Louisiana Road Trip: Halloween Edition

10/31/2011 - Happy Halloween! Today's spooky journey would take Kevin and I from Danville, KY to Beesmer, AL. Mother nature decided that she'd trick us rather than treat us to begin the day. As we pulled out of the Super 8 this morning we were greeted by rain. We pulled to the gas station across the street, fueled up, and donned our rain gear. We rode for about an hour in drizzle but then it cleared up around Lake Cumberland. It was just in time for us to get stuck behind a truck stacked with hay bales. That wouldn't have been so bad but it was on some of the most twisty roads we encountered today and robbed us of the chance to attack the curves at full speed. By the time we got around the truck the sun had come out and it was starting to warm up so we pulled over and stowed our rain gear.

We crossed over into Tennessee and promptly missed the turn for TN-111 and instead mistakenly continued on US-127. It wasn't that big of a mistake because they merged back together towards the bottom of the state. Maybe we can hit TN-111 on the way home to see if it is any more scenic that US-127. 127 was pretty nice. I think we hit Tennessee right at the peak of the fall colors. The trees on the mountains were gorgeous against the blue sky of the afternoon.

We finally ended up crossing into Alabama at about 5:00. We got to a town called Guntersville right about when trick-or-treat started. It was fun rolling through a small town and seeing all of the kids out in costume. The smell of campfires lingered in the air and it was very autumn like.

There wasn't a lot to see after we got through Guntersville and there was no place to stop for the evening so we rode another 90 miles after dark until we got to Birmingham. Once we got to Birmingham we hopped on the interstate for the express purpose of finding a hotel. We got off at the first exit with hotels that we found, but it was another 20ish miles away on a really crappy highway I-20/I-59. It was all chunked up and under construction. I was certain that either Kevin or I was going to get a flat tire. We finally stopped at a Comfort Inn in Bessmer, AL. After checking in and getting settled, we walked across the street and had a nice relaxing dinner at Applebee's. Exhaustion was setting in and within 15 minutes of getting back to the room Kevin was fast asleep. I banged out this blog post real quick and I'm now headed to bed myself. The adventure continues tomorrow.

The Last Three States: Day 1

October 30, 2011 - Today I started the trip to visit the last three states that I need to complete my motorcycle tour of the lower 48 United States. It's kind of bitter sweet for me because this could very well be the last long distance motorcycle trip that I am able to take. I've got one week to travel to Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

This trip is a little different than the other trips that I've taken because I will be accompanied by some of my very best friends: Kevin Krahel, Tim Birt, and Dan Michalec. Kevin and I departed Columbus on our motorcycles today at about 1:15. Dan and Tim will meet us in New Orleans on Wednesday travelling by car.

Since Kevin and I need to be in New Orleans by Wednesday so we decided to get a jump on our trip by actually utilizing the US Interstate system. I typically try to avoid the highways but I've been through Ohio enough that I didn't feel that we'd be missing much by getting out of the Buckeye state on I-71. We stayed on I-71 until we reached US-127 (south of the I-71/I-75 split in KY). It was nice to finally get off of the super slab and get to enjoy the fall colors on two lane roads in Kentucky.

We wanted to get off the road before it got dark because the temperature was starting to drop quickly and there's no sense in being on unknown roads after dark, that's just asking to meet an unexpected deer. We ended up stopping at a Super 8 in Danville, KY. We ended up completing about 250 miles today. The evening was quite uneventful. We got the bikes situated, ordered a pizza and watched the "animation domination" on Fox. We turned in early so that we could get a jump on things in the morning.

Chicago Riot Fest Weekend

The following is Laela's third person account (with Rob's unrequested over-the-shoulder "suggestions") of the events of October 6-9, 2011:

The trip to Chicago starts not on October of 2011 but back in 1987. No wait we aren't including that. There is to be no story of how on Rob's 16 birthday he ended up in the Descendents Van. Nor about the 20 plus years Rob and Laela traveled around the mid-west to see ALL and Descendents shows. Forget it was even mentioned.

In the quest for something normal in the craziness that had become their lives Rob and Laela headed to Chicago for a long weekend at the Riot Fest. They were accompanied by Laela's sister Elizabeth and her husband Mike Sullivan. Rob was on his break from chemotherapy, by accident. The weather was perfect. The drive good and fast, with only one notable part that being some windmills in Indiana. Wind Farms can be cool and beautiful. They stopped for lunch at the IHOP. Columbus does not have any IHOPs so it's always a special treat to eat all the pancakes.

When they rolled into Chicago and got to the hotel who should be standing at the counter also checking but none other then Stephen Egerton and his lovely bride Natalie. They were all invited to come down to the club to hang out and catch up prior to the show.

The Bottom Lounge was a very nice place with some super good food. Stacie Stevenson met Rob and Laela at the door when they reached the club. Stacie always goes out of the way to make everyone feel like part of the crew. There were so many people who had flown in to see the Chicago show, and Stacy was quick to introduce Rob and Laela all around. Rob, Laela, Libby and Mike sat in a booth with Nat, Stephen, and John Romo eating corndogs and drinking coffee. Later they ended up on the roof enjoy the view of the skyline. Chicago had put pink lights into all the tall buildings. They spent some time chatting with Chad Price. He was sporting a beard that Rob could be proud of. After Laela had a few drinks and Rob had sort of nodded off they ended up wandering down to the bar space where the Pavers were playing.

After enjoying the Paver's set ALL took the stage. Rob and Laela are happy to report that ALL did not let them down. Chad sounded awesome, and the set list was full of fun surprises. When Miranda was played there

were more than a few pairs of wet eyes in the room. Rob got some unexpected love. Check out this shot of drummer Bill Stevenson and Rob. That's right Bill was representin'! They ended the evening about 3 am, that would be 4am Eastern time.

Laela did not feel well when she woke up thanks to all the Whipped Cream and Sprite drinks her sister have given her the night before. Rob had run to get her water and ibuprofen. About 3 Laela got it into her mind that she needed to visit Superdawgs. Rob got it into his mind that he had to nap. Thankfully Laela's sister and brother-in law were also eager to go try the famed Chicago style hot dogs. Google said it was on 7 miles away, in Chicago traffic that means it was a 30 minute drive. Superdawgs is this very retro drive-in hot dog place. The hot dogs come in these darling little blue boxes with fries. Getting back to the hotel was a little trickier. Three rights make a left turned out to take a little longer then expected, and an hour and half later they were all back in the hotel.

Back at the Bottom Lounge for a second night Rob was stoked to see Down By Law. The last time Rob and Laela had seen Down by Law play it was at the Al Rosa Villa. Dave Smalley and boys did not disappoint. Rob went off when they played "All American" and of course when they played Dag Nasty's "Under Your Influence." Dave came out and sang a few song with ALL followed by a set with Scott Reynolds. It was incredible to hear Scott singing all of Rob and Laela's favorites including Dot. When leaving the bar for the night they were stopped on the street by some people who had come to the benefit show in Columbus. Everyone was happy to see that Rob was well enough to be in Chicago. In fact Rob and Laela met a lot of people who had flown in see the ALL show in Columbus. The ALL fans will travel.

After sleeping most of day three away and eating some pizza at Gino's East they drove downtown to meet up with Natalie and Stephen and buy some souvenirs for the kids. Miranda got a panda scarf and did a happy dance when she received it. We all headed off to the Congress Theater.

The Congress Theater holds 4500 people, and it was packed. The t-shirts were almost impossible to look at with all the people

standing around. When they walked into the actual stage area it was people as far as the eye could see. At first Rob dove into the people and headed towards the front. Laela decided that the back was just fine for her. However by the time the Descendents were playing Lucky (for Rob and Laela) Rob had found his way back to Laela. Laela sobbed all the way through the song. Because, what would she do if she hadn't gotten lucky once with Rob? They spent the rest of the evening hanging out with their friends and meeting a bunch of super nice people, except for the one guy who had just thrown up and walked over to shake Rob's hand. They got to meet Chris Shary who does the art work for ALL and the Descendents. He was a great guy, with a love for Swatches. They also got the catch up with Karl Alvarez and his delightful girlfriend Jen. Jen is interested in getting a motorcycle, Laela was quick to encourage her. The next morning everybody was up and atom early. Laela and Rob had breakfast with their friends and headed home.

Rob started the second cycle of his chemotherapy on Monday October 10. If you have been wondering, Rob's new chemotherapy has lots of yucky side effects, and makes him feel awful. This Chicago trip was kind of a once in lifetime experience for Rob and it was everything he could do to get there and back. He is planning to finish up his motorcycle trip of the lower 48 in a few weeks. He has lots of friends going to help him achieve his final goal.

See Ya Soon,

Laela & Rob