Comfort Suites Concord

The journey home began at 6AM Venice time and even with only a one hour layover in Munich we arrived in Charlotte at 6PM est time (midnight Venice time!) a very long day. We had a trendous trip and Aunt Sue and Guido were the perfect hosts and tour guides. I almost feel like going right back but that will have to wait for now probably June 2011. The weather was cold and at times rainy so some of the things you would routinely do were just not possible.

Excited and ready to leave. The forecast does not seem very promising but it will be great to see Sue &amp; Guido again. We leave Charlotte at 5:30 PM and should be in Venice at Noon (Italian time) Wednesday. I will try to send photo's as we take them as well as update this blog. I loved this when Chris and Liana used it . <br>

... does not make for a pretty show. But, the cast was great, made due, and put on a good show despite our wonky lights and effects. They really are a great group. Plus, some of our student helper crew members were adorable ("Sasha Fierce" and "Smeyes" as we lovingly dubbed them). <br><br>Aside from that mini-drama, everything's going well. The group is great, we're all still laughing and getting along which is good. :)<br><br>More from the NC coming up soon!<br>

I thought that I would post this picture of me and La Poderosa just before I left for the west coast a couple month's ago. She had to be sold in LA:( What an amazing bike for 700 bucks. She got me through one of the most amazing adventures that I've had to date. As soon as I can get my computer that has all the pics on it online I will have a boat load of stuff to post from this trip.<br><br>

So I just set up this blog thingy. Computers and stuff like this are not my forte. I will try to update with some images of my travels as I get a chance. I am leaving for Istanbul, Turkey in a couple days. So i am practice packing to get things down to as little as possible. I am hoping to hitchhike ...

... spots is very puzzling to my mind. You think "I KNOW you! I really KNOW you. And here you are. And here we are... and we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!"<br><br>We have about a 2 hour wait before our evening flight across the pond. So, let's have a beer!

Given the title I'm sure you can guess what we have encountered today, and not just a little rain but a whole lot of it. Flash flood warnings in some of the areas we drove through. There hasn't been a break all day. <br><br>The day started with walking the streets of Gatlinburg, TN which is just another pretty cool touristy town with tons of shops. We were really looking forward to seeing the Smoky ...

... out into the little town, which was flooded with bikes. It was a little too much for me so i went back to the room and went to sleep. I guess i'm officially old now. The next morn i woek up and went straight to the bar. To my surprise, people were drinking beer at 9am heheh. I had a virgin Daq and got the heck out of there. The ride back to Miami only took 4.5 hours. wow. Anyway, i decided to ride to Jacsonville FL that nigth. There was some rain but nothign ...

WW and I drove across western NC. Got to a town called Statesville and went into J&amp;R Cigars, billed as the World's largest cigar store. They ain't lying. BIg ol' CHurchills for $3 (or less).<br><br>We camped at Lake Norman, land donated to the State of NC by the Duke Power company as long as the state let them leave their nuke there. No pics. Suprisingly nice campground.

... the Speedway there are about a dozen Racing Team merchandise trailers lined up blowing out this year's merchandise to the fans. I walk up to the race track and there are a few people there watching the cars out on the track. If you purchase over $50 in merchandise you can drive your car around the 1 ½ mile high banked oval track. There were numerous cars lined up. A group of cars would follow a track car for a few laps. Without the pace car it would be a free-for-all and I am ...