After 6 long weeks of sorting, boxing my "good" stuff, and a marathon "moving sale", I packed up my XHR-250 (eXtremely High Revving :-) with about 150 pounds of gear, and headed south to Maryville, TN.

I left Rochester, NY about 4am after maybe 2 hours of sleep (too excited to sleep!), and rode the longest day of my life - about 800 miles in 16 hours. I took the "fast route" (interstates all the way) - 90 West to Cleveland, 71 south thru Ohio, and finally 75 down to Knoxville, TN. I got into Maryville, TN about 8pm, hooked up with my friend Trent about 12am, and unloaded my gear at his place about 2am...

As I sit here in my wal-mart camping recliner, I am still pretty tired out and am adjusting to my new place in the beautiful smoky mountains.

My place is pretty sparse at the moment, but I am in awe at my good fortune in getting here safely, having a friend to stay with a few days, and many friendly and helpful people in the area who helped me to get to and find the place of my dreams.

I feel like I am "home" ... a place so pretty, warm, and with the most beautiful scenery and the best roads I have ever experienced. This place is truly "motorcyclist's heaven on earth"!

I could not have gotten here without the help of family members and friends, who I'd like to thank for their love and encouragement:

• My mom and my brother (I love you both very much!)
• My cousin Sherri for her love and encouragement
• My good friend Rick
• My new Maryville friend Trent
• Pierre
• Starbuck's "doubleshots" :-)
• And what seems like an awful lot of help from a "higher power"

For a slideshow of pics of my new place, please click here (requires java)

To see some beautiful pics taken the same day, please click here.