Cavaliers circle the lake on lagniappe ride

I reached Nirvana on this ride. Somewhere along Hwy. 22, with a belly full of seafood linguine, a warm sun shining down from a clear winter sky, and the low roar of five bikes rumbling along through the pine forests of the Northshore, I hit that zone of contentment that comes from enjoying a solitary sport in the company of good friends. Let me tell you how we got there.

The time had come to do some ride planning for the coming months so that I could publish a spring and summer ride calendar. I suggested an in-town lunch meeting, but Michael and Doug saw that the weather was going to be nice and suggested a ride instead. We would stop at lunch and have our planning meeting. We sent out emails and before we new it, we had a lagniappe ride set for Sunday, Feb. 2. The best part: no one knew where we were going.

The sunny morning brought five bikes together:

-Doug rode his 1998 Honda Shadow 750
-Michael D. rode his 1999 Honda Shadow 750
-Mark rode his 1998 Honda Shadow 750 named "Bettie"
-Guy and John rode Guy's 2001 Harley-Davidson Road King
-David rode his 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE

At our pre-ride meeting Doug suggested we take a back roads ride through the Northshore. By the time we were off and riding, temperatures were in the low 60s and rising. We headed out St. Claude Avenue to St. Bernard Parish with Doug in the lead. We turned up Paris Road to Hwy. 90, then took Hwy. 11 to Slidell. Most of us had never been along that stretch of Hwy. 11, which is really quite lovely, even in the dead of winter, with flocks of shore birds fluttering around the marshes.

As we neared the interchange with Interstate 10, we got to see up close some of the funky and unusual camps in the area, such as the castle house and the pyramid house. The interchange got a little more interesting when a confused automobile driver seemed to think the two-lane overpass was only one way. The car was traveling in the same direction we were, but on the wrong side of the yellow line. We backed off a bit and fortunately the motorist moved to the right before the oncoming traffic reached it.

The ride across the eastern end of Lake Ponchartrain on the Hwy. 11 bridge got a little chilly over the water, but at least we got to enjoy the newly resurfaced pavement on what was once one of the area's most notorious stretches of bad roadway.

We took a brief rest stop at a McDonald's in Slidell and consulted our maps. We decided to follow Hwy. 433 to connect with Hwy. 190. That turned out to be a great decision. Hwy. 433 is a beautiful little road that winds through Slidell before crossing Bayou Liberty over a charming little bridge followed by a series of tight turns.

A straight and true ride on Hwy. 190 led us through quiet Lacombe and bustling Mandeville, where we connected to Hwy. 22. A short distance later we were crossing the Tchefuncte River at Madisonville, where we made a quick decision to stop at Morton's seafood restaurant for lunch. It turned out to be a perfect choice. We beat the lunch rush and grabbed a prime table on the outside deck, where it was warm and sunny enough for us to enjoy the view overlooking the Tchefuncte.

Over lunch we discussed a variety of ride ideas and realized that we have no shortage of great places and events to ride to in this area. Based on the input we'll be posting a spring and summer ride calendar soon.

While we ate we saw dozens of other bikes arrive and park near the restaurant. All day throughout our ride we waved at scores of other bikers, in groups and alone, all out enjoying the same fine mid-winter weather we were enjoying.

After lunch we continued heading west on Hwy. 22 to Ponchatoula, and this was the where I reached Nirvana. I had just finished a delicious lunch of seafood linguini, in the company of five other like-minded men. The sun was warm and shining down on us as our five bikes rumbled through the pine forests of the Northshore. I settled into a state of utter contentment, sharing the love of the open road with friends. Motorcycling is primarily a solitary sport, but when shared with others, the enjoyment is only amplified. It's moments like this that I truly appreciate how lucky we are to have our little club.

Hwy. 22 took us to Ponchatoula, where we hopped on US 51 south through the swamps of Manchac. The old highway parallels Interstate 55 across the narrow neck of land between Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Maurepas, but rather than flying across the swamps on an elevated freeway, the old road brings you up close and personal with the swampland of the Ponchartrain basin. US 51 then took us to Laplace, where after a brief rest stop, we hopped on the River Road and headed home to New Orleans, completing our lagniappe ride all the way around Lake Ponchartrain.