Sleep Inn 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>

... our driving extravaganza and finally arrived in the first city we would be performing in, Concord, NC. This is apparently the home to Lowe's Motor Speedway. That's right NASCAR fans, we were right next to this place. I never realized just how big those tracks are. It was huge! Now, I am not a racing fan, so I had no clue where we were until I literally ended up driving next to it. I kept thinking "wow, there are a ton of hotels for some random NC city I ...

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 ...

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. <br><br> 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. <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 ...

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.

... we are in the secret service, except we don't speak into our wrist), the ZERO tolerance for driving with ANY alcohol in our system, paying parking and traffic violations right away, and to always be cautions. The day started out pretty slow. We had a few drivers here and there, but we had enough time standing around where I was able to get to know a little bit about the people I would be working with. After a couple of ...

... to Portland, OR, riding bikes from Columbia, SC to the SC coast, discovering new people and places (and laughing with old friends) from Georgia all the way to Vermont and New Hampshire, even managing to suffer through a couple of endurance mtn bike races. hard work and even harder play seemed to usher the time quickly by. january 2007 somehow finds me, and two crazy travel partners, unemployed and on the cusp ...