Stage 8: Spartanburg, South Carolina to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. 134 miles.

Today we traveled from upstate South Carolina to our summer home in the mountains of Maggie Valley, North Carolina. Weather throughout the day cooperated until just before we started climbing the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. Almost the entire rest of the afternoon the mountains held rain and fog for us; we were quite literally riding in the clouds. Today’s climbs were fairly intense, though we were used to them as we have traveled the roads extensively in the area by motorcycle.

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Our 28 never missed a beat, and we really enjoyed showing our friends the areas and roads that we love to visit. Several riders unfortunately went down on the Blue Ridge Parkway due in part to fog/rain conditions on the road and an unexpected lengthy mountain tunnel.

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Throughout the route today, I found myself thinking heavily of my friend Dale Walksler and the great influence he had on my life. This year’s race was meant to take place in 2020, until the world fell apart with the pandemic, and would have marked 10 years since Dale had participated in the inaugural Cannonball event with his 1915 Harley Davidson. Over the years Dale was a great friend and inspiration to me, and I believe was the one who brought Nikki and I on a path to be together. He also reluctantly provided me with his blessing to steal Nikki, who was like a daughter to him, away for a few weeks to ride on the back of an ancient motorcycle in this race.

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As many know, Dale passed earlier this year following a long battle with cancer, and there is not a moment where he isn’t missed. Today was especially poignant and emotional as Nikki and I rode our 1928 Harley across the finish line at the museum Dale created and poured his heart and soul into. Our 28 has several special mementos that were given to us from him, and it has been easy to feel his presence with us throughout the event.

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Nikki and I would like to thank the team at Dale's Wheels Through Time for the hospitality and graciousness in hosting the event and are both entirely overwhelmed with the amount of friends and family who showed up at today’s finish line to support us and give us encouragement. The Motorcycle Cannonball is absolutely the toughest event in the world for a vintage motorcycle enthusiast, and we are both shocked at the support we have received thus far for just riding together.

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Tonight’s maintenance schedule was pretty standard and took place at Ben Brown shop with a great group of people to support and supervise. Oil change, clutch pack replacement while the other one is cleaned and reassembled for a backup, valve adjustment, rear brake adjustment and primary/rear chain adjustment.

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Tomorrow morning we begin our next stage of the adventure of just over 260 miles from Cherokee, North Carolina to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which will put our state count at seven. Total mileage thus far (not counting additional “getting lost” miles) is just shy of 1,800 miles. Tomorrow we will pass the 2,000 mile mark in our journey from Canada to Mexico.