Day 1 – Willis, VA to Spartanburg, SC

This morning was, as Thais will attest to, hectic. Though I certainly spent a lot of time on preparation, you wouldn’t have known it with my last minute scurrying. Met Marshall at around 9:20am at Willis, VA and the trek began. I did want to give a big thank you to Thais, for putting up the the last minute scrambling and Scott and Cassie, my LOF neighbors, for the thoughtful surprise send off. They made the effort to get up early on a Saturday morning and cheer me on holding encouraging (and humorous) signs (pictures below) as I made my way down the driveway.

Today was a fairly light day, but hectic enough at the start that I really didn’t take any pictures or video. We traveled to Spartanburg, SC, primarily on US Route 221, through Boone, NC, Blowing Rock and a host of smaller cities. Rough Map below.

Marshall and I had purchased Cardo PackTalk Mesh Network communicators prior to the trip and they have worked out really well. It really adds to the trip to be able to chat back and forth as we ride and well as alert the lagging bike of dreaded gravel in a curve or deer in the road, both potentially serious hazards to motorcyclists.

We made it to Spartanburg around 5pm and after putting up our gear and showering had a very enjoyable dinner with my youngest sister Carolyn and her husband Rob. The very recently move to Spartanburg from Pennsylvania and were kind enough to treat Marshall an I to an excellent meal and beers at the Green Olive Grill.

Overall and generally quiet, enjoyable ride for our first day out. I will try to keep up the daily posts. Till then ……