SE Texas to Clarleston WV and back

We left the house Wensday at 3 am. I could have kicked my own butt for not getting the paper work together for an SS 1000. We pushed as far as Alabama then My son Chase was toast. We pulled into a rest area where he took an Iron Butt power nap for about an hour and a half. Afterward he was renewed and ready to go. We made it to the other side of Chattanooga, Tennessee before stopping for the night. First day was 803 miles in 15 hours, that broke any record we had before. We had another 200 miles in us and we were sick we did not get SS 1000 paper work started.

We hooked up with another GS'er at this time and got rooms next to one another. We rode on to the rally the next day. The game plan once we got to Charleston was to watch the flow of Beemers and follow them to the civic center. We got into town and Beemers were going every which directions. Then before you know it there was a string of them following me. Chase got a kick out of this because I'm the last person you want to follow when it comes to directions and he knows this. After asking three locals for directions we finally found the way. Our whole trip up there was without a drop of rain. After checking in and getting settled in our room we went back to the civic center to check out all of the eye candy. "Oh my God," was there a lot of stuff to look at (drool, drool). That evening we got cleaned up and treated ourselves to a good supper. We were just getting ready to catch the shuttle to the beer tent when a guy came up and said that the beer tent had gotten blown away and people were injured. Also that tents wound up in the river with all of the occupants belongings including a dog. I understand that the dog was saved. I also heard of one guy that was hanging on to his tent and being dragged.

Friday, I set myself up for seminars all day, got to see a oilhead boxer torn down all the way to the bare case. I was amazed at how few tools it took to do this. This whole time Chase got to sleep in late then cruise the mall (in search of, well you know) until that afternoon. That afternoon we attended a class together put on by Helen 2 Wheels, about riding alone. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of meeting Helen, you don't know what your missing. The first time I met her was three years ago at a rally and bought some of her stuff. Helen is a larger that life caricature of a person. Go see her if you can.
That evening was to be the Advrider 8 PM meeting at the newly erected beer tent. We were on pins and needles until then. We found the hooligans at the beer tent and all was well. My kind of group, me and Chase had a great time. We parted earlier than most because we had a big day planned the following day. Early the next morning we took a guided mountain ATV tour. Wow was that that a blast. If you are ever near Charleston check them out. Money well spent. www.atvmountainriders.com
No affiliation just a happy customer. After a half of day riding the mountains, that was all of the adventure I needed for one day. We went back to the room, kicked back and ordered pizza.

I'm loosing track of days now but we attended the closing ceremonies where I almost messed my pants when they called my first name two different times for some big door prizes.
They gave away two bikes and a third one that was a surprise to everyone, an R1150RTP.

We had been so busy going and doing that we haven't seen any of West Virginia or took many pictures. We stayed an extra day after the rally was over and spent the whole day riding, sight seeing and taking pics.

We left for home Monday at 3 am we hit it hard for about three hours and decided sleep would be good. At this time we stopped at a cheap motel and crashed for 6 hours then hit it again we made it to Jackson, Tennessee spent the night then pushed home before dark the next day. We we rode through three miniutes of hard rain a couple of hours before we got home. 30 miniutes and we were dry again.

There is a moral to this story. If you think or dream of doing a cross country trip but are apprehensive about it. Just do it. This was a very liberating experience for us, with memories that will last a lifetime. This was our first cross country trip and were looking forward to many more.

Pics will follow....

Total miles round trip was 2700.

so much for plan A. whatta freaking riot.

good report.

Iron Butt Motel

Whole lots of these

Sounds like you had a get ride can’t wait to see the Pics.
Trailace

lots of these too

cool

Mountain ATV ride, "Way Cool"

babbling brooks galore

another brook

cliff

nice WV roads

coal

dam

New River Bridge

Hawks Nest Park

Flatlander Me :):

Berlock (aka Buzz Saw)

If he's gonna be called Buzzsaw let him get a haircut.