It's April 30th. This means that tomorrow, May 1, is the start of the 2010 Southern Tour. The bikers 3 will leave from here, after a truly magnificent breakfast, and head for the twisty roads of the Southern Appalachians. The only real plans so far are the first night in PA and the second at my son's, and his wife's, house in Manassas.

We used to do a lot of planning for this trip, but after many years, most of the pre-planning has disappeared. Now, we're lucky if we discuss the leave date. I got an email from JVD yesterday asking me to confirm if we were going tomorrow. It's become pretty loose.

This annual chance to laugh with and at good friends is a much anticipated experience. I often wonder "why me?". The world of circumstance has blessed me with many things that I deeply appreciate. Good home, best friend wife, time to enjoy, time for music. I worked at a company for 32 years, during a time that it felt like one big family, and now they are paying me for the rest of my life for doing it.

It's almost scary to write this down. I really don't want to upset the apple cart here. But when I see the ordeals to which others must submit, I consider myself pretty lucky. So far, I have food, health and a great family. Something must be being done right.

I plan to write a trip report of this year's tour, much like last year. This year, I have a netbook computer to bring with me, and if I can, I'll post frequently. You'll be able to find it here: http://www.playa.info

Click on the forum tab at the top of the page, and scroll down to Trip Reports: Us and Canada and click on it. The thread title will be Southern Tour 2010. (You can see Southern Tour 2009 here also.)

Anyway, I gotta go now. Need to finish packing. There's an unbelievable amount of stuff that is carried by the bike: tent, mattress, pillow, clothes, guitar. It looks like a Barcolounger when I'm done.

Talk atcha later