Kyle Petty Charity Ride Diary: Day 7

Greetings from Hot Springs, Virginia!

Today was the second-to-last leg of our trip, which was about 417 miles. The further southeast we head in the country, the more the fans anticipate our arrival in each town.

MORE STORIES Ride Diary: Day 1 Ride Diary: Day 2 Ride Diary: Day 3 Ride Diary: Day 4 Ride Diary: Day 5 Ride Diary: Day 6

Each stop we make, I meet some pretty amazing people as well as visit some old friends. We started off our morning traveling out of Cleveland into Painesville, Ohio, which is about 30 minutes away.

High-Tech Performance Trailers is headquartered in Painesville and they we're hosting a breakfast for all the riders plus their employees. High-Tech makes the big No. 45 hauler you see at the track each week.

We had a great breakfast, including pancakes and maple syrup, which Painesville is famous for. While I was there, I got to take a quick peek at their facilities and meet the good people at High Tech.

As we drove through the main streets of Painesville, you would have thought the town was hosting a parade by the number of people that lined the streets to see us. I have to thank the folks at High-Tech for providing a great breakfast for such a large group of people.

From Painesville we traveled about two hours to Cambridge, Ohio. When we arrived at the fuel stop there were at least 50 locals on bikes waiting there to greet us.

Lake Speed and I had the opportunity to meet some local kids, sign autographs and take pictures. Following our quick stop in Cambridge, we headed to Charleston, where the West Virginia Motor Sports Council hosted a lunch for the Charity Ride at the state capitol.

All of our bikes paraded down the main street of town and we had lunch right on the front lawn of the capitol building, which was cool.

From Charleston, we traveled about two hours into Hot Springs, Virginia. Our drive into Hot Springs was absolutely amazing. We took some winding roads that went up and down each mountain. We reached some high elevation in this area today. Pretty cool.

	Kyle Petty waves on onlookers as the group leaves Charleston Credit: Phil Cavali

Last night the Charity Ride hosted a live auction at our hotel. We had some great items up for bid including a custom-designed helmet, the hood from the car I raced last week at Sears Point and more.

We also auctioned off a Special Edition Richard Petty Polaris ATV. This item was special because all of the proceeds from the ATV will be donated to the people of Roseau, Minnesota.

Victory Motorcycles and Polaris Industries are headquartered in Roseau, which was hit by devastating floods about a month ago. Many of the employees lost everything they owned.

Polaris and Victory have been part of the Petty family for several years now, so we wanted to do something special to show our support. My father will head up to Roseau on July 15 to present a check from the ATV auction.

Tomorrow we begin our journey home to my farm in North Carolina and we have a lot of exciting things planned. I can't believe it's really our last day on the road.

I'm stopping in Roanoke, Virginia to receive the key to the city first thing in the morning. Also, Martinsville Speedway is hosting the last lunch of this year's Charity Ride. Finally, the Budweiser Clydesdales will lead all 160 motorcycles onto my farm for the Arrival Concert and Celebration in Trinity, North Carolina. Jo Dee Messina, Trace Adkins and Kevin Denny are performing at the concert so it should be a good show.

Until tomorrow,

Kyle