Our first major trip that we would do our new 2000 Kawasaki Concours was to the Feast in the East V. This year's Feast was a half day rally which was really interesting. We got all of the rally stuff a week early and planned on getting both North and South Carolina. Tennessee was also an option butt because of time we didn't have a chance to get to it. I planned out a route of mostly National Parks and a couple of other bonuses that looked reasonable. We left on Friday morning after I went to the MVA to pick up my "normal" tags just so that I could put or Iron Butt plate frame on the bike. The trip down wasn't very interesting except for when we got stuck in traffic at the NC, VA border for almost an hour. We did however, manage to get some of our longest in the saddle trips at over 120 miles simply because the Connie has such a long range, at least coming from the VLX which if you're lucky has a range of 100 miles.

We got to Morgonton, NC for the check in, got our room and talked to a couple of people. We where getting ready to get some dinner and found out that a number of people where going to a restaurant up the road a little bit so we joined them. We sat most of the time with David LeBrun from PA and of course talked about motorcycles and other stuff relating to motorcycles mainly then headed back to the hotel for some beer. We where informed of the riders meeting the next morning at 5:30, I hadn't planned to get up until after 6 as we where going to pick up parks and we would have to wait around for them to open and just waste time. I got up and went to the meeting, then just kinda waited around then we got ready to roll at 6:30.

 Our first bonus location was called Zebulon Vance Birthplace off of the Blue Ridge Parkway North East of Asheville, NC. The parkway was really nice at 7 in the morning as no one else was on it so we just cruised along at about 45 or so just to see the road, too bad the roads can't always be clear of people. We found the exit for the bonus point and found out that it is a very narrow curvy road that takes you along at about 20mph for five miles. This is the reason they call them Rally"Bastards" and I told Bryan that too! {: By this time we where cold and hungry so we tried to find a place to eat. This took us an extra 30 minutes or so and started to put us behind. We made our way back to the Parkway for the stamp at the Visitor's Center and an easy 80 points. We got there about 9:30 and then left for our next stop which was the Carl Sandburg NHS in Flat Rock , NC. We needed to get to I-26 and had a choice between staying on the Parkway or taking I-40 to I-26 so we stayed on the Parkway as it was about the same time. I think we lost a few minutes getting onto I-26, butt like I said before it was a nice ride.

On our previous trip through Western NC on I-26 we had planned on stopping at the Carl Sandburg NHS, butt because of time we decided to skip it because we wanted to get a stamp in South Carolina. I did know in and about where the Sandburg house was and remembered the signs. I skipped using the Rand McNally directions in favor of the road signs. As usual the park is not right off of the highway, butt it wasn't too far away, probably ten minutes or so at most. We found the park without much problem and walked down a short path to what I thought was the park Visitor's Center. It turned out to be the bathroom and that's when I noticed the sign for the house that said it was up on the hill .3 of a mile. I cursed Sandburg for living in the middle of nowhere and tried my best to run up the hill. I know I had to look very odd running up the hill in my leathers and boots! I stamped our passports and the rally book and began back down the hill reminding myself never to read any of Sandburg's work. We got back to I-26 pretty easy and headed for our next stamp at Cowpens NB in SC.

 Cowpens NB was a park that we had been to before so I knew right where I was going. The roads where also pretty fast normally at 55. We got gas in SC just for the receipt and went to the park. At the park though there are two stamps. Here is where I didn't know what to do with the second one because the rally book said they wanted a stamp from Cowpens so I put the stamp from the battlefield there and just to be safe I put the Overmountain Victory Trail with the extra park stamps in the case that they would accept them, at worse they wouldn't count so what could I lose? We then headed for Kings Mountain NMP just off of I-85 in SC. Kings Mountain is only a couple of miles off of the highway and the road leads directly to the park which is nice. Also at Kings Mountain there are two stamps, the other again for Overmountain Trail so again I put both stamps in the rally book, just in case.

 Now that we where already on I-85 we headed for the next bonus which was the North Carolina Vietnam Vets memorial along the highway. Little did we know that again I would have to walk to the site to pick up the bonus. It was a nice walk and I didn't even worry about the time because I was already throwing out a couple of bonus locations because of time. This is the reason I first went East because I knew that I would not be able to make any cut off route going west and still trying to pick up all of the bonuses. I still figured that we had plenty of time to pick up a couple more and if we could find the proper exit for the road to Level Cross we needed we would pick up the bonus. The road to level cross was only a few miles up the road from where we were now so we went to pick up the bonus of finding out what the number of the firehouse was. We needed gas so I stopped for gas first and just asked where the station was and they told me right down the street, much better than having to waste time searching for it.

 After Level Cross we headed straight for Greensboro to pick up the last bonus that we could at the National Park. I didn't know exactly how to get there from 220, butt we got lucky and saw a sign telling us just how to go. We had been here last year and remembered somewhat how to get to the park and after a ten minute jaunt through the city we got to the park. I got the stamp and we where getting ready to leave when two more two-up couples from the rally pulled up and we talked to them for a minute. At that time we had around two hours to make it back to Morgonton and it was around 110 miles or so on the highway. Because I knew how to get out of the city the other two followed me. This was interesting because I had never ridden in a group before and I was now in front of one! When we got to I-40 I thought that they where going to blow past us, butt they stayed with us. We planned on making up some time so that we could pick up a couple of extra bonuses on the way. We where going to see if we could find any BBQ places which if you could get a receipt or a menu or a card then you got the bonus. We knew we could find a couple along the way. About 20 miles East of Morgonton we saw a sign for a BBQ restaurant so we pulled off the highway to pick it up, I thought that the other two where going to keep going, butt they pulled off with us. They asked if anything was wrong, which was nice, and when we told them that we where getting the BBQ they said ok and left for Morgonton. After a little trouble finding the restaurant we got back on the highway and we knew where one more was so we got off at the exit for the hotel and picked up a menu for the second BBQ joint. The last thing we needed was the six pack of beer for 1000 points. We went into the nearest gas station that was next to the hotel and I ran inside to get the beer. Apparently everyone was rushing into the same store to buy beer and we even met one or two others. We where getting late so I just pulled on the helmet, threw the beer into the saddlebag and off we went up the 1/4 mile to the hotel. We ended up being three minutes early.We had done a total of 480 some miles and had gotten 1900+ points, not too bad for a second rally.

 We then went back to the room and got ready for dinner up the road. The dinner was good and we found out that we came in 27th over all which wasn’t too bad since we really only wanted the parks. We then stayed up half the night drinking and talking to people, most of which I had never met and only knew their names from the LDR mailing list. The next morning we heard lots of people leaving so we didn't even bother to check and later found out that everyone was going to breakfast and we missed it. We where getting ready to leave and a friend of ours Roy Collins who lives near us was getting ready to leave. We decided to ride together for awhile and Elena rode on the bake or Roy's Goldwing just to see what it was like. We then decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway because we had plenty of time to make it home. However, once on the Parkway we ended up first running into fog and then it started to rain. We then decided to leave the parkway and head for I-81 and go straight home. After reaching 81 Elena and I decided to get something to eat and Roy went his own way home. We caught a little more rain on the way home, butt not too much.