Bel Alton, MD

The ride home was under sunny skies, broken up by a stay at the luxurious Bel Alton Motel in, uh, Bel Alton, MD. Before that, we found ourselves getting water at Robert Taylor's Tires, Laundrymat, and General Store in Snow Hill, NC, where we were fortunate enough to be regaled with tales of adventure and skill by none other than Robert Taylor himself. He had two old black men in the store with him, who had clearly heard all these stories before, and who wavered randomly from corroborating them to outright calling bullshit. One of them thought Donna had a nice butt. After a little break, it was up I-95 out of the Carolinas and through Richmond.

The Bel Alton was a slab motel straight out of 1959, neon and all, but was really cool and well-kept (except for the 20 stinky cats that lived in the office.) This was a little bit of synchronicity, as we were trying to get another 15-20 miles up the road when we spied what looked like a cool biker bar just after passing the motel. We discussed the possibility of checking out the Bel Alton and if it was nice, throwing the gear in the room and heading up for a burger and beer.

Which is exactly what we did. And it was not only a cool biker bar (the locally-famous "Apehangers" as it turns out) but they happened to have a band every Saturday night. Wouldn't you know it, it was Saturday night! So we went back to the hotel for a dip in the pool (and a quick power nap) and then rode the 1/4 mile back up 301 for a little boot stomping. What a cool place that was. We stayed up too late and probably should have stopped 1 or 2 beers sooner, but it was a great time. How often the most memorable part of a trip ends up being not something planned in great detail, but something that just comes down the road at you.