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Showing posts with label Bicycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bicycles. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Bicycle Invasion!


We've had a lot of crappy, cold weather lately but this past Saturday we got a day filled with blue skies and warm weather.  When our friends from Bon Jeudi told us that they were getting together that day for a ride in our town to celebrate the "Ride Master's" fiance's birthday ... we knew we couldn't pass it up!  Ken had gotten a new cruiser bike for Christmas and our friend Jeff, ("Ride Master") had a women's bike to sell me whenever we showed up to one of the rides.  It had been a while since we'd ridden (on borrowed bikes) and we were itching to get out in some good weather.

We all met up about 5 minutes from our house in Olde Town Slidell, rode around the quaint, older section of Slidell for a while, stopped at the Farmer's Market where one of the bicycle group's members was selling smoked barbecue (pig on a stick was sooo good), then stopped at KY's Bicycle Shop for lunch and birthday cake.  This place has the best po-boys and nachos, and was previously a bicycle shop many years ago.  As you can see from the picture above, folks inside the restaurant were checking us out.  It's not too often that about 20 bicycles pull up to a restaurant around here!

Riding through the streets with a boom box got us even more strange looks.  With Mardi Gras right around the corner, some folks thought we were a parade.  It's fun to bring a smile on someone's face and have them wave.  Below is a pic of the "Ride Master", with a speaker on his rear fender ... and Mr. Bill!


A new member joined that day ..."The Devil"!   If someone in the group lays their bike down, the devil takes a place on their bike ... until the next person wipes out.  It didn't take long for the devil to find his first bike to sit on.  The guy who got the little red man is still stuck with him.  Luckily, Ken and I made it through the day without a visit from the devil.


Another Bon Jeudi event is coming up in a couple of weeks, and it will be at one of our favorite (and very adult) parades in the French Quarter.  We can't miss that one either.  Look for some crazy pics from that one!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!

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Posted by Ken n Cheryl at 10:39:00 AM 3 comments
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Friday, August 23, 2013

Bon Jeudi!


Bon Jeudi ... or "Happy Thursday"!  Last night we joined a bicycle ride along the lakefront that our friends Jeff and Amy put together.  Jeff has been a friend of ours since high school, and he orchestrated the French Quarter bicycle ride when one of our friends passed away.  He and his fiancee, Amy, formed a group called the Bon Jeudi Social Bike Ride a couple of months ago, and every Thursday anyone is welcome to join the fun.  The group is getting larger every week, and I think we'll be making this ride pretty often now that we've finally experienced it ... and since Jeff has extra bikes for us to ride.  Lots of fun!

After meeting at a local pizza place on the lakefront we all followed our leader, Jeff.  He lead the way on his bike, which pulls a small trailer loaded with an ice chest full of beer and another chest full of tools for the bikes. His bike has a little speaker on the back to blast some tunes from his phone ... we're set!

People of all ages, sizes and personalities make up the group.  It was fun to meet new people and ride the streets of  Mandeville, while shouting "Happy Thursday" to the folks we passed by.  Some people were interested in what we were doing, and cards were passed out so they could join next time.  I overheard one lady say to her husband, "We gotta buy some bikes"!  


We stopped to watch the sunset ... at Sunset Point!  


As the sun set the lights on the bikes created their own show.  The picture below was taken at a previous Bon Jeudi ride ... love it!


The bike lights weren't only pretty, but became a necessity when we rode along the bike path made from an old railroad track called "The Trace".  Other than the lights on our bikes, it was pitch black!  Pretty cool to ride on a narrow path in the middle of trees with nothing but spinning neon lights.

We made a couple of stops along the two-hour ride, including a local bar called "Ruby's Roadhouse".  Lots of memories from that place!  We ended the night back on the lakefront ... notice the marina in the background.  The guy with the hat, white shirt and trailer behind his bike ... our friend and leader, Jeff.  (These pictures were also taken from a different Bon Jeudi ride.  If I had taken them ... same picture, different clothes).  As it turned out, both chests on his trailer were handy that night.  The beer was consumed and the tools were pulled out a couple of times ... one woman's handlebars came loose and Jeff had a flat tire ... on the trailer.  No worries ... he had his tools!



Here's a short little video taken by one of the folks of us biking at night ... yep, in circles.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!
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Posted by Ken n Cheryl at 8:51:00 AM 4 comments
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Coming Together!

Riding the ferry down the Mississippi ...

If you read our last post, you know that a good friend that Ken and I practically grew up with passed away unexpectedly.   While this was a very sad occasion, it also brought us together with our life-long friends.  Why is it that it takes a wedding or a funeral to get together with everybody?  Such is the hustle bustle of the landlubber life!

Anyway, our high-school friend (and best man at our wedding) flew in from Florida, while others drove in from Tennessee and Northern Louisiana.  We had a few friends stay at our house, and it felt like a slumber party.  I can't remember the last time we had a house-full of overnight guests. 

So, after coming together to pay our respects we all thought it would be appropriate to celebrate our friend's life.  She brought a lot of laughs, and we know she'd want us to have some fun in her honor.

We all hung out at another friend's home after the service for some good fun and catching up with each other.  We felt like we were in high school again, and it was great to just get crazy for a while.  Boy, did we get crazy, but I'll do everybody a favor and keep those pictures private!

Us with our friends since high school .. the stories we have!

The following day we took advantage of the fact the one of our friends is into old bicycles.  He has about 20 of them in his garage!  He packed his truck full of bikes and we all headed to the French Quarter for the day.  While Ken and I have ridden through the Quarter a couple of times, we'd never done it with a group of 8 friends ... it was a great time.  We felt like we were on a field trip!


We were all still recuperating from the night before, and it was slow goin' at first!  We figured our first stop should be for Bloody Marys.  After a drink we were on our way around the city.  We then hopped on the ferry that took us down the Mississippi River then dropped us (and our bikes) off across the river. This was about a 20 minute ferry ride, so it was a really nice trip down the Mississippi.  Again, we felt like tourists!          
We're gonna start our own movement ... Occupy French Quarter!


                           


The shot above is with our daughter.  We were so glad she was able to spend the day with us and our friends.  They're like her aunts and uncles, and some haven't seen her since she was a baby.  After getting off the ferry, we rode about 3 miles on the levee (after a hangover .. what were we thinking)!  The path took us back to another ferry terminal, which then brought us back to the French Quarter.  This was a first for all of us (execpt our cycling friend), and it was a blast.  The weather was sunny and in the 70's ... perfect!

Views of the city from across the Mississippi River, including the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter.



Once back in the French Quarter, we had to stop at Margaritaville for lunch.  We were still beat from the night before and we needed food!



  After lunch, we found Santa Claus and had to get a picture!  We then rode through the Quarter and on to Bourbon Street.  We figured that was the best way to end our day in the city!


We lost two from the night before (one lives in town and had to work and the other had to go back to Northern Louisiana).  The guy on the left with Ken and our daughter was our best man.  The two in the middle ... they grew up in Panama (before moving to the States in high school) and they're moving back in a few months.  I see a trip in our future!  The two guys behind me ... they still live here in Slidell. 

We all said our goodbyes the following day, and vowed to get together more often.  While we're all like family and have kept in touch by phone, it's just not the same as getting together.  We tried to remember the last time that we were all together at once ... probably about 15 years ago!

We had a great time, and we think Liz would be happy to see us all together and smiling.  While there was lots of laughter, we all have an empty place in our heart and we'll never forget our friend.  This post is dedicated to her!

Hasta luego ...  Mid-Life Cruising!
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Posted by Ken n Cheryl at 11:25:00 AM 3 comments
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