Dano says: With a decent nights sleep, I grabbed a shower and went downstairs to see who had arrived for the ride. Bucket decided that he would stay put for the day as his head was still spinning from all the drinking. Hockeyfan took off with his wife(so nice to meet ya Dina) to make the CCC trip a true CCC trip. More power to ya David, I wished that I could have done the same. There was a large group of people and we had decided that it would be best to divide into groups. Fast, medium and slow (like me). I signed up for the last(slow) group because I wanted to take pics and sight see with my Oz mates, not to mention the fact that I was riding my pals bike and needed to return it to him in one piece. So we set off with Cheapbastard and the rest of the wrecking crew, about 45 miles into the ride, we stopped for a break and deduced that we lost a few of the group. One of the riders was Leeds, NakedChicks husband, she tried calling him to no avail. Cheapbastard, Nakedchick, BrianK and myself retraced our route to try to find the wayward riders. We made it back without finding them, but they showed up later as one of the riders in that group had GPS and continued riding for a while. Later in the afternoon a few of us went to the motorcycle shop and got supplies to change our oil and filters. BrianK took Chewie, Bucket and myself to the shop in his car. First we hit some BBque lunch with Nimec and Dfib. From there it was a short drive to the motorcycle shop where Cheap demonstrated his wheelie abilities to us in the car, a few feet away. Squid. At the shop we purchased our supplies and the manager got wind that we had ridden across the country and had a couple Aussies with us. The manager was cool enough and gave us some free shirts, I think Cheapbastard's free "aura" was working its magic. Back to the casa we roll, to do the services on the bikes. With a few drinks in hand, we quickly changed the filters/oil in three bikes with a lot of sideline mechanics staring over our shoulders. The day was done, time to chow down on some pizzas
and drink a few cold ones.
Later in the evening we got together to do a "Thank You" to Cheapbastard for hosting the 2009 ECR. I asked Chewie to be the MC and do all the talkin'. We got Cheap into the garage and rolled the film,
Chewie gave a great thank you and led up story to where we gave him his gift. With all of my appreciation, I thank everyone in TST.com that donated to this gift. With the inside knowledge that he was tired of paying 15 dollars to change a tire, we decided to get him a Cyclehill tire changer kit with balancer. Bucket and Chewie threw in a set of Bridgestone BT0-16's to sweeten the deal. When I thought the awards were over, I was told to get from and center. I was then thanked and given a SWEEET Arai exact replacement helmet that I have. I was so grateful that everyone chipped in to do this for me and Brad, Thanks everyone, you guys rule. There is a drawback to having two of the same helmets now. One helmet has a clear lens while the other has a dark smoked lens, now I have to carry the other helmet with the opposite lens in case it gets dark/bright outside. hehe
To recap the day though was kinda painful. I knew to keep myself in check having rode those local roads the previous two years. North Carolina has some amazing twisties and the locals are fast on their home court. Hell they are fast anywhere! Our small slow group was fine for the most part, Nakedchick had a grassy knoll moment and slipped on a U-turn. She and the Monster were fine. I was almost run over in a sweeping left hand corner by a black Ford Ranger that was all the way in my lane...damn that was a close call. I had all of MAYBE two feet of pavement before I went off roading. After we got back to the house, we found out that a bunch of the riders weren't lucky. Check the egos at the door people. I remember being 4th or 5th in the line of bikes and seeing the outta towners going at a fast clip with the local fellas. I remember thinking that they are riding to fast out of the gate, slow down, there isn't anything to prove. I think there were 5 or 6 wrecks that day. I was sad to see all the carnage, it was a bad way to start a fun weekend. I don't have a map of today because it was chopped up and we didn't adhere to the regular map schedule.
With everything taken care of we proceeded to enjoy a wonderful evening of drinking and a lot of bullshitting.
David says: Day 21 Whiteville NC
You read it right that says Whiteville not King. After talking to Dina last night we decided I would wait until she got there and then we would see the other coast together. I got to sleep in and take my time getting cleaned up for the first time in three weeks. The timing seemed to work out cause no sooner than I got done the carnage started to show up from the days ride. I'm not the fastest guy in most of the groups I ride in and I can't come close to some of these guys and I except that especially on roads I'm not familiar with. Some times its good to make that admission early on and just enjoy the ride. Dina, Bryce, and Catlin showed up around two and I find out Dina has ridden all the way from our house and is still raring to go so after meeting a few people we headed out. Let me just say this about NC road signs. They suck. Interstates are not always identified on the exit signs and sometimes your expected to know the old route number too. Since we got a late start and Dina had already done 300 miles when we left we didn't make it to the Atlantic today. We did get close enough before dark to make it an easy day tomorrow. I fell asleep sure I had missed another good night of camaraderie with people from around the world and many different walks of life, but there is much to be said for spending the night in a strange town with the love of your life after being apart for three weeks. Whiteville NC 7705 miles so far.
Dano says: Agenda for today, have a nice semi short day and arrive at Cheapbastards house in Kaaang, North Carolina.
I found it hard to believe that with the amount of adult beverages being consumed every night that we were waking every morning pretty easy. Not once did I have a headache from drinking, it pays to drink the good stuff right? So I shower, go downstairs roust a few of the guys to start showers. Gary and Jessica had started the day all ready and she was gone by the time most of us were up. Gary being the superstar that he is began making us breakfast. Sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, country gravy, coffee and juice. That's what I'm talkin' bout. There isn't a better way to wake up to bacon cooking in a house, nom nom nom. The morning was(in Doug's words) fantastic, so we ate outside on the patio. Baily the lab got her fix of chasing the thrown ball in the back yard. Nice bee hive ya got there in the back yard Gary, glad I didn't piss on it last night in the dark while I was drinking. With plenty of warm food in our bellies, we saddled up and took off, with Gary in tow on his 600RR Honda. He rode with us for a while before he had to turn around and go home. Thank you so much for all that you did Gary and Jessica, you went above and beyond the call of duty. You have a beautiful house and I was glad to see and visit with you again. And because of the on going bagel story that you have going with your friend, you made us think that you stashed the cash we gave you on one of our bikes. Thanks for making a memorable night for me and my friends.
Down the 64 east we go, at fairly early time with great weather and temps. At the first gas stop I lubed up the chains and decided that I needed to tighten the RC51 chain. Well the chain was on its last leg, it was stretched beyond help. Time to call Cheapbastard and have one ready when we arrived. Thanks for procuring one Cheap, as all the places that we checked along the way were either out or had chains for 200 dollars. Well I adjusted it as best as I could and lubed that chain at each gas stop to make sure that it made it to Cheaps. Man was it worrying me the whole day that it was going to snap, I kept the throttle as smooth as I could to spare that chain. The ride along the 64 was fast, had nice scenery and allowed us to make it to the 77 south turnpike. That was a pretty road with lots of great views running along the mtn floors next to a river. At one toll booth I got delayed as I had to make sure that I zipped my pants pocket shut. I had the fear of losing stuff like Hockey did. So all of the guys tore off without me up the racetrack that is the 77 turnpike. Well shoot, that is just horrible, I've got some catching up to do...I played RickyRacer for about 10 miles hauling major ass in excessive speeds in some sweet sweeping corners dicing in and out of traffic. It all came to an end when I rounded the corner and spied a few of the guys waiting for me. Later I told them about my delay and the fact that I had to gradually build speed because of the chain. At the last gas stop, I called Cheapbastard and told him we were about 45 miles out still. He said that he would meet us outside at the off ramp in Kaaaang. Lets do this yall, and down the road we roll. A little over half a hour later, we exited into Kaaang and didn't see Brad, so I took us through town and stopped at the Hot Wings place and called to see here the hell he was, after the call we continued towards his place. In route him and DirtMcGirt met us on their bikes. The CCC boys have arrived, let the party start. We made our introductions to the new faces and hugged the old familiar farts. Bikes were unloaded and the decision was made to go back to that Wing restaurant and have dinner. After we all gathered ourselves, we rode back to town in a massive Triumph convoy. We mobbed the restaurant, ordered lots of tasty food and shared lots of laughs with all the amazing people that make up TheSpeedTriple.com. I love the camaraderie that exists with all these people, what great friendly, generous people. I feel right at home with all of yall, the best part about it is, that we know and joke with each other like we always do....fun time people, fun times. After a nice long feast session we all loaded up on the bikes and rolled back to the ECR(East Coast Rally) headquarters. Time for some beers, lots of bullshitting and talks about our ride so far. What a whirlwind, so much to recall. I took the opportunity to change the chain out on the RC51 with the help of BBOPP750(Brian). BBOPP is another awesome man, ready to help at a moments notice with tools in hand. He brought over a chain tool and we made quick work of the removal/install. Thanks Brian, you da man. After the chain repair, I could relax and enjoy the beers a little more. Oh yeah, "We're makin muf#@kin turkey burgers!!". A late night ensued with Bucket and Dirt going at it. I warned ya Bucket,
Dirt don't know the word stop, or that's enough, hahaha. I have no idea what time I crashed out in the Princess room, but Id say it was after 2:00am. Im pretty sure that Hockey slept in the Princess room with me the first night on a matress on the floor, the next few nights it was Nimec.
David says: I've often said every good day starts with a fart. After checking my watch to make sure Gary's wife had left the house I let go a squeaker that rose in pitch about six times in the ten or more seconds it lasted. Almost everybody in the house busted out laughing. It was going to be a very good day.
Gary made a breakfast that would put Bob Evans to shame. We rolled out with full bellies and an easy day ahead of us. I was pretty giddy rolling through the Blue Ridge Mountains cause I was finally getting to show the Aussies what it was like in my backyard. At one point the interstate went through a mountain and while I was in the tunnel I dropped all the way down to second and hammered it. The sound echoed for what seemed like forever, Leggy later said he thought his ears were going to bleed. I thought he liked the sound of the Zard and he said he loved every second of it but it was still painful.
After a bit of confusion we ended up meeting up with Dirt and Cheap on the way to Cheaps house and rode the last few miles to the ECR with them. For those that don't know the ECR (East Coast Rally) is an annual event hosted by the world renowned Mr. and Ms. Cheapbastard. You would be hard pressed to find a more decent and gracious couple to host this shindig. My hats off to you guys yet again. The weekend is supposed to consists of two days of riding local (sweet) roads and a few nights of drinking. Solid plan but I realized on the way to dinner it wasn't going to work for me. Dina would be arriving the next day in the afternoon so I sent her a text during dinner and asked if it would be ok if I wasn't there when she got there. She called me right away and asked what was wrong, she knows me too well sometimes. I can't express how bummed I was that it was almost over. I was done. A short 300 miles and I would be home. Not that I didn't miss my family but I just didn't want this adventure to be over. So after some back and forth plan B, or maybe it was D who knows it could have been Z by then, was hatched and with my mind at ease I settled in to another fantastic night of BSing with friends both new and old. King NC 7450 miles so far.
Dano says: Well I know I slept like a rock and I woke up feeling great. Time to roust the gang, I open the door and there is Doug, Doug looks at me and says, "Who the f#*k bought this confrontational bastard?", pointing at Nimec. HaHaHa...good times my friends, good times. There was a LOT of trash outside the rooms, it appeared that we all went to bed without cleaning up outside. With a quick sweep of the area and dispensing of the trash, we got ourselves ready. Bikes packed, chains lubed we decided that our agenda today was to see the St. Louis Arch and then off to my pals place in Lexington, Kentucky. We got to downtown St. Louis and found the interstate was detoured....damn. Well we continued on as far as we could and luck had it that we made it to the Arch. Some of the group didn't care to go up in the Arch, but I did. So Leggy, Uncle Dude, Doug and myself took off walking from the parking lot as everyone else stayed with the bikes. Family resemblance?
The Aussies got a first hand look at the new Chevy Camero, I like it. We paid our fees and waited to board the tram to the top of the Arch. OMG is that a small capsule, and it seated five people. Not us people, maybe Leeds and Bucket people. The Arch tram is a combination of elevator and tram, it pulls you up and sideways at the same time. There is a funny rocking motion as it goes...what a ride. We four larger than average guys were crammed into a space about the size of the front seat of a Volkswagen Beetle. Damn it was a small space. So we get to the top and exit like accordions. The feeling of being at 630 feet high and in the inside of the Arch looking out, gave me the feeling of being in an aircraft. From the look, to the sound of the air conditioner, it made me feel like I was flying. The views were cool and worth the few bucks. We did the photo shoots and made our way back to the Love Capsule to head out. At the bottom we got a woman attendant to shoot a few pics of us crammed into the capsule. I'm glad that I love these guys as it could have been a little awkward. Back to the bikes we go because now we have lots of miles to Lexington still ahead. We turned out of the parking lot and followed the signs to the interstate. Lets just say that St Louis has horrible road directions and worse road crew people directions. The road crew guys liked our bikes but couldn't direct their way out of a paper bag. And they work for the city road crews, wow. All I want to do is get on that bridge that is over our heads, how do we do that? Scratching their heads and saying "Well the roads have detours, so you have to go this way,....hey Mike/Fred(one of their own people)....how do you get on the 64 east from here?". Thanks guys, We'll figure it out, we made it this far across the country. Two minutes later with a few left hand turns we are screaming over their heads on the 64 east. With the day having moved on faster that normal because of the Arch stop, we were approaching lunchtime. So with people making the universal holding a imaginary burger to the helmet gesture, We spotted a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. It was good grub and plenty tasty, I had the boneless wings split in two different sauces. With our bellies full it was time to roll out. The bad thing about eating a large lunch and then riding in the sunshine and nice temperatures, is that you get sleepy. We did a few hundred miles and Chewie rode up next to me and gave the laying your head on the hands sleepy gesture. Ok, time to take a rest break, better safe than sorry. We exited the next available place and as would luck have it there was a new rustic restaurant there. It had a huge covered patio with benches out front that had our names on them. Chewie stretched out and grabbed some zzz's. After about 15 minutes he got up, I said nope...get back to sleeping, he didn't argue to much. We all took a little nap and then got up maybe 30 minutes later. It was well worth the loss of time to be traveling well rested. As we were about to leave the manager approached us and told us to come in and enjoy some dessert.....damn, OK. This time I didn't share with Hockey. I got apple pie and a few others tried the Bread pudding with bourbon sauce. Damn it was good too. Ok time to leave now. We made good time the rest of the day only stopping for gas. We got to Louisville, stopped for gas and I called Gary to tell him where we were and the expected time of arrival. It looked like we were going to hit some rain and we did get a few drops, but we skirted the bulk of it. A little over a hour later we were in Lexington where Gary was waiting for us on the side of the road in a truck. He led us into his casa where we introduced ourselves to my pal. We unloaded and cleaned up as Gary made some mighty TASTY burgers.
As Gary made dinner, his wife Jessica came home and they set out chips and dips for us. Then came the ice chest of cold beers and two bottles of whiskey. One of Crown and another of Woodford Reserve. Wow, that Woodford is some nice whiskey. It is also made right up the road from where we were. We sat outside on the back patio and enjoyed a great dinner with my good pal Gary and wife Jessica. It was a perfect night to sit out and enjoy the outdoor temps and that's just what we did, petting the chocolate lab Bailey and the poodle with the cone on its head. That poodle kept us entertained by himself, what is it about a dog with a plastic cone on its neck that is so funny? Well on to more serious stuff, like the whiskey and drinking. Gary decided to turn it up an notch and walked outside with a Mason quart jar that is 3/4 full of a clear liquid. He sets it on the table.... we can all guess as to what it is. Good ole 'shine. Bucket is the first to pick it up, and we talk him into being the taste tester. He unscrews the top and sniffs it, and wrinkles his face. He reluctantly takes a sip and swallows it down...then he breathes in. Cough, cough....man that warms you up. He takes a second sip and passes it around. Doug takes the jar and two fists the shine. Go man GO. A second or two later he says, "That's FANTASTIC" and goes immediately to round two. Oh no, this don't look good, somebody is going to be comatose soon if they keep drinking that 'shine like that. Doug's eyes were mere slits about 10 minutes later, that 'shine kicked into overdrive and put Doug on easy street. We passed that jar around until it was gone and had a blast doing so. Three bottles of liquor vanished along with a lot of beers, wow another great night with the boys. During the passing of the 'shine jar, someone mentioned something about not wanting the other dudes germs on the jar. Yeah right, that 'shine is a pure disinfectant and kills all the germs. Damn it was tasty, by far the best that I have tasted, it was smooth and almost had a corn hint to it. I don't recall what time we went to bed, but I'm sure it had to do with the liquor being finished off. Gary was awesome and had a few beds, couches and blow up beds for us to sleep on. With everyone settled in, I crashed out upstairs. What a night, every night seems to be getting better.
David says: We took our time getting on the road so traffic could die down going into St Louis. We got to the arch but I wasn't particularly interested in seeing it so I went across the street to the old courthouse where the Dred Scott case was heard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford Much of the old courthouse was being renovated but I still thought it was cool being there. After some confusion and a lot of left and rights that we probably didn't need to make we got to the interstate and started making time. It was getting late and we were pushing hard trying to make it to Lexington So I decided I didn't really have to pee that bad I could possibly hold out till we got there. My plan was flawed from the beginning because not only did I not know where we were going but I had no idea how long it would take to get there. After a while a fart also started brewing but I wasn't relaxing any muscles down there so I just held onto that one too until I hit what felt like a speed bump at 75. My bladder held its own but the fart escaped and felt like it may have brought some solids along for the ride. About that time someone signaled for a bathroom break and we pulled into a rest stop. I took off into that stall fully prepared to sacrifice a pair of boxers and bike shorts minimum. A quick check revealed no need. Sweet. We met Gary on the off ramp and followed him to his house. Gary and his wife Jessica fed us and got us completely hammered. Most of that night is a little blurry. I did have a chance to call Dina that night and tell her for the first time since I had left that we were in the same time zone. It made me feel better because I was missing her pretty bad by this time. Lexington KY 7051 miles so far.
Dano says: The morning came fast, wow. But I will admit that I had no ill effects from the late night festivities. The only thing that bothered me was the damn garbage truck that came by at 5:00am and banged the trash bins around LOUDLY. Nice job ASSHOLES. We all cleaned up and saddled the bikes, proceeded to the front of the hotel. That's when two special somethings made their appearances on the Aussies bikes. Uncle Dude can tell that story. They had a free continental breakfast and we sat down and ate. I had a waffle and a couple glasses of really acidic orange juice(bad idea Dano). Since we were gassed and lubed up we tore ass outta Dodge and rode east. It didn't take long for the orange juice to come back to haunt me. A night of heavy drinking followed by extremely concentrated OJ on my stomach didn't mix well. Lets just say that there were more than a few stops to vacate myself. Hell I did two times in one stop. Man I felt like... .. well crap. I felt so bad that Bucket let me ride the Sprint to make me more comfortable. Thanks bro. We stopped later in the day to have lunch at Subway (they should have been a CCC sponsor) and I ate a sandwich. It helped tremendously as did a nap and some Powerade. I was over the worst part by lunch. Time to make waves to St Louis. Saddle up fellas. I don't recall anything really exciting about that leg of the trip. I do recall stopping on an On-Off ramp to take a leak and call Doug((Brian)confusing I know) to see where the hotel was that he reserved for us. We also discussed our arrival time to the hotel. With that all settled we traded bikes again, I don't recall what I was on, but Hockey had his first try on the Sprint. I got to know one thing about this quite man named Hockeyfan. He like wheelies, so much so he does them in front of cops, refer to day one of his trip. I was in the lead and looking in the mirrors as we came up the steep on-ramp. I saw a quick wheelie followed by it setting down ok. A few seconds later I saw the bottom of the Sprint's oil pan as he did a 12 o'clocker...hahah on the on-ramp merging into traffic. The bike came down faster than he expected I think, haha. Nice one Hockey, way bigger than what I have done on that bike. It was a fast day and we arrived into St Louis fairly early in the afternoon. I was skeptical about what hotel we were supposed to be at because they didn't have reservations at the one that we pulled into. So I rode down to the corner and down the street to another motel6/8 to check there. In route I came across something that stopped me in my tracks. A beer/liquor store named Dirt Cheap. Anybody on TheSpeedTriple.com knows what this refers to. I got back to the 1st hotel where the guys were and told them of my discovery. More on that later. As we were standing there our new pal pulled Doug pulled in on his clean Roulette Green 1050 Triple. We Check in and get 4 rooms with military discounts again...saweeet. Off we go to our rooms and unload the bikes. After that we went across the street and gassed up for the next day. Then we all ride down to the beer store and some of us piss off a lady in a car. She makes it a point to race in the parking lot and almost hit some of us and start a screaming match that we can do whatever we like. Settle down lady. She goes into the store, buys her alcohol and comes out screaming still at us. Wow, have a drink lady, take the edge off. We were still outside because we were all laughing because of the store name and the billboards. Speaking of billboards, its not a good idea to leave a ladder attached the sign. Yes we scaled the sign, yes all of the CCC gang. Chewie, Bucket, Hockey, Doug, Nimec, Uncle Dude, and me were all on the sign. Some random Dirt Cheap customer was cool enough to take our pictures while we were on the sign getting honked at by cars on the nearby Interstate. With the artsy pictures done we head inside to get our nightly poison fix. Lots of beers, check. Crown Royal, check. Miscellaneous other liquors, check. Two sets of Dirt Cheap boxer underwear, check. As we exit the store, I think I suggested that we do a burnout video in front of the Dirt Cheap neon sign. Ok, lets do this shit. We were all ready to do this covert illegal video and haul ass outta the parking lot. I say to self, "Self, the store managers and workers seemed cool as hell. I wonder if I asked if we could do a burnout in their parking lot, if would they mind?" Ok, out of my mouth comes, "Hold on dudes, I'll go ask if it is ok to do a burnout". I walk inside and sure as hell the manager says, "Fire it up man". I walk outside and tell the good news. Ok, who is going to do the burnout? Hockey stumbles over himself raising his hand and yelling "I'll do that shit". Perfect, we got an action hero and Uncle Dude is on the video detail. We gather around Hockey as he does two nice long burnouts.
We accomplished the Great American Burnout at Dirt Cheap. Its amazing the little damage that the burnouts did to the Pilot Roads, man are they some tough tires. With the side show done, we acted like law abiding citizens on the way back to the hotel. We tried to duplicate the previous night and ordered pizza and sat outside in front of the rooms. Good times my friends, good times. It was fun having the new fish in the group, Doug. We had in our midst two of the class (TST site) clowns, Uncle Dude and Doug. Lots of laughter and joking went on. Whiskey Dan made an appearance tonight, he is similar to Tequila Dan minus the tequila. It was my first night to room with Bucket and I learned that he likes to sleep in the bed nearest the bathroom. He informed me that it is easier for him to make it to the pisser while being pissed. HaHaHa, no worries mate.
I didn't know Kartstar worked at Dirt Cheap, and dang your lookin old Fred.
David says: After a night of drinking I can say I was sleeping rather soundly when I heard what I thought was a truck loading up our bikes by dragging them up a ramp with a chain outside. It was about to be on like donky kong when I got to the window and figured out it was only the trash truck. No getting back to sleep now. We get cleaned up and ready to leave and there is still no more than 10 cars in the whole parking lot. Today's menu consisted of toast, cereal, bagels, and make your own waffles, not bad for a hotel breakfast. I got to ride the Sprint for a while in the morning and I remember mentioning to Bucket how smooth the power is on it. I said something like "I bet I could wheelie the sh*t outta this thing". The response was classic Bucket, "I'll be expecting to see that the first chance you get". Not wanting to be a bad host and disappoint my Australian buddy when we hit the on ramp I rolled on the gas and gave a little tug on the bars. It carried the tire about a foot off the ground for about 10'. I slowed it back down, checked the mirrors to be sure Bucket was watching and grabbed a handful of throttle and gave it a good yank. Now that was a wheelie. I rode it up the rest of the ramp and onto the interstate to a few fist pumps and a bunch of thumbs up from the cars that were close enough to see it. Bucket rolls up and gives me a thumbs up and an approving head nod. We got off the interstate for lunch and I was on my bike going along a feeder road next to the interstate. I guess I was at the back of the pack when I rode out a nice wheelie but no one saw it. That was the only decent 2nd gear wheelie I nailed the whole trip. We rolled into St Charles, MO early in the evening and Dan rolls out to make sure we were in the right place. He comes back after a few minutes with a sh*t eating grin and says you're not going to believe what I found. We get checked in lose the bags and take off to see what was so funny. We had caught up with fellow TS3 member Doug and end up in the parking lot of Dirt Cheap Liquor store getting screamed at by some psycho lady for what she felt was dangerous riding. Never mind the fact that she came rolling into the parking lot like a bat out of hell and almost taking Leggy out. I bet Doug was wondering what he had signed up for about then. Booze in tow and burnout pics in the can we rolled back to the hotel to try and pick up where the night before had left off. St Charles, MO 6675 miles so far.