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To all of you my readers: I have been studying and contemplating what I want from my blog. It's been an on going reflection since about January 10, 2009.
I believe I know where I want this blog to go, and I am writing my mission statement here, for you all to see. With your help, guidance and friendships, I know we will make this blog and my vision of it flourish into a successful endeavor for me, and a fun, informative, and reliable source of information for you.
As a writer, I believe it to be my directive to write stories that provide humor, information, beauty, truth and humility. I also believe it is helpful to write about things you know and love. I love motorcycles. I love travel. I love small town America. So why can't I take all these things I profess to love…and wrap them up into a summer of events and rides throughout rural Dixie Country?
My plan for this riding season is to take no less than one week of every month and spend it on the road exploring the scenic byways of Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
I have started to map out routes that are secondary in nature, that have small town America along its shores, including the festivals of the towns and communities that I will be passing though. Believe me, this is no small feat. It means I have to look at maps, note the small towns along the route, google them to see if they have web sites. If they have web sites, then I dig further to see if and when many of the towns along the route have their local fairs and festivals. I then try to time my riding schedule to match the season, and dates these small towns advertise as their draw to small town America.
I will also be camping along the way, checking out the local amenities, rating their services, and their willingness to be helpful. Food services along the way will also play a major role in what I will be writing about. You know, an army travels on its stomach…well I may not be an Army, but when I travel, I do like to eat.
It's impossible to know everything that will pop up and be of interest to me. You may find me on a 500 mile jaunt and have my mind stuck on one thing…and out of that entire 500 mile ride, that one thing maybe the exclusive item I choose to write about.
What I'm trying to tell you my friends is this: I promise to travel the byways of our beautiful Dixie countryside. I promise to find roads of historic value, roads of intrinsic beauty, roads that will carry you and me to small town America, with all her local points of interest and history. I promise to lead you to small towns who are celebrating their Founders Day, or who want to have a craft fair consisting of the local farmers, shop owners, Harley riders, bronco riders, house wives, car sales people, plumbers, drywallers….
I want to show you there are places in America where Americana is still practiced. There are festivals that celebrate the human spirit and where our roots came from. There are celebrations for the Irish settlers, for the Swedes, there are celebrations that honor the mule, and that honor the Magnolia. I want to find these celebrations, I want to experience them, I want to introduce you to them, but most of all, I want to introduce you to the people who are there experiencing and hosting the celebrations!
Least we forget, the views of the scenic highways will also be a large factor of what I write about, what I photograph, what is important. I want to be a part of something; I want you to be a part of it too. We are motorcyclists. We have the unique ability of being able to stop at places too small for cars; we can turn around easily to get better views of things we would have missed in our cars. We can smell the aromas of the fields, forests, roadside vendors selling boiled salted peanuts. But too many of us just haven't gotten past the mentality of attending events such as Daytona, Myrtle Beach, Sturgis, and the thousand other venues that pop up across our great nation in an effort to form the brotherhood of riders. Once you've gotten that out of your system, and have discovered the real brotherhood is without the boundaries and limitations of huge social gatherings…that the real brotherhood lies within you, as you pass the lone biker on the side of the road, or when you see one studying a map looking lost. Or any of the million other reasons to approach the lone biker traveling somewhere…anywhere…brotherhood is being able to transcend your troubles and learn about his…and help fix what's wrong.
So with this in mind folks, as the weeks progress, and the warmer weather begins to prevail, come back here looking for my stories of Dixie Americana…and see if it makes you want to find your way back home.
Chessie