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| Riding the Pearl Ring |
| The day before I'd ridden a little hundred and thirty mile loop down to the Honey Island Swamp and found it mostly closed for turkey mating. Trying to salvage something for the website I stopped at Picayune, MS, and drug the streets for an hour or so but was tired and not really in the mood. I did get a few pictures which I may develope into an article later. The next morning I spent trying to fix something. At noon, feeling it repaired, I quit. I then tinkered with Jac'kal, attempting to iron out some rough spots in her running I'd encountered the day before. They come and go, it's the nature of the beast. She has harmonal issues. I was in the mood to "let the dogs out" and just ride "there" and back. DL was back home on holiday awaiting her twenty k birthday presents. The ride would be me and Jac'kal, just like old times. All of DL's accessories were strapped on her and she looked the adventurous part. I use to ride her timidly fearing I'd break her. I don't anymore. She is an 1100 cc Italian and likes to get twisted. The more I did, the more she purred. I pictured a good day of not looking for anything, not wanting to explore, and not wanting to take any damn pictures. I just didn't care about anything besides putting three to four hundred miles under the wheels. "Keep it simple, stupid," is my moto and I needed a stupid simple day. Oh, well. |
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| Jac'kal, my red Italian consort. This was a rare day when she allowed her picture to be taken. She feels she's "heavy". |
| I know a great route out of the shoe top of Louisiana. Choctaw Road to Pine to Thomas. There are about fifty combinations and each time the combo gets better. I never remember them. I popped out of the woods and crossed US 98 right onto MS 585. |
| Riding 585 was like flying through a wooded park. The road was wide and perfect. The sides of the road were mowed to perfection without a piece of litter. The pines reached to the sky as the road gently turned diving and rising on its way to a rendezvous with Red Bluff road. In this area, all the "500" numbered roads are fine. The only house on the road was this cabin. It looked deserted. It would be until hunting season. It was "the camp" for a hunting club. |
| What the...! I'd gone maybe two miles. I knew what it was from seeing its architecture repeated before. It was an old church. I had to explain to Jac'kal that I needed to stop again. I felt a twitch. |
| Dr.Ray Fagan's usual greeting is, "Have you found China Grove, yet?" Now I can say, "Yes, you remember where it is?" |
| These places emit "The South". For me and this website, they are the supreme catch. I've missed her by two city blocks many times before. There is a new China Grove Church made of steel down the road. I had feared that she had burned and the modern replacement put in her place. It's good to be wrong. |
| I swear I heard Jac'kal blow her horn when I headed for the cemetery. She was right, I'd be there for an hour. Reluctantly I left. |
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