May 20

Today was the start of our passport stamp run for the Motorcycle Grand Tour of Virginia on this trip. Today we would collect 6 stamps and ride in five states (we rode in and out of VA three times): North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia.

We said farewell to Robert, Shannon, Ava, Eden, Chloe and Bella and were on the road by 7:30am heading north into VA. We had lunch at one of the stamp locations, Reno’s Steak House, in Wise County. The food and service were excellent. Rob had a buffalo chicken sandwich and Michele had the chicken quesadillas.

Our first stop after lunch was at the Breaks Interstate Park. This park straddles the VA/KY state line. Called the “Grand Canyon of the east” this park is set in a beautiful and rugged area and one Michele and I will look into visiting for a longer stay. The passport information on the location of this stamp was wrong (both address and GPS coordinates), ending up at a country club. We eventually backtracked to the main road and followed the signs instead. After getting our stamp at the visitor's center, we met a nice couple from Texas that were a week into their own Goldwing motorcycle trip and had just stumbled upon the park since venturing into Virginia. This lucky couple had no real agenda or timeframe constraints on their trip--we were jealous! They were quite impressed with the smooth VA roads compared to Texas.

Speaking of roads, the road we took going into the park (KY805 and KY197) and the roads we took exiting the park (VA80 and VA83) were excellent for motorcycling with plenty of twists and turns. VA598, which connects US460 to I77, was also fun surprise. If you visit the Breaks on a motorcycle, we highly recommend that you get off the highway and experience these routes.

We finished our riding at 5pm in Wytheville, VA with plenty of time to get ready for our 6pm reservation at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre (WHDT) showing "Grease". We were staying at the Days Inn right next to the WHDT. Both the food and quality of the entertainment were good and made for a fun evening. Michele and I highly recommend if your travels have you near the WHDT that you should try it out.

Today’s picture of the day is the twisty roads we enjoyed. The GPS image says it best (note the squiggly pink line):

Tomorrow we plan on getting 9 more stamps as we make our way east along the VA/NC state line.