I think we are ready

Today I took a little leave from work to take advantage of the last sunny warm day of the week to tweak a few items on the Motorcycle. After I wired the new GPS up to the bike, I noticed while deceleration I would lose power and it would switch to battery. I must not have made a good splice in the power connection with the supplied clip. I decided to remove the clip and solder the wire solid to connection point. I also topped off the radiator with some antifreeze because I was about a half of a cup low. Something I should have done long ago was install better speakers in the front of the bike, so I removed one of them today, took it to the audio shop, only to find out they had nothing. I will have to order some better speakers when I return home.

I took the old girl, (the Valkyrie), out for a little ride, topped the fuel tank off and parked it. All looks good and I cannot think of anything else that needs to be checked, tweaked, or worked on. Come Friday morning 9am we will hookup the trailer and head south for our first destination Goldsboro, North Carolina. I was to meet up with Billy Morris and his wife, he was the best man at our wedding and one of my best friends growing up, but his wife will be out of town and he has to work that evening. I will either try and do a re-route toward the end of my trip or make a special trip sometime during the Summer to see the both of them.

I still have a couple of things that I would like to accomplish on the first leg and one is stopping in Petersburg Virgina to see the Civil War Battlefield where the Crater was created by 4 tons of black powder. The Northern forces dug a 500 plus foot tunnel to the Southern lines in 30 days, then set off an explosion that was suppose to end the standoff in Petersburg and bring a quick end to the war.

Growing up, my parents loved going to and taking us kids to Parker's BBQ in Washington NC. but since I will be in Goldsboro, Lori and I will be trying a different restuarant named Wilber's BBQ. The reviews on the Internet from the locals puts Parkers to shame, but tasting it yourself is the only proof you can rely on. The BBQ here is the Vinegar base and not the tomato based that so many people our familier with.

Leg 1 should be around 300 miles and below you will see a map of the route.

Leg 1 at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Also below you will find the basic outline of the route which is around 2900 miles without the rides/tours that I will take in certain locations.

Home-KeyWest-Home at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging