Hawthorn Suites LTD Charlotte / Concord Mills

... mer* *nd one of those new Flip c*mcorders. You better believe I will be uplo*ding pictures *nd videos every single d*y on here. Well, Jimmy John's should be here *ny minute. I *m so excited for the months to come *nd I will truly miss * lot of people, BUT I *m excited to sh*re *ll of my cr*zy "Becc* shen*****ns" with you *ll through this blog.

Goodbye, Arrivederci, H*st* Luego.

Becc* *k* Cupc*ke

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 & 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 .

After a long and hectic tech week in the not so glamorous land of Roxbury Community College, we finally hit the road on Saturday. Our first day was quite long. Anyone who's ever driven the I-95 route up and down the east coast knows that the triumverate of driving nuisances are Boston, NYC, and DC... and yes we were passing through all 3 in our first day of driving. Needless to say, 12 hours later we were VERY thankful to reach the hotel.

Sunday, we ...

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.

... the eastern boarder of Iraq while I am there. Future travels with continue to take me across I believe. I am bringing the tent and sleeping bag for my days on the road so that I can stay cheap while i'm in transit. Though I have hostel reservations for the beginning and end of my trip in Istanbul.

Sarah and Ken were waiting for us, as we deplaned in Charlotte North Carolina.They had caught a flight from Detroit to Charlotte, the meeting place for our international flight.

It seems so exciting... and odd, too. Seeing familiar faces outside the ...

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.

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 ...

... have wrecks in them and that is fun to watch, but the excitement ends soon after that. The races ranges anywhere from 15 to 75 laps of this 1/2 mile track depending on how many wrecks there are, how long they take to clean up and, and how long the race was originally scheduled to be. All in all it was an experience, but if I had to do it over again, I ...

... camp sites) prepared all the food. About 20 people showed up with enough food for 50. It was delicious. I met a couple (I forget their names) who had been staying at the campground the past few months. She's a nurse and takes contract jobs wherever she can. They sold their house on the South Carolina coast a while ago and moved into their 5th wheel. He takes odd jobs wherever they are. Her current contract was expiring in a few days. They were heading to Baltimore for a ...