2014 Blairsville Motorcycle trip
Day 1
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May 15
With 'little kid at Christmas' excitement I fired up the Goldwing and made sure all the raingear and helmet parts were onboard. Check. Tire pressures good. Check. Oil level. Check. I pulled the motorcycle and trailer around front. Donna had us 99% packed so we loaded the trailer. Shortly we were pulling out of the driveway and getting some wind. Our summer trip was underway.
This past year has been a busy one for our crew. John & Debby built a new house. Mike & Jerri have been busy with several projects. Donna & I have been remodeling since last summer. We are all ready to get away. Our vacation will take us back to the Blairsville, GA, area where we visited in 2011. We are staying at a different house and will be doing some exploring in South Carolina.
 We are getting an early start this year and leaving on Thursday evening. We will stop for the night in Shelbyville, KY, so we don't have far to ride. It will be nice to be gone, even if it's just 107 miles away. My favorite part is having a week away with my Sweetheart.
 Bedford, IN. 17:08, initial mileage 70,413 - After some banter and cigarettes we are off! The sky is overcast with rain a possibility and the temperature is in the low 50's. I even have a jacket on. Donna is bundled. We are trying a slightly different route. We normally take IN-250 to I-65. Today we're gonna bypass IN-250 and drop south to IN-256. It will shave a couple miles off our route and we'll avoid the now chip & sealed IN-250.
IN-256 is pretty much arrow straight and has a couple nice steel bridges.
 Our first stop is Famous Dave's in Clarksville for supper. We spent several minutes poking along with a traffic jam but overall we made good time. We broke tradition and skipped the stop in Sellersburg. We aren't even stopping for gas.
 A side benefit of stopping in Clarksville was Jerri's son Kory was able to have supper with us since he lives nearby. I had briscuit. After supper we spent some time at the bikes investigating a radio issue. John could hear me but I couldn't hear him. After some troubleshooting the problem ended up being on my end. The plug into my speaker jack wasn't making good connection. It was physically tight but the electrical connection would come and go depending how you tapped the connector. This aggravating problem would haunt me off and on for days.
 With full stomachs, clear skies, and fading daylight we headed toward our destination of Shelbyville. We were concerned that I-65 construction in Louisville might be an issue but it wasn't. Soon we were eastbound and down with Louisville in our mirrors.
 It seemed like no time and we were at the Shelbyville Holiday Inn Express. We pulled out what we needed for the night and left the rest in the trailer. We spent the rest of the night lounging around the hotel. As usual I had trouble sleeping. In the middle of the night I was thirsty so I checked the vending maching. $2.00 for a can of pop? Nope. I walked up the road to a convenience store and got a couple Mountain Dews. I finally fell asleep sometime after 4am. 
107 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure.
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