Day 1

This is the most I have ever packed for a trip... but so excited to finally get my project off the ground!

This morning I woke up and finished my last minute packing as I was waiting for coffee to brew.When I got done I woke my wife up and poured our coffees. After all she won't have coffee for two weeks because her barista is gone. I gave some extra love to the kids (our puppies). Poor Lucy doesn't even realize that I am leaving, this will be her longest stretch without me.

We finished our coffee and I got ready to leave, saying our goodbyes I started up Jack and headed down the road.

My first stop along my way was to a shell shaped gas station in Winston-Salem. Though it is not a functioning service station was a cool stop none the less.

120 miles down and many more to go. But first, brunch at the Waffle House down the road.

Next stop was to see a large iron... yes as in a large clothes iron. This was supposed to be in Ashville but when I got the the streets were so crowded I decided not to stop. I pulled over to adjust my navigation but had no network connection. While fussing with everything I went to back my bike up into a partial parking spot, and I completely forgot when doing so I put my kick up... yes, you guessed it down he went.

But at least he went down at a lovely intersection. I pulled my bags off quickly and a man came over and asked if I needed help getting it back up, he owns a road king and has done the same. I picked up with little effort, thank you motorcycle boot camp, and got loaded back up. Restored my phone for a network connection and off again towards Nashville TN.

It was a pretty hot afternoon it reached 91 degrees so there were plenty of stops for water and gas along the way. One interesting stop to a Gas station... what is this graveyard of pumps?

At around 5:00 p.m. I got caught in a pop up thunder storm. Looking at the radar the further west I go the worse it will get.

I decided to call it a day. There was a KOA campground close by. I got checked in and set up my site quickly so I could get all my equipment covered.

Of course it stopped raining after I get everything set up. Alas, tomorrow is another day.

A few bugs to workout yet. My power bank is not charging my computer, at least it works for my camera equipment so not a total loss on packing it.

442 miles down