The trip started early on Wednesday morning May 15th, with both bikes packed and ready to go, lots of sunshine and cool temperatures but with no rain in sight...
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The road to Myrtle Beach started many months ago as Chuck prepared the motorcycles for the trip. Chuck's bike had a new paint job and Karen's bike had new saddlebags and a taller sissy bar installed.
The trip started early on Wednesday morning May 15th, with both bikes packed and
ready to go, lots of sunshine and cool temperatures but with no rain in sight...
Our friends, Mike and Marianne Chaney who we accompanied to the festivities.
We rode
down US rout 17 which was nice, the only part that we all agreed on that sucked,
was the narrow two lane section where we meet oncoming dump trucks that
brought little speck of dirt into our faces at a combined speed of over 100
mph. The trip down was about 380 miles after we navigated onto a shortcut
that did not end up being a shortcut and we had to back track about 40 miles or
so. We managed to stop about every hour so that everyone could stretch
their legs, this was Karen's first ride longer than a Poker Run.
Karen, finally at the motel where our room smelled like cat piss!
Thursday we visited the famous Suck Bang Blow bar in the Southern part of Myrtle Beach, there were lots of bikes, bikers and vendors to see. We wandered around catching most everything we could that afternoon. The following pictures are from a collection of pictures at Suck Bang Blow's web site.
Suck
Bang Blow
is known for having burnouts INSIDE the bar, it seems that the more
smoke one generates, the more testosterone one must have. We men have our
games and the women have theirs...
Now those are some custom flames, I wonder if they match their bikes?
We ran into these monster motorcycles which use a V-8 high performance
automobile engine for power, this picture is of a Boss Hoss.
. 
There was another vendor selling their version of big bikes called Kannon.
They offered five different models including lowly V-6 Ford or Chevy engines.
Mike and I both liked the Kannon
bikes the most. It employes a torque converter vice a transmission which
might just keep the rider from killing themselves! I wonder how long a
rear tire would last on these bad boys doing a burn out? They start at
$30K and go up, truly a "toy".
Not many pictures of the Hairiest Chest contestants!
Thursday evening we spent at a bar named Jonesy's and listened to some good music and enjoyed the company of about a gazillion other bikers. We observed at least two motorcycle accidents that night so we were pretty careful not to drink too much and have one of our own.
On Friday we visited the Myrtle Beach Harley dealer and spent most of the day visiting the many vendors, I was able to find some stirrup style foot pegs accessories for Karen's bike at a vendor there that I could not get back home, one shop had them on order for four weeks and could not get them. Not any pictures from that day as I was wandering around with the video camera on.
I did manage a picture of Marianne relaxing though!
That night after dinner my guts were in a knot so Karen and I went back to the motel early. On the way back on route 17 some lady in an Suburban pulled out right in front of me. I can honestly say that was the closest encounter I have had were I did NOT wreck. It was amazing that I missed her and even more amazing that Karen missed her also. We were both quite frazzled when we got back to the motel that night.
On
Saturday we wandered back up to the Northern section and stopped at a vendor where I bought a handlebar gimble mount for my GPS unit. 
It will
also hold the video camera. Karen and Marianne wandered around all of the little shops
while Mike and I listened to a live band and drank some frosty beverages and
watched the "sights".
The parade of bikes coming to the events seemed endless, sometimes the traffic
was backed up for about a mile on the roads leading to the hot spots.
Saturday afternoon was looking like heavy rain and we ended up at a joint called the Rat Hole. This place had big tents and an indoor bar area so we felt we could enjoy some fun and maybe stay a little dry. It rained on and off all afternoon and we watched a bikini contest as well as an arm wrestling contest before a folks started riding the mechanical rat. The mechanical rat was really a mechanical bull who had been transformed by fashioning a rat's head on the front and a long pink rat tail was attached to the rear of the beast.
Getting some last minute instructions.
Yee Haw! Good rat riding form too!
Bad rat riding form, no hand in the air and not spurring!
Another good form!
Oops -- my top came off!
Oh Shit! When is this ride over?
These were the contestants from the wet t-shirt rat riding contest.
The winner!
Karen and Marianne had had enough of the "contests" so we decided to brave out into the rain and return to the motel. It was raining pretty hard and we were completely soaked when we arrived at the motel. I quickly put our wet clothes in the motel's dryer and turned the heat on in the room for Karen. Karen and I ended up taking a cab to a restaurant for dinner as we did not want to get our boots any wetter than they were. The Chaneys stayed in and ordered a pizza.
Sunday morning it was still raining lightly as we headed home. Everyone except me, had a working set of rain gear, I had a heavy oiled canvas slicker that I had bought two weekends before. It kept my upper half dry but not so good on my legs. It was still raining and cold when we pulled into the Harley dealer in Wilmington. Karen and I bought warm weather gloves as I had not packed any thinking it would be hot. It stopped raining about an hour North of Wilmington but it remained unseasonably cold. We managed to ride the rest of the way home stopping often enough so that we could warm up and straighten out a bit.
Bart is looking for food, at least Molly is happy to see us!
Back home, all safe and sound! It took us
nearly five hours longer to ride home as the ride down. I wonder if we are
ready for Sturgis...