Avery Island adds spice to Cavaliers' ride

It was our longest day ride yet, deep into the bayou country of south Louisiana. And we had the most spectacularly beautiful spring day to enjoy it. The Cavaliers drew their biggest group ever on April 13 for our 295-mile spring ride to the Jungle Gardens on Avery Island, home of world-famous Tabasco sauce.

The early morning rendezvous at the Phoenix brought together six bikes, four with passengers.

-George rode his 2003 Honda Shadow ACE
-Doug and Michael J. rode Doug's 1998 Honda Shadow 750
-Guy and Lance rode Guy's 2001 Harley-Davidson Road King
-Poncho rode his 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic
-Michael D. and Matt rode Mike's 1999 Honda Shadow 750
-David and Michael W. rode David's 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE

Three of the passengers were new to our day rides, so everyone was introduced. Michael D. and Doug brought their friends Michael J. and Matt, while Guy brought his friend Lance.

Before the ride, David spent a little time talking about a few of the finer points of group riding techniques, encouraging the riders to maintain a tight formation and to wait for the tail bike to secure the new lane when the lead bike signals for a lane change. The group practiced these techniques on the road and did beautifully!

Our group of 10 enjoyed a fabulous lunch of Cajun delicacies at Charlie's of New Iberia. Clockwise from left: George, Lance, Guy, Poncho, Doug, Michael D., Michael J., Matt, and Michael W. Photo by David.

After a quick hop over the Crescent City Connection, the group headed west on US 90, with David in the lead and Poncho riding tail. The first stop was at Raceland, where we hung out for a while enjoying a few cold drinks. The first layers began to get peeled off as the slight morning chill gave way to warm spring sunshine.

The next part of the ride, from Raceland to Morgan City, was really pretty. The elevated portion of Hwy 90 crossing the Atchafalaya Basin passes some of the most beautiful swampland in south Louisiana. Stands of cypress trees, the light filtering through their boughs and reflecting on the water below, show how this pristine land must have looked in the days when the Cajuns first settled in this region in the mid-18th century. Traffic was light enough on this portion of the road for us to sit back and enjoy this ideal Louisiana landscape.

We stopped again at Morgan City. David got the group only a little lost by first stopping at a gas station that was closed, and then by taking some uncertain side streets to another station. It all turned out just fine, and we had a nice break.

We made the decision to leave Hwy 90 after Morgan City and follow Hwy 182 along Bayou Teche. David missed the first turn for Hwy 182, but corrected it only a few miles down the road. The ride along 182 was especially nice, with many beautiful old plantation homes and lovely small towns. Franklin, the home town of Gov. Mike Foster, was particularly nice, as was Jeanerette.

We arrived in New Iberia hungry for lunch. When we got into town we put Michael D. in the lead. He knew a great local restaurant named Charlie's that was on the Hwy 90 service road. After a few false turns trying to locate the right service road, including one stretch of service road that deteriorated into a nasty patch of gravel, we finally found the spot.

Boy, was it worth it! The 10 of us settled in for what turned out to be a wonderful feast of assorted Cajun delicacies. The gumbo was delicious. The seafood platters were enormous. George and Michael W. got adventurous and ordered a fried alligator appetizer which was terrific. Poncho sampled the Sunday special barbecue. Guy had an absolutely huge shrimp po-boy. David had a fabulous seafood pasta with crawfish, shrimp and crabmeat. And the next time you see Lance, be sure to ask him about his weenie.

We ate and ate and ate until we couldn't eat any more, and most of us still had tons of delicious food we regretfully left behind.

Avery Island was only a short ride from the restaurant. As we approached it on the road, this big, beautiful, pastoral hillside suddenly appeared ahead of us. Avery Island is the largest of five salt domes, jutting up out of the otherwise very flat south Louisiana landscape, after a huge ancient saltwater ocean evaporated and sediment pushed the salt upwards. Avery Island is the highest of these domes at 163 feet.

The McIlhenny family began producing Tabasco sauce on Avery Island shortly after the Civil War. Their success brought fortune, and allowed one of their sons to develop the 200 acre Jungle Gardens and Bird City on the island. Today these are open to visitors.

The ride through the Jungle Gardens turned out to be a four-mile gravel trail. Our little off-road excursion on the way to Charlies had prepared us for this. We bought out tickets at the gift shop, saddled up, and rode on through. Fortunately most of the road was well-packed gravel. Only a few areas were rutted and tough to negotiate. But the ride was absolutely lovely.

The Jungle Gardens are filled with huge old oak trees, laced with Spanish moss. Many areas are planted with azaleas and other flowering plants. We saw lots of wild Louisiana iris in bloom, and stopped for a while at the Cleveland Oak before traveling under the wisteria arch and past the bamboo forest. We stopped again at the enormous Buddha, a 900-year-old statue situated inside a glass temple at the edge of a beautiful lake. Our final stop was at Bird City, a huge rookery for snowy egrets. We stood for a while and watched thousands of the beautiful white birds roost.

After a last brief stop at the gift shop, we headed back to Hwy 90, stopping briefly for gas halfway to Morgan City. Once safely on the elevated portion of the road over the basin, and with little traffic around, David and Michael W. snapped action photos of each bike on the ride.

We stopped again in Raceland on the way home for sodas and popsicles, before making the final dash home along Hwy 90. George waved goodbye at the Huey P. Long bridge as he headed home Uptown, while the rest of us continued through the Crescent City Connection to the French Quarter in time to catch Trash Disco at Lafitte's. After 10 hours on the road and 295 miles, a cold beverage tasted mighty good. Poncho, Guy, Michael D., Doug, David, Michael W., Lance, Michael J., and Matt hung out on Bourbon Street in front of the Clover Grill for a long time, soaking in the beautiful spring music, saying hello to friends, and listening to the great Trash Disco music pouring out of Lafitte's. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.