The morning brought us rain. Lots of rain. Nobody enjoys riding in the rain and I hate it. The only person (sic) who was enjoying himself was Doug the duck who was strapped to the back of my bike. (Yup, same dude who was duck-napped last year) After several checks with the National Weather Service it looked like the rain might clear up in a few hours and we decided to hang around for a bit. So, off to IHOP we went for breakfast.

It was still drizzling around 11 am but we didn't want to wait any longer. So we suited up and headed for Bristol. The rain stopped in about 5 minutes and didn't bother us again all day.

The ride to Bristol, VA was uneventful. The first order of business when we arrived was lunch. Many thanks to our lunchtime sponsor Columbus McKinnon Corp. You know...CM. The chain hoists we use all the time, right? Randy Gephart was CM's representative and he came prepared. He had T-shirts! Our Barter Theatre tour guide was Cheri Prough DeVol, who designed the sets for their current show, Wizard of OZ. A bunch of us saw the show.It was good fun. There were some very nice voices in the cast, in particular the guy playing the Cowardly Lion.

The Artistic Director does a bit of a spiel before the show and at one point asked who had come the farthest to see the show. Brenda Edelstein announced "London, UK" and, of course, won that little contest. She received a number of prizes but kept the one she really wanted. A Bristol, Virginia souvenir spoon.

After the show it was off to the hotel. We dropped our gear off and then went straight to Moe's Parent's house for dinner. Beautiful house in the countryside. (They have cows out back!) Dinner was a whole pig that they had been roasting all day. Mmmmmm mm was it good. Between Moe's parents George and Judith and his Uncle Charlie and Aunt Anna last night, we are eating like kings on this trip.

Then it was back to the hotel to stand around in the parking lot with a beer and talk about the ride so far and what the future holds. We are coming together as a group. And more importantly, we are becoming a group of friends.

Twisty roads tomorrow. Hope the weather behaves.

Thanks again for supporting the LRLR.

See you tomorrow.

Bill

Other Links:
Dennis Booth's Facebook Photo Album
Star Markham's Vespa Journey's Blog