Honda 550x4 to Mexico

I remember now... this is the place just outside of the Texas Mile that served Taco's made out of Bull testcles... or something like that.... and the Mayor of Goliad owned it or something along those lines....

We found this fine establishment late at night in the middle of nowhere Texas



A fella genuinely needs to stay up late to find a dump this good...



our neighbors

you thought I was kidding didn't you....

This day and last night marked another turning point in our trip.... it was quite a learning exercise for me....

If you'll remember at the outset of this fiasco I mentioned that the trip was the destination, not the actual ride or the destination....

I, like most goal oriented Achievers got Mexico in my head and in my heart... and frankly.. I know the best way to achieve a goal is to Keep your eyes on it while putting your head down and driving straight for it.... Period.... Anything not associated with that goal has No Value.... So what you just learned is I can focus... and be Pig headed once I'm pointed in a direction....


Mark Heard the Goals of the trip, He's floated about on Motorcycle trips across our great land Many Many times... he's our most seasoned rider and more importantly our best "Trip" taker.... he knows all this whole gig.... and he loves Live Music... As does Steve... I'm talking Live music... you pick... mostly Jass and such.....the other three of us.... we ride motorcycles and think we're the Wild Hogs.... ( knowing full well we're really just a group of mild piglets )


What all this trivia has to do with is for the last 4 or 5 days... Mark's been talking about going through Austin and spending an evening listening to XY or Z band that he's studied up on, who's playing on X Date.... I'm heading to Mexico... So while a bit disappointed he agreed and we went to Mexico... After Mexico, there's still great Music in Austin "ya Know".... and I'm going... Yeah.... Okay... but Austin is still another 150 miles or so out of our way.... and my Junk... we'll it's Just not the friendliest scooter in the whole wide world.... and right now 100+ miles seems like a lot to add....

So we're having this discussion over the period of a couple of days... and this day makes the absolute turning point.... and we reach a compromise of Going BACK to New Orleans... cause as it happens.... it will be Yet another Saturday night.... and we can Party like Rock stars again... and Mark can have another Dose of Live Music..... which will make him happy... A Compromise... Perfect...

But in the heat of this discussion...one should remember our occupations... Mark is a Lawyer.... and not a young inexperienced one... but a "real" one.... in other words he's a good arguer... he knows exactly how and when to push buttons.... and how much.... and I'm a Hick ass Pilot.... I know compartmentalization and crew team work... So the whole thing was Fun.... we are grown men.... who genuinely respect each other... so it's not bickering.... it's Well thought out discussion.... and this day it all ended in a Compromise......

OKAY.... I told you all of that to get to this one statement.... so if your still with me and not off chasing pictures of cars here's what I learned..... Mark at one point turned to me and told me........

" Keith... You Have No Ears"

in other words.... "Your not listening to me"... and that singular statement has really made me think about what others are saying.... at the time it made me "LISTEN" to him.... to stop my thinking about what I was going to say next and simply Listen to what he had to say..... THEN consider it and tell him he was full of shit AFTER I'd Truly listened.... ( Thank you Mark that was truly a gift in words )....

Oh and .... we didn't go to Austin.... ( mostly cause the other guys really didn't care to go .... they'd about had enough of Shit brown Honda's )
we'd been on the bikes for about a week at this point.... and they were ready for some more Beer and stuff in New Orleans.... everyone dreams of going to New Orleans and seeing girls dangling from the Balcony's showing off their assets.....Don't they? ( the fact that its' cold and rainy and the exact opposite time of the year for girls to be doing this means NOTHING cause we're guys and our brains.... well never mind )

So that's the Plan Stan....

Hi ho, Hi Ho.... yeah we're back on the bikes again... and frankly mine is acting like a motorcycle.... ( as much as a poop brown mid 70's 550 Honda can)

We leave our fine nights sleep and a few beers and ride off into the sunrise...

First stop.... Breakfast of champions.... Donuts... and where we stopped here I have no clue... ( cause we didn't take a picture of the place... opting for yet another picture of our Lovely brown Honda's ) Just know the donuts were awesome and you won't be able to find them cause I have no idea where we were.... LOL Hey just being honest here....

opps.... sorry I lied... here's the name of the place... the location is still up for grabs.... but I can vouch for the incredible quality of the Donuts....

I love this picture... Steve and Paul were joy's.... Steve looks pissed off there but he's genuinely not.... again going back to the same thing of once he was in his garb on the road and riding.... he liked to stay that way... he was fine with and enjoyed the stops... but he was just as happy just to sit on his scooter and relax in place.... ALL geared up.... it was "his" thing....

Paul as you can see.... is simply Easy... go along and get along..." I'm here, what did you say we're doing... Perfect.. how can I help" Just enjoying the trip... being part of the whole thing.... out for the adventure of it... ( I think he was secretly wishing I'd cut myself, So he'd get to patch me up )

Mark was taking the picture and I was most likely out getting more ice for my Diet Coke or releasing the last 3 ....

Cafe Ole' all loaded up ....


Somewhere in downtown Lake Charles.... after having just come over the worst bridge in the world..... I was trying to remember a ferry so we wouldn't have to take it... Damn I hate this bridge... on a real motorcycle maybe it's not much... but these things are just squirely on grating... Yuck...

We'd rode hard this day on our way back to New Orleans... and the weather was starting to look iffy... so just after Lake Charles La. we stopped in a little town of Jennings.... again a place I'd flown into many years before... I just loved this little town........

Long and the short of this is Steve... on the way out had been angling for a Holiday inn here in Jenning's and we'd all poo poo'd the idea.... but now as the weather was coming in and since we'd ridden so long this day... we decided to cancel it and park at a Holiday inn....





This place is Nice and just down the road it came with a Buffet Pizza bar...

We wake up and look outside to see our trusty steeds.... ( okay 3 trusty & one somewhat suspect ) they seem to have some sort of Moisture on them... but just a bit....





Sooo we hang out.... chat up the locals... .... " Yep I had one of those back in the Day"..... Again just nice folks...

it's less then 200 miles to New Orleans and the weather is supposed to clear... we should get there Early and get a head start on our drinking practice... or so the story goes....

But Damn.... I can think of nothing worse then loading up and taking off into the Rain.... Nothing... unless it's my Junk Motorcycle breaking down in the rain which it's done several times along this trip........ Now you talk about unpopular... when it quits and the boys are standing around in the rain giving you the "Stink Eye" cause your Junk just broke YET again..... whew... it's only slightly better to pack up and ride off into the rain...

Hmmmm what freaking fun we're having now eh Ollie?

We finally get her going and just like they say... the weather starts to clear up and life seems to improve 200%....we're on Motorcycles heading into New Orleans for a night of debauchery and mayhem.... ( use your imagination here... and forget that mild piglet comment )....( I'm trying to remember what those two words mean ... it just sounds fun don't it? )

and We're riding....



I'm not sure exactly where it was... but we stopped and got something to eat... maybe one of the other guys can remember.... but Mark and I got something that didn't sit well.... with me it was almost instant.... we were back on the scooters after eating and inside of 30 minutes I was sick as a dog.... my stomach was upset and I just felt Horrible.... like I wanted to crawl up in a ball and die.... I remember we pulled into a gas station somewhere and I got some counter drugs... pepto and stuff..... but getting back on the scooter was just all I could stand.... we were only 60 or so miles out of New Orleans... but damn... I should have told the boys to go ahead and kept Paul with me... but he really couldn't do anything for me.... and we were in this mess together...... So after a few breaks ... we crawled this little bit into town...

Great ride report Keith.

Your story about e bay made me laugh - I have had from new Honda FT500 (86 i think), had the frame repainted, and a bit of work done on the motor. So, decided I might need a donor for some parts, and like you bought a complete bike off e bay for £300 (a runner). Then blow me but a couple of weeks later saw another, I got that for £65, also a runner!
So now I have 3, which are tooooooo good to break, maybe I will end up with 4. Don't have a wife these days, so no problem, good job, as my 1st bike is in bits in the dinning room!

We get to Jt's studio once again and I assume my position for a night out on the town....



Mark isn't far behind me and since he's the one squirting photo's.... we have none of him.... So I'll drop another he took of my "party like a rock star Stance"

Went to the bathroom and had a chat with the porcelain god... 30 minute nap and I was FINE.... truly fine... when your that sick.... Fine feels REALLY good.... I might have been a bit whoosy but... man I felt good....

So I recommended the method to Mark.... and the next thing you know... we really were going to get out on the town a bit.... albeit a much more laid back set of plans now.... ..... teenie bopper pop stars party like this ... or maybe like the Neil Diamond fan club .... anyway we were going to see Music By God...



Whew....okay I'm not real steady on my feet... but not horrid and we are in N. O.... so life is good... we keep walking









Alright I'm actually getting pretty good.... got me a Diet coke or two in me.... Hmmm Feeling Alright....










Oh wait there's HOPE.... Damn it man... Life is Good...



I know I know.... but instead of any great marriage ending stories.... we went here ..... and were amongst friends in a warm atmosphere and had a nice dinner....

our Host and one of my good friends JT Nesbitt taking us around...doing whatever it is we were doing....



his car... the "Stinkin Lincoln" .... he resurrected this thing from the dregs of Hurricane Katrina and built it as a Bonneville Race car.... DROVE it to Bonneville and back as well as raced it out there... incredible story in it's own right....

So anyway.... I've got pictures of Bands in here somewhere but I can't find them.... it might be because Mark really wasn't feeling great.... and as any of you know... when it's like that... you feel horrible for them but there is so little anyone can do to fix it..... Paul was useless.... ( well he did smile and say life sucks sometimes.... what a guy ... )

But the next morning we were off for Home.... we'd talked about making this last 300 miles a two day trip or maybe ... just slab it and haul big ass home and do Barber the next day..... Hmmm Hmmm oh to hell with it.... we Slabbed it....

Pictures...

Okay.... You've been waiting for it.... hell expecting it haven't you?... we need some mechanical Mayhem.... Some rods out of bed or some such silliness Right???? Huh Huh.... wellllllll


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we'll disappoint... though not entirely.... Here ya go... Last Day....

one of my favorite bikes. not sure why but 550 4's float my boat in a big way. Love em. Continue please.

We got on the road and decided to slab it..... My bike basically didn't like to be rode hard.... it liked 55-60mph and it was a fairly happy thing... but around 70 it starts heating up and the hotter it gets....well the HOTTER IT GETS....and once it gets....X hot it poops the bed.... just that one lung... the other 3 seem fairly happy.... or so it seems... and it slows down.... back to where it's happy at 55-65... me..... I don't care any more... as the Miles tick off it's just gotta go 300 miles and each one of those down puts me closer to my truck and trailer..... ( equals less time riding Bitch )...

Keep in mind the boys still haven't decided who's going to carry my nappy butt but they have ALL decided it will be THEM carrying Me vs Me Stealing a bike from Them....... I did make that clear didn't I.... I was riding Bitch...

HMMM I've already been to the Raw Hide.... and frankly I don't want to develop the picture of two of us cruising down the ole Hwy of life on a 550 Honda

Pictures starting that last day....

AND THEN IT HAPPENED..... all at once and at a time when it was running flawlessly.... it simply Popped and blew out a plume of Beautiful white smoke...

Constant enough to speckle the folks behind me with a nice sheen of Oil.....

It DIED.... Dead.... or at least cylinder #4 decided to no longer portray a quality example of the internal combustion Cycle...... # 4 Cylinder on the #4 bike the Jamm'in Family Truckster was offically Dead....I'm talking Door Nail Dead.. outta here.... Blowing Oil... making a Mess of my leg type DEAD...

We pulled off the Slab and into a Gas Station.... with the bike just squeking by on 3 cylinders.... and Oil everywhere....

Complete and total Dejection.... we were 125 miles from the door step.... over 2000 miles of Honda loveliness..... and this... to Fail ME now.... here of all damn Places... Pensacola Florida... Home of Naval Aviation.... ( Oh Yuck).... damn it Man.....

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