petenomad's rally route

[petenomad]

Ann and I left Thursday morning from our home in Overland Park, KS. (Just outside of Kansas City) Our plan is to ride to Front Royal, VA to start at Skyline Drive and ride most of the Blue Ridge Parkway down to Maggie Valley. Given time constraints, we had to cover lots of ground in a hurry. We went 530 miles on Thursday and spent the night in Louisville, KY (5 states in one day - KS, MO, IL, IN, KY). We got a late start and I had forgotten about the time change, so it was 8:20 when we pulled into the Super 8.
Met lots of Harley riders as the KY state HOG rally opened yesterday right there in Louisville with the host hotel was just across the street. As usual, all the guys and gals we talked to were nice as could be. Saw some really nice bikes including "Olive" a nice green softail springer. I think all of these guys were amazed anyone could ride that far in one day.
We did about 500 miles again today. We stopped for the night in Staunton VA, about 80 miles south of Front Royal. We were very fortunate with the rain - only getting hit once, but we drove on a lot of pavement that was still damp. The zumo kept giving me warnings about rain and there were isolated storms. We saw some pretty strong lightning strikes and then the sky opened up on us. We had been riding on wet pavement and I had stupidly taken off the highway bar chaps due to the heat. My jeans were soaked and dripping into my boots just from the splatter off the pavement. When it did start raining we were absolutely drenched in less than 5 minutes. I was able to take an exit almost right away and get to a truck stop. As soon ase we pulled under the awning, the rain stopped. We just decided to have lunch and hope for the best. Luckily it worked out for us. We'll see about tomorrow.
We got to Staunton at around 7:00 tonight and were able to walk around the old downtown area and have an incredible dinner at a local bistro. (Chirizo and veal meatloaf is highly recommended - as is Port City Porter. Ann had some other stuff that she seemed to like. :) )
Now the ride to get to the ride is over and tomorrow starts the relaxing portion of our trip. We have a bit more interstate to get to Front Royal and then should get to enjoy Skyline Drive.
Looking forward to seeing the familiar faces and meeting new friends in MV on Monday.