I left the hotel at 8:00 AM for what was supposed to be a 20-30 minute ride over to the church. Of course I only had a general idea of where I was going and as soon as I got back up on 10 it started to rain. Crud! Back down off of 10 at the first ramp to get the rain gear on. It was warm and humid and I really didn't feel like getting all this stuff on as I hoped that it was only the very front that I was hitting and that I'd be at the church before it really started to pour.  I put everything on but my over boots. Back onto the bike and head back to 10 only to find out that there was no ramp back up onto 10 West. I had to get onto to 610 which really confused me as to exactly where I was, but I figured it was a spur of 10 so must be going in the same general direction. (HA) No sooner was I up on 610 ( I say up because I was going up on a flyover ) when it started to rain heavily. In minutes there was standing water all over the highway.  I found out just how much standing water when a truck drove by me to my left and thru a wall of water back at me. OK, so much for staying dry. I realized that the vehicle now to my left was staying along side of me which was odd given that I was driving well below the posted limit.  I looked over to my left to see a large SUV with two young guys in it.  The passenger was grinning looking at me and then gave me a big thumbs up before his buddy kicked it into gear and they were gone. Yup thumbs up the crazy old white guy riding in the rain - hey all I could do was laugh along.  But this riding in what was now a downpour on the highway was just not making me feel safe.  I needed to get off and get off fast.

I saw and exit for Canal Blvd and that sounds vaguely familiar so I took that and turned south.  It was now raining so hard that I was having a hard time seeing anything further than a half a block a head of me, and these were short blocks. My visor was so filmed over with running water that I was having to filp it up at every intersection so I could try and read the street signs. When I hit City Park Ave I wasn't sure which way to go.  I looped around the intersection and rode up to a bus stop where everyone was standing up on the seat trying to keep from getting soaked.  I asked a young lady which direction to continue on Canal and she pointed me in the right direction, the whole time looking at me like I was the strangest thing she'd ever seen.

On I continued finally hitting St. Charles Ave. where I took a right and started heading west.  I had no idea where along St. Charles I was but this was not looking at all where I had expected to be as I realized I was in the business district. While the blocks in New Orleans are tiny I found out later that I had to travel about 3 miles and 60 some blocks to get to the Audubon Park all the while I feeling like Winnie the Pooh in the Blustery Day.  Block after block I rode all the while getting wetter and wetter. My boots were squishing, rain was running down my back coming off the helmet and my constantly having to lift the visor to see left me with enough water running down my face that I was sputtering water. At this point I just wanted to survive.

I was thru the business district and was obviously (from the size of the houses and landscaping) in the Garden District.  Well I thought, at least I'm still heading in the right direction. I had just crossed over Napoleon Ave when I was stopped by two tour busses that were blocking the road. Heading to church or not at this point I'd had it and was doing some serious mutt and muttering under my breath, cursing the two ding-a-lings driving these busses.  I then saw one of the drivers exit the rear bus and go running for his. "Great, let's get this party moving", I thought as I sat there getting even wetter. The busses did start going but at a snails pace. 6 more blocks and we came to a stop again, for far longer than a normal street light cycle.  I edged along side one of the busses so I could see what was going on and noticed a car in front of the lead bus stopped at the traffic light WHICH WAS GREEN! OK, I'm spewing at this point. The light turned red, then went back to green and this time the car started inching forward..... down into the water. OH MY GOSH the street was flooded.  I watched as the car went in mid way up the wheels. Holy Cow what was I going to do?!

The busses now moved forward and created quite a wake behind them. The image of large cruise ships went thru my mind. Now it was my turn. I went in and hit the water way too fast. Water flew over the front fender and my front headlight played tWhat I hadn't mentioned in my New Orleans "ride report" is that just as I got onto Interstate 10 on my way into the city my iPhone decided to commit suicide by jumping from the RAM cradle out onto the highway. To say that this left me in a bit of a lurch would be an understatement.  I was planning on using the phone as my GPS for the rest of my trip, plus I had all of my contacts on the phone. Unbelievable how much of my life was wrapped up in that little piece of hardware but now being without it I felt like a limb had been removed.

I was able to get to the hotel that night but only because I had Google Mapped it umpteen times in preparation for the trip. But how was I going to hook up with my friends the next day?  The only thing I knew is that I was going to meet them for church and that the church was on St. Charles Ave. near the Audubon Park and that the service started at 10:00 AM. I had a restless nights sleep even after driving straight for over 18 hours and woke up around 6:00 AM. The cheap Motel 6 room that I was staying in near the airport didn't have a clock so I flipped channels looking for the local news and to find out the actual time.  The only channel with the time displayed happened to be the weather channel and my worryometer meter reading went to 11 when I saw the radar image for New Orleans. Coming in from the SW was a huge red and orange blob with a little ticker tape warning of accompanying tornadoes. OH! this was looking like it was going to be a most interesting morning. The weather reporter made it sound like it was going to hit in a few hours so I decided I'd head to church early.

I left the hotel at 8:00 AM for what was supposed to be a 20-30 minute ride over to the church. Of course I only had a general idea of where I was going and as soon as I got back up on 10 it started to rain. Crud! Back down off of 10 at the first ramp to get the rain gear on. It was warm and humid and I really didn't feel like getting all this stuff on as I hoped that it was only the very front that I was hitting and that I'd be at the church before it really started to pour.  I put everything on but my overboots. Back onto the bike and head back to 10 only to find out that there was no ramp back up onto 10 West. I had to get onto to 610 which really confused me as to exactly where I was, but I figured it was a spur of 10 so must be going in the same general direction. (HA) No sooner was I up on 610 ( I say up because I was going up on a flyover ) when it started to rain heavily. In minutes there was standing water all over the highway.  I found out just how much standing water when a truck drove by me to my left and thru a wall of water back at me. OK, so much for staying dry. I realized that the vehicle now to my left was staying along side of me which was odd given that I was driving well below the posted limit.  I looked over to my left to see a large SUV with two young guys in it.  The passenger was grinning looking at me and then gave me a big thumbs up before his buddy kicked it into gear and they were gone. Yup thumbs up the crazy old white guy riding in the rain - hey all I could do was laugh along.  But this riding in what was now a downpour on the highway was just not making me feel safe.  I needed to get off and get off fast.

I saw and exit for Canal Blvd and that sounds vaguely familiar so I took that and turned south.  It was now raining so hard that I was having a hard time seeing anything further than a half a block a head of me, and these were short blocks. My visor was so filmed over with running water that I was having to filp it up at every intersection so I could try and read the street signs. When I hit City Park Ave I wasn't sure which way to go.  I looped around the intersection and rode up to a bus stop where everyone was standing up on the seat trying to keep from getting soaked.  I asked a young lady which direction to continue on Canal and she pointed me in the right direction, the whole time looking at me like I was the strangest thing she'd ever seen.

On I continued finally hitting St. Charles Ave. where I took a right and started heading west.  I had no idea where along St. Charles I was but this was not looking at all where I had expected to be as I realized I was in the business district. While the blocks in New Orleans are tiny I found out later that I had to travel about 3 miles and 60 some blocks to get to the Audubon Park all the while I feeling like Winnie the Pooh in the Blustery Day.  Block after block I rode all the while getting wetter and wetter. My boots were squishing, rain was running down my back coming off the helmet and my constantly having to lift the visor to see left me with enough water running down my face that I was sputtering water. At this point I just wanted to survive.

I was thru the business district and was obviously (from the size of the houses and landscaping) in the Garden District.  Well I thought, at least I'm still heading in the right direction. I had just crossed over Napoleon Ave when I was stopped by two tour busses that were blocking the road. Heading to church or not at this point I'd had it and was doing some serious mutt and muttering under my breath, cursing the two ding-a-lings driving these busses.  I then saw one of the drivers exit the rear bus and go running for his. "Great, let's get this party moving", I thought as I sat there getting even wetter. The busses did start going but at a snails pace. 6 more blocks and we came to a stop again, for far longer than a normal street light cycle.  I edged along side one of the busses so I could see what was going on and noticed a car in front of the lead bus stopped at the traffic light WHICH WAS GREEN! OK, I'm spewing at this point. The light turned red, then went back to green and this time the car started inching forward..... down into the water. OH MY GOSH the street was flooded.  I watched as the car went in mid way up the wheels. Holy Cow what was I going to do?! I had to get to the church in order to hook up with my friends.  I also knew that they lived within walking distance of the church.

The busses now moved forward and created quite a wake behind them. The image of large cruise ships went thru my mind. Now it was my turn. I went in and hit the water way too fast. Water flew over the front fender as the light from my running lights played thru it in a psychedelic display. Backing it down a bit I had to put my feet up on the highway pegs because the water was sloshing a wake over my floor boards. I started a little mantra in my head, “my bike doesn’t have a snorkel please don’t flood, my bike is not a submarine please don’t stall.” For blocks I rolled along at 5mph cutting a wake thru 5-6 inches of water. All the while thinking how insane I must look.  I finally saw what I thought must be the church. It was on the other side of the road and didn’t appear to be open. Also the water, if possible, looked even deeper on that side of the street.

I rode around the block a couple of times trying to figure out how to get over there when I finally said to heck with it and rode up on the sidewalk as that was just high enough to get me out of the water, I then road that back down the block and parked in front of the church. Thankfully there was a guy standing on the front stoop of the church watching the deluge, probably waiting to see if Noah and his Ark would go by.  In talking to him I found out that the service was canceled due to the flooding – DUH. I explained my situation to him and he said I could probably find out where my friends lived if I went down to the pastors house who lived 5 blocks down the street along side the church. Of course THAT road looked deeper than any of the others, but I was assured that the road had a high crown, “just ride down the center”.

I actually did just that and once more pulled up onto the sidewalk, this time in front of the pastors house. His wife who saw me coming wasn’t about to open the door to this nut job standing on her front porch. I yelled out that I was looking for Pastor Ray and he cautiously opened the door, his big black dog at his side. Once I explained who I was he happily told me that my friends were only 3 blocks over from his house.

Of course as I made my way over those last 3 blocks the rain just started to let up. Looking down to the end of the street I could see my friend Bo in his green knee high rubber boots and rain jacket waving back to me. A more joyful sight I couldn’t have hoped for.

Things learned:

• Hondas ROCK. My VTX1800 never coughed or sputtered once even though I have a Edlebrock foam air cleaner.
• 2 1/2 inches of rain in 30 minutes means NOLA floods. The city pumps only handle an inch an hour.
• Never trust all your information on a trip to your phone, pda or computer. Put it on paper too.
• Anything in life is doable when you have good friends helping you along the way. Don't leave home without them!