This coming weekend I will be riding out to the Myrle Beach, South Carolina area. An old high school classmate of mine, who goes by his stage name HBK, joined a high end tribute cover band, Hairball, a couple of years ago (2019 I think) as their bass player and supporting vocals. I hadn’t seen him perform since back in our high school days, now a few decades ago (OMG, I am getting old LOL). The band tours aggressively throughout the United States and from what I have seen online puts on a pretty entertaining high quality show. I had been wanting to see one of their shows since HBK joined up with them and this year they are touring close enough to me and my schedule was open (in 2019 they had played in Las Vegas while I was living in California but my schedule at the time was not cooperative). So, on Saturday October 2nd, which happens to also be my birthday, I will check them out and HBK playing at the 2021 Myrtle Beach Fall Rally in Murrells Inlet, SC (just south of Myrtle Beach). Should be fun!

Friday – October 1st, 2021

I am planning to roll out Friday morning between 9 or 10 AM and arrive at the RV resort no later than 7 PM. I will be tent camping at the resort. This will not be wilderness camping that I prefer but was a much more economical option than what hotel rooms are going for in and around Myrle Beach. Besides, I enjoy tent camping and I like to travel cheap when I can. Plus the RV resort has many amenities including laundry, showers, pool, pier and fishing pier, etc. As my wife knows, I will not be doing any swimming, I was born a land animal lol.

Friday – September 24th 2021

Riding from home in Douglasville, Georgia to the motel I had reserved in Kannapolis, North Carolina (Charlotte) via the Mileage Disposal Unit (Interstate 20 & 85) it should have only taken me about 5 hours to ride the trip. This part of the weekend trip was not about enjoyable riding or scenery, it was about getting from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans

I had planned to depart at 1:00 PM with an estimated arrival time in Kannapolis, NC at about 6:00 PM. However, due to work obligations, I was not able to hit the road until 3:30PM. I live in the Atlanta, Georgia Metropolitan area. Downtown Atlanta is about 28 miles from where I live in Douglasville, Georgia. Prior to moving here in October 2020, I lived in Southern California (and Minnesota 3 years prior there). Traffic congestion in Southern California is notoriously awful, especially around Los Angeles. Well, Atlanta’s traffic is also disgustingly bad. What makes matters worse in and around Atlanta is once you are off the freeways, there are not many large avenues, boulevards, or highways that serve as alternate arteries to the Interstates (there are some, just not as many in cities like around Los Angeles, Chicago, or even around Minneapolis / Saint Paul Metropolitan area from where I am originally from. Don’t get me wrong, I love this area and I am very happy that my wife and I dropped anchor here and purchased our home here, but the bad traffic reputation of Atlanta is to be heeded.

This coming weekend I be will rolling out on a short weekend road trip to the Charlotte, NC area. On Friday September 24th, I will ride through Atlanta, GA to Kanapolis, NC via Interstate 85. Interstate riding is nearly my least favorite type of riding (city riding in gridlock traffic is much worse on a air cooled bike LOL). However, riding on the interstate is a great way to chew up miles quickly when needed or when travel time is more important than quality of miles. I like the term often used by the late Neal Peart who called interstates “Mileage Disposal Units”. Very fitting and accurate name.

Here is the planned route on Friday