Why?

Why am I doing such a long trip? Well I have always wanted to do a long motorcycle trip and the timing just happened to work out. As most of you know the Board pulled the final plug on Caspian towards the end of September and I had been talking about doing a long ride with my good friend from Dallas, Chris Hilton.

We both decided that now was the perfect time and also a good time of year to do the ride.

Several people have asked where we are going. As usual we don't have the final details 100% planned out, but this is not unusual. Chris and I took a trip to Europe in 1995 with no major plans and no place to stay in most of the countries we visited. We just played it by ear and had a blast. Ask me sometime about the story when the cops approached us at 3 AM in a parking lot in Oxford, England. Two drunk Texans sitting in a Saab, smoking Cuban cigars and listening to Garth Brooks at 110 decibels.... LOL

The current plan as of 12:20 AM on Monday, October 16, 2006, is that I will leave San Jose Tuesday morning at about 5:30 AM driving my Ford F350 with my Ducati ST4s loaded in the back. I plan on driving straight through to El Paso (my birthplace), Texas and find a hotel off I-10. Wednesday morning I will make the drive to Dallas, Texas to meet Mr. Hilton.

Start the Motorcycle Trip:
>> Fri, Oct 20th -- Leave Dallas and go to Arkansas, pickup Highway 7 (best 10 rides in the US) and run north through the Ouachita National Forest up through the Ozark National Forest. We camp somewhere along the way.

>> Sat, Oct 21st -- plan a route from Arkansas that takes us through Tennessee. We either camp Saturday or hit a Hotel.

>> Sun, Oct 22nd -- plan a route depending on where we decide to stop Sat night and we make it to my Parents house in East Tennessee Sunday mid-afternoon.

>> Mon, Oct 23rd -- (My Dad's Birthday) spend time with the relatives and eat some good food, change the oil on the bikes...Leave in the afternoon and ride to our condo in Sevierville, TN. Spend the night.

>> Tues, Oct 24th -- We ride south through Smokey Mountain National park and then do Deals Gap. Then we pick up the Blue Ridge parkway. Stop and camp halfway or a 1/3 up the parkway.

>> Wed, Oct 25th -- We continue up the parkway to Virginia. Then cut over and down to North Carolina. We either camp or do a hotel.

>> Thu, Oct 26th -- We ride through North Carolina on our way to Myrtle Beach to stay at our condo.

>> Fri, Oct 27th -- Hang in Myrtle Beach and relax.

>> Sat, Oct 28th -- Ride to Columbia to go to the University of South Carolina – Tennessee football game and then back to Myrtle Beach.

>> Sun, Oct 29th -- Ride to Charlotte and get a hotel and then go to the Sunday night game – Cowboys vs. the Panthers.

>> Mon, Oct 30th – Chris has a Monday morning meeting. We take off Monday afternoon and ride to Atlanta to stay out our friend’s house, Russell.

>> Tues, Oct 3st -- Hang in Atlanta and possibly get on the track at Road Atlanta in a Porsche GT3 race car.

>> Wed, Nov 1st -- Ride to New Orleans and get a Hotel.

>> Thu, Nov 2nd -- Ride back to Dallas.

>> Fri, Nov 3rd – I will drive to Austin to pickup my Mom at the airport. I am flying her out from Tennessee to go the Oklahoma State – Texas Longhorn football game.


Then Sunday I will make a 3 day drive in the truck back to San Jose, CA to see my wife Steffanee...