So we woke up cold this morning and packed up. I was done by 8:30, John's meticulous packing had him finish about an hour later. Notice my bike all packed up in this picture.
We blasted down Rt 130 to find somewhere to fuel up on cafeine and breakfast. After a while we finally found a diner called Dudley's and the food was okay fine with us and we had a chance to revisit the electronic world via our phones. Being offline is nice but painful all at the same time. So Dudley's was a success. 
I talked to a guy in the parking lot and he said he had not been on a motorcycle in 70 years, and he said they were not safe. He asked some questions that I understood and some I did not. The Virginia accent is fun to try to comprehend. He backed out of his spot and did not hit anyone, so I guess he was having a good day too.
Later down the road I took this picture of the Red Velvet cockpit with John leading the way again.
Later, I passed John and got this shot of him following me. In both of these pictures, Red Velvet was driving while I captured all of this for posterity sake.
John hitting the apex of a turn.
John pushing into the corner.
John taking a break. I thiink he just took a whiz next to RiTa (yes he has named his bike) You know the older you get, the faster you gotta go.
In this shot, John is whizzing on all the little people in the valley below. King of the mountain.
I took this picture for my hair stylist, Jessica. The ridges and horns are back in my hair. I'm gonna need help again Jessica!
So after a long day of riding in 85-88F temperatures we decided to get a hotel room, made our reservation at a Hampton Inn in Roanoake Rapids, NC. I plugged in the address in my GPS and took off. The ride there was long and pretty much boring. I listened to music, going with a southern rock selection of Best of Tom Petty and then Neil Young, in honor of Dave Clark's misunderstanding of Neil and his music. After that I listened to a Christian radio station, as we were now officially in the Bible Belt. I could only handle that for a while then switched off to Rage Against the Machine, because I don't judge...that music is wicked fun to listen to.
We got to the hotel and checked in and showered (separately) and got the 2 days of stink calmed down and headed out to 1) get something to eat and 2) quench our thirst...and not in that order. We decided to go to Ruby Tuesdays because 1) they have a bar and 2) because it was about 200 yards away so we could leave Red Velvet and RiTa at the hotel to rest up. John could carry me back to the hotel or vice versa.
So we get to Ruby Tuesdays and get our drinks and this is what John looks like. On his phone, also note the white legs...John is wearing shorts for the first day this year. Ha!
So we had a nice dinner and drinks and we are talking to Amanda, our bartender. Turns out that her mom is from Columbus, OH and went to Whestone HS and a friend of John's who he went to college with, knows Amanda's mom and dad. Small world and John always runs into someone he knows, everywhere I go with him. There is Amanda in the picture below.
So the ride has been great. I only had one close call so far. Yesterday I was almost hit by a slingshot head on. I think I was across the line and he was near the line. Thanks to my mountain lion like reflexes I swerved and we missed each other. The guy had brown eyes and I think the cartoon car/bike was red. After the hyperventilating, I was fine.
Speaking of mountain lions. I'm pretty certain a mountain lion cub (kitty...whatever a baby or juvenile one is called) crossed the road right in front of me in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He or she gave me a sneer look as it climbed up the side of the road.
Last but not least, I officially passed my first kidney stone while camping last night. I wished we were drinking Jack Daniels instead of Miller Lite. I passed it while whizzing on a tree before turning in for the night. Ouch. But us Grewell's know how to turn out a kidney stone or two ( I've had many and my dad is battling three right now that might require a jack hammer to break up), no problem, just adds to the experience. Have a great day!
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