Left home at 10:00 on Thursday Morning. It was a beautiful, bright, clear, not a cloud in the sky, AND HOT!!!! Took Indian River road to 64 towards Suffolk. Picked up 10 to Surry and caught the Jamestown ferry. We followed the Colonial Parkway to route 60 and the hotel, but not before stopping at the Jamestown visitor center for a drink and a rest break.
Got checked into the hotel and then headed two blocks to the host hotel and got checked in and received our welcome packet. Visited the vendors and checked out all of the goodies that we can't afford. After riding around and checking out the area we ate a late lunch/early dinner at Cracker Barrel. We hit the pool at the hotel and went through our packet to decide what we wanted to do while at the event.
Ok, first thing on the agenda is the opening ceremonies at New Town. We headed in the general direction of New Town, fortunately we found a group who were headed there and we followed them. I never would have found the place on my own. After the ceremonies there was a poker walk where you visited the participating vendors and collected tickets. Winning numbers will be posted at the host hotel Saturday or Sunday (check, didn't win anything).
Grabbed breakfast at the hotel and when we were ready we gassed up for the day and Debbie grabbed a cup of Joe from 7-11. Since things were not really open yet we relaxed at the hotel and planned what we wanted to do for the day. First up, Police motorcycle demo. The Norfolk and Portsmouth motorcycle police departments put on a pretty good demonstration of riding skill. After the demo we checked out the vendors again and spent some money.
Next up...lunch. We went back to the Colonial Parkway and headed to Yorktown. A few miles south on route 17 and we were at Hampton Roads HD. They were having a free cookout for rally participants. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and baked beans. Good biker lunch and since it was free it was even better.
We headed back to our hotel by the same route, made a quick stop at Arby's for a root beer float. We took a short break at our hotel and then headed back to the host hotel for two hours of biker bingo. When you call it biker bingo it implies that you will be doing some wild and crazy biker stuff. Well, biker bingo is bingo played by bikers. That's it, just regular bingo. It has become a tradition for Debbie and I, we play it every year.
While we were playing bingo, the sky opened up and a major thunderstorm rolled through. Well not so much rolled through as strolled through. It was a huge storm and it hung around for the rest of the afternoon and all night. We wanted to get some dinner at a place called Sal's and then head to the lighted bike show. Well, because of the rain our plans changed. We found out that Sal's delivers so we ordered our food and ate in the room. We never made it to the lighted bike show.
The next morning was cool and cloudy but things were drying up. There were two events scheduled for the day. One was the parade of flags and the other was the closing ceremonies. We decided we didn't want to do the parade and we never do the closing ceremonies so it was time to pack-up and head home. We left the hotel and headed down the Colonial Parkway back to Jamestown and the ferry. Back down route 10 to Smithfield where we picked up route 32 to 17 and headed south on 17 to Portsmouth. We stopped at Bayside HD and looked around a little bit and they were celebrating an anniversary and of course they had food. Hotdogs for lunch and then we headed home.
As usual the state HOG rally is always a good time. Looking forward to next year in Roanoke, hope to see you there.
