Where I Trace My Bloodline - 12 Days To Departure

Twelve days left before hitting the road. Really, there is only eight days left to get ready. I did have a big break through today though. I finally figured out how to get my trip plan from Furkot, in to a GPX file and exported to my Garmin Navigator, which for me is a big deal. The files and routes all seem to be on the GPS now from what I can tell, I won't really know though until underway. I'd say that if I start to hear banjo music then I must be lost, but I'm taking old two lanes to Kentucky so banjo music seems to be expected.

Not sure why it added each daily route twice, but I'm not going to worry about that right now.

Ready to navigate!!

Where I Trace My Bloodline - 17 Days to Departure

Where I Trace My Bloodline

Where I Trace My Bloodline - 19 Days to departure

 

Nineteen days to go before I hit the road, but I really only have about fourteen days left to be packed and ready. When arranging dates for this trip I had to take a few things in to account. The biggest of which was a bimonthly infusion I get at my rheumatologist in Jacksonville. Every two months, I drive two hours up to Jax and two hours back after getting a thirty minute infusion to alleviate arthritis. So this trip takes off the day after that visit. It dawned on me this week, why not just ride the bike, laden with all my gear for this trip to my Friday appointment, spend the night in Jax and leave from there on the 11th, thus saving myself 2 hours of northbound driving on the first day. So, quite happy with myself for coming up with that. 

Tonight, I did a bit of practice flying with the drone. I hope to be able to use it for some big aerial views while on the road and let some of those photos and videos help tell this story from a different perspective.

 New Smyrna Beach, Drone Shot

This trip is coming up fast. I hope it doesn't speed by as fast while on the road. 

Where I Trace My Bloodline - 30 Days to Departure

 30 Days to go; inside that window where everything has to start being finalized. Figuring out what and how to pack, getting equipment ready, etc.The genesis for this trip was the need for a practice run for next years trip, during which the majority of nights spent on the road will be camping. So for this outing, there will be 3 nights spent in a tent, a couple of hotels and an AirBnB, just to give that a try as an option for saving cash next year. Along with camping gear, I'll be running two GoPros, a DJI Mavic Mini drone and attempting to do one or more entries here daily, so a lap top and portable power bank are in the mix too. All of this is dependent on whether I have properly planned the riding route and the subsequent timing each leg will take from AM to PM. Originally this was mostly about the ride, but perusing the limbs of the family tree recently has lead me to adding more stops. With daylight saving not taking place until November, I'm counting on having enough daylight to to get through the each day so as to not be riding through mountain twisties in the dark if I run over budget on any particular day; and I'm sure the mountains themselves have their own opinion as to how my days will gain ground.

Where I Trace My Bloodline - 34 Days to Departure

Took the bike up to Euro Cycles in Daytona today for an oil change and service. It only has 2000 miles on it but a break in oil change is normally done at 600 miles, so it was needed. Mechanically the bike is ready to go. I do have a mod in the works for a go pro mount I have to get finished yet. 

 

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive by Patty Loveless

 

Where I Trace My Bloodline

 

"In the deep dark hills of eastern Kentucky, that's the place where I trace my bloodline..." That's the  opening line to Patty Loveless' You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive. A haunting bluegrass tribute to the coal mining communities around Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. For this upcoming trip, my practice run for a much broader and far reaching motorcycle journey for the fall of 2022, I thought that line to be very fitting, and so I have used it for the title to this small journey in to the past, in search of my namesake. 

Growing up, I remember my father talking about living in Houston Hollow, Kentucky and stories of my grandparents and great grandparents time spent there. I could never find anything on the internet about Houston "Holler" and just assumed it to be a small village in a mountain setting that was absorbed in to a neighboring town or swallowed up by the pine trees and Rhododendron. But then one day, I found it! These days it is simply a road through the middle of the holler and...it's in Ohio! 

My father was born in 1948 in St. John's, Newfoundland and moved as a baby to Greenup, Kentucky. Now Greenup is important in this journey as most all other known members of my paternal family were born there, and there they lived until an opportunity to get out of the coal mines and in to the automotive industry would take them north, across the river to Lucasville, Ohio and...Houston Hollow. 

This trip will be ten days on the back of my new BMW F900XR. It will take me through Virginia and West Virginia, in to Greenup and up through Houston holler. It will take me to the place and places where I trace my bloodline. I look forward to finding out more about myself and sharing it here, with anyone who cares to join me...