But Marlene wanted to see the Windsor Ruins on MS 522 outside of Port Gibson. We’d seen a sign for it last year when we took our much-enjoyed twisty ride before jumping onto the Natchez Trace. That day it was about the ride and not sightseeing so we didn’t stop. Because it was only about a 30-mile ride, we decided to take a chance on beating the incoming weather and Wiliferd, Charlotte, and Art joined us. We were all impressed with yet another remnant of the Civil War era. You’ll better understand when you see our pictures on the MACH 8 website and take a moment to read this website Windsor Ruins. Another ride we did on our own last year was to Rodney, MS, an “almost” ghost town that was once “almost” the Capital of Mississippi. To save time here, I’ll let you read about Rodney at the website. Even though the river path has changed through the years, we fully expected to find the town under water since the Mississippi was due to crest on April 8th at over 45 feet. Well, the clouds rolled in faster than we expected so we decided to turn back before we made it to Rodney. Unfortunately, we didn’t turn back soon enough.

Heading out of Port Gibson , I listened to the weather station and it was already warning about high winds of 70 mph, hail and possibilities of tornado activity in Vicksburg and surrounding counties – inclusive of where we were. We could pretty much see that we weren’t going to beat the storm, so we turned back into town and found refuge at Grant’s Place – a hole in the wall, plate lunch restaurant that almost sold out of food before I could get through the line for mine. In fact, Art got bite-sized chunks of roast beef and they were scraping the bottom of the pan for him! This was one unexpected find in the face of adversity. It made the whole situation a whole lot more bearable. We called back to the motel and we were reassured that everyone else had made it back safely except the guys who went for the tires. We were also advised that a tornado may have gone through the east side of Vicksburg and that the town was without power. The first phase of a 6-phase storm went through Port Gibson and that gave us a dryer, less gusty window of opportunity, so we got back on our bikes and we were able to get to the motel before the next deluge set in. Dick and Bill ended up waiting out the storm at an Appleby’s on their way back and arrived later in the afternoon unscathed too though they saw a lot of damage first hand.

When the third deluge dumped on the city around 2:30 pm, Marcie and Greg Bennetts, Buddy and Margaret Roberson and Barry and Terri Higginbotham arrived. They were cold, drowned rats on wheels. All they wanted was a warm room and shower – except we didn’t have power then! They did get checked in though and at least they were able to get into dry clothes.

As they were unpacking their bikes, another group that included Doug “Digger” Graves (WOTI, WA), Diane Shaffer (WOTI, FL), Evelyn “Boots” Cline (WOTI, TX), SKooter Ely (WOTI, TX) – and Lee Barnett (WOTI, SC) rode up under the canopy. These scoundrels cooked up a scheme with Lee’s wife Suzie to get him on his Valkyrie and to the Crawfish Run. Digger picked up SKooter and Boots and they rode to Greenville. Diane was visiting the Barnett’s for a little R&R (so Lee thought), and then when it all came together, she rode out to the MACH too! Lee sure was glad to be there and see everyone. He wished in the planning process that someone had thought to pack some rain gear for him. Note to family and friends: Rain gear is a must!

Around 6-ish, we headed towards Toney’s – the rain let up enough that many of us felt comfortable riding the short distance to the new host restaurant. Since Charlie and Candy drove, they offered to shuttle the other wusses…oh sorry,…I meant tired, wet, and road-weary riders to the restaurant. If others haven’t said it already, all my worries were for naught. Toney’s turned out to be an excellent replacement after the closure of the Lucky Fisherman. They had all you can eat crawfish and they kept them coming hot, fast and furious. Everyone agreed that they were the best crawfish they’d had in a long, long time. We put a hurtin’ on their buffet. Those in the group who ordered off the menu had to wait, but hey! What did you expect? This was a crawfish run. Gordo and Doug tried crawfish for the first time this year. Gordo took to them like a fish in water. Doug opted for a steak. We wanted to take leftover steak to Harley (Charlie and Candy’s Lhaso Apso) but the bone was gnawed clean.

Our MACH website has a link to Toney’s restaurant. If you are ever in Vicksburg, it is well worth the visit. You will not be disappointed by anything on their menu. About 2 hours later we returned to the motel for parking lot tire kicking and tale telling. It was great to visit with everyone and get to know people better. By the way, with Gordo and Diane here this year, we now have the distinction of being an International Ride to Eat.

I didn’t tell everyone my plans for Saturday’s ride. I think some riders were a little surprised by our final destination. Again, the weather channel and weather.com missed out on predicting our day. We woke up to cold, misty, low clouds. We kept hoping it would burn off and the sun would come out, but that wasn’t to be. No matter. We had 17 bikes head out at 9:30 a.m. for the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum Tour. In case you aren’t up on your state pen history, this is better known as "Angola Prison – A Gated Community" Or better yet – once known as the bloodiest pen in America! The museum provided interesting insight to the inner workings, activities and atrocities that have occurred there through the years. We contributed to their economy in the neat gift shop they had on site.

You might ask why in the world I would choose to go to a prison museum? Well, a few of us accidentally ended up at the front gate a couple of years ago while riding our “do your own thing ride” on Friday. My GPS showed a great crooked road that ended up taking us right to the gate of the prison – unknown to me until we got there! It was rodeo weekend, so traffic coming from the prison was non-stop. When the guard asked us if he could help us, I asked if this road went straight through since my GPS showed that it did. His response was “Not for you it doesn’t”. Needless to say, we turned around. Then we found a super twisty road that made the mistake worthwhile. Not only was the road a fun ride, it was laced with patched potholes in the rough, so dodging them and setting up for the turns was an added challenge for everyone. I knew then we had to do this again one day. Double click video below to view.

Marlene got it in her head that if the weather wasn’t really bad, that on our way back to Vicksburg we should take everyone to the Windsor Ruin so that they could see it too! She wanted to line all the bikes up in front of the ruins’ columns for our group shot! After she chased off a man who parked his pickup in front of the columns…I mean, asked him nicely to move it…we got the bikes lined up just as a couple of Beamer riders rode in. They offered to take the shot for us.

Windsor Ruins Group Shot - (L-R) Kathie & Johnnie, Skippy, Bruce & Sherry, Dave, Gordo, Marlene & Roger, Barry & Terri, Art, Doug, Diane, Dean, Bill, Dick, Wiliferd & Charlotte.

We arrived back at the motel in time for everyone to split up and go their separate ways for dinner – we couldn’t get back into Toney’s again. They had a band playing that night and no space for a group as big as ours was. Bruce, Sherry and Dave were able to get in though – since it was only three of them. A few others stopped at a crawfish boiling shed and brought them back to eat at the motel. Others did BBQ, Cracker Barrel and some went to the country club – Art got us in.

On Sunday, riders started heading for home pretty early. It was sunny and I think everyone wanted to take full advantage of a good ride. Evelyn headed out first back to Texas. Then the SC group - Digger, SKooter and Diane – left to see Lee home safely. They will then head home to their respective corners of the U.S. Charlie, Candy and Harley took leave soon thereafter. Gordon rode out next on his way back to Ontario. We made sure Woodie was up and packing – he caught a severe bronchitis while in for the MACH. He would be on his way shortly to Florida. Our Missouri group of seven bikes left next with Skippy, Art, Barry, Terri, Marcie, Greg, Buddy and Margaret getting ready to head out shortly thereafter.

In conclusion. The weather wasn’t the best – in fact, it was probably the worst it’s ever been. But with that said, we had 19 bikes, 29 people, 1 dog, and 1 car show up and we still had a good time! I don’t think anyone didn’t ride in severe downpours with the threat of high winds or tornadoes at least once during their ride into Vicksburg. I know that one rider for sure left home in 30-degree weather with snow on the ground and rode that way for a long time. He’ll probably encounter the same extremes once he gets close to home too! I know two riders who were apprehensive of joining up with complete strangers in an unfamiliar town, far from home. Now they are the undisputed Crawfish Kings with a host of new friends who will fry me alive if they don’t come back next year! I know another group of riders who came to Vicksburg the long way around in order to pick up a good friend as a surprise. He thought he could only dream of someday attending the Crawfish Run. That long route was from Washington State to Texas, to South Carolina to Vicksburg and now they are doing the ride in reverse so that their friend gets back home safe and sound!

I know that the WOTI family qualities that I described 7 years ago in a story published on the Internet are alive and well. If ever I have a moment to doubt it, I meet up with WOTI family, proudly introduce you to strangers and then step back and watch when the WOTI magic goes to work. I can’t say it any better than Crawfish King Bill did when he periodically serenaded us on our ride home: