The Steamtug Blog

Pete finally arrived from Australia after being lost in Texas and having me worried sick! It was Boxing day and I had volunteered to work the Christmas holiday period so my local colleagues could have the time with their families. I was only going home to a cold empty house, so it didn’t matter to me. As Pete flew into Dallas airport, a mini hurricane appeared from nowhere and smashed through the area leaving a wake of destruction and 11 people dead. Pete was hovering over the Dallas Fort worth airport spinning in mid air with the pilot trying to figure out where they would land, eventually diverting to Austin. Of all the times this could happen! Poor Pete had been out of bed 2 days after flying one of the longest legs on the planet, now he is lost somewhere in Texas. He eventually called me mid afternoon the next day to say he had arrived, and I dispatched William and Sarah to pick him up. He must be soooo tired, but apparently all he wanted after arriving was not bed, but a beer! So they took him to the local sports bar.

I arrived at Sarah’s house after work to take him away before he drank all their beer, thinking how tired he must be. But on
getting him home, he wanted another beer! So we sat talking, and discussing the state of the nation and he finally crashed at 11.30pm! Boy…. I was tired, why wasn’t he?

Next morning he woke up before me keen to get out and look around. So I took him alligator hunting down on the Creole nature trail which goes from our “resort community” of Lake Charles, down the Calcasieu River and ship canal to Holly Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, across the river by ferry, lunch at the diner in Creole and back up to Lake Charles. He fell asleep in the car coming back, but it didn’t keep him quiet for long. Later when we got back to Lake Charles, I took him to the Western clothing store and we had a laugh buying cowboy boots and hats! Ha, it was very funny with the shop girl laughing at our accents.

Harley Davidson

Next morning, we were planning some grand adventures, but he finally went quiet and didn’t get outta bed till 10am. I was very pleased he had a sleep in. Well, after working 8 days in a row, I was tired too! I took him downtown and we found the Harley Davidson shop. He brought a brand new Harley in Australia and was having some tuning troubles after fitting new pipes to it. He talked to the man at the Harley shop who told him he was an expert in turning the new computer controlled injection systems and knew exactly what was wrong. I told him he should have ridden here!

Talking more to this man, he revealed himself as Billy Doherty who’s family had owned the Lake Charles dealership for the past 40 years. And, he was the 17 time national drag bike champion! Wow… he was famous! And showed us his racing bike after he warmed to Pete’s funny accent and questions. He was a great bloke now that we had won his confidence. Pete had to get his photo with Billy to show everyone at home.

Later we did some looking around at nothing particularly exciting. Like Walmart. Everyone has to have that experience. Pete asked me, is it true you can buy a shotgun in a supermarket? Yes Pete…. which one would you like?