7:32 am:  Some darned fool is knocking on my door, hard.  HOLY KAPOWSKI!  It’s 7:32 am.  We are supposed to LEAVE at 7:32 am.  I didn’t get my wake-up call from that woman at the front desk.  Yikes!   Shower/shave/etc. in 7 minutes, outside in 12 minutes, coughing like a fool from this cold I can’t shake.  We are VERY late leaving for Statesville, and the 2nd Fret for breakfast.

8:48 am:  Barbara has made up some time, since US 64 in this area is flatter and straighter.  BUT….there is a 5k race going on.  And Bertha (our GPS) is telling us to take a route that is blocked.  We find a way around, and go into the 2nd Fret.  Quiet….But wait!  A reporter from the local paper, with lots of good questions.  Then Bryan comes in, yelling and sweaty in his “Cameron Crazies” t-shirt and sweaty from finishing the 5k.  And another six or eight folks come up to the table.  Great stuff.  The owner, Bob, is very friendly and glad we stopped by. 

10:30 am:  Mocksville, the EV site.  Lots of people coming in to exercise their right to vote, and doing it early, too.  A very nice guy, a Marine vet, is there stumping for McCain.  And a nice lady is there for Obama and the Dems.  We all talk to the good citizens of Davie county, and a lot of them stop to talk to us for a minute, which is nice.  Several say they are Libertarians, and several more say they were impressed with the debate.  We hand out rack cards until we have gone through the fistful we brought with us from the van, and then head ownard to…..

12 noon:  Lexington Barbecue, Lexington.  A visit to Yumtown.  I hand out a few rack cards, and the manager comes out and very nicely asks me not to bother the customers.  Not a problem at all; this is private property, and I am confident he would tell ANYONE to stop bothering the customers.  Then, the OWNER comes out and tells me he voted a straight L ticket.  Nice!  We meet up with Mark, poobah of FULL THROTTLE magazine, and have a good talk about biker issues.  Mark is a really smart, articulate guy, and runs a very successful business.  Salt of the earth.  We need a lot more like him.  He has an interesting theory:  Personal responsibility should govern most behavior.  And if we see someone acting like an ass, we should tell them so.  Biker groups are governed the way other groups SHOULD be governed:  Just don’t be an ass.  Mark should be President.

 We go out and look at his bike, he snaps some photos of the LPV, and climb back aboard the LPV, more or less back on schedule.  (BTW:  Lexington BBQ is very, very fine.  The meat was good, the ‘puppies good, but the best part was the Triple Berry Cobbler.  Fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, with very little extra sugar.  Tart, berries not overcooked….an unexpected pleasure of the first rank).