus. We passed dozens of groves full of trees heavy with oranges and saw piles of fresh citrus bagged and ready for sale at these roadside vendors.

We soon had Plaquemines Parish sheriff's deputies waving us into the grounds at historic Fort Jackson, negotiated the gravel parking lot, parked the bikes, and found ourselves in the middle of a carnival, complete with rides, games of skill, cotton candy stands, and the scary-looking carnies who run them. We laughed when we saw kids on one of the rides -- motorcycles going round carousel style.

We walked to the entrance of the old fort, crossing drawbridge over the moat into the 1820s-era brick fortifications, built at the first bend in the river only 20 miles from the delta. Fort Jackson is directly across the river from the now-inacessible Fort. St. Louis, which was built where Bayou Mardi Gras met the Mississippi. The bayou is the landing spot of Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville, who named the bayou for the day he landed there in 1699. The forts were built by the Americans shortly after Louisiana statehood to protect their interests in the Mississippi Valley. Fort Jackson saw a seige by General Farragut during the Civil War, only to fall after New Orleans was captured.

The fair filled the inside of the old fort, with tents for food and gifts, and a dance floor and a band set up in the middle. The food was great. I had some wonderful okra gumbo, as well as spinach and artichoke bread. Mark enjoyed a huge shrimp poboy, while Poncho feasted on crawfish bread. The onion mums, crawfish pie, shrimp pasta, and jambalaya all looked delicious. The Orange Queen and King were offering free samples of fresh Plaquemines Parish citrus, including navels, satsumas, kumquats, and tangerines.

We ate ourselves silly, then wandered around the fort. Poncho led us on a tour of the interior of the fort, where the cannon used to be mounted. The shadowy interior with its 200-year-old brick arches gave us lots of fantasy material. We hiked up to the parapets to look at the river and read the commemorative plaques, which included a marble plaque laid in 1999 by Rex, King of Carnival, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the celebration of Mardi Gras in North America.

With bellies full of gumbo, we mounted up and headed back upriver along Hwy 23, whose four lanes and 65 mph speed limit felt like a freeway compared to our relaxed ride downriver along the east bank on Hwy 39. Before we knew it we were in Belle Chasse, where two jets from the Naval Air Station flew some acrobatic maneuvers overhead. After a brief stop for a tug and barge to pass under the bridge at the Intracoastal Canal, we were on the Crescent City Connection and headed home. Six hours and 155 miles after we left the Phoenix, it was the end of another great Cavaliers ride.