Reed's Rat Race

To be honest, we left Caledonia on Friday afternoon and drove to Huntsville where our good friend Wes had kindly let us stay at his place...and he wasn't even there.   Now that's a friend .  Thanks Wes!  Staying in Huntsville allowed us to be able to get up at a reasonable hour so that we could arrive in Nashville around 10:00 am. We rolled into Nashville right on time and met Jean and her new dog Cheeto.  After getting the kids' stuff offloaded and a quick bite to eat it was off to the airport.  At the terminal we said our goodbyes to the kids, wished Jean luck, hugged and kissed the kids a 2nd and 3rd time and then headed into the terminal to check our luggage and go through the dismal ordeal that is the TSA safety screening. We each checked one bag.  One bag contained just motorcycle gear--pants, jackets.  One bag had all our clothes for the week.  We packed pretty light and planned on doing laundry a couple times while we were out there. ...

Two years ago, Angela came up with a wonderful idea. "Let's go to Italy to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!" she said. "We could even time it so that we catch a MotoGP race in Mugello." she added. I was skeptical at first. And then I had an idea. "Lets tour Italy on MOTORCYCLES!!!" I exclaimed in excitement. So it was set then. We would travel to Italy in 2011, time it so that we can attend a race at one of the greatest race venues in the world--Mugello, and we would do it all on motorcycles. Angela even decorated a spare change jar as motivation. We slowly started filling the "Trip Jar" as it was known to be called. And with every penny and dime added to the jar, I dreamed of endless corners in the Dolomites and riding famous alpine passes. Angela seemed more in love with the idea of seeing old cities and architecture and stuff like that. Whatever. We're going to Italy...Let's RIDE!!! And then at some poin...