Editor's Note: The following is the second of a three-part series chronicling Kyle Petty as he rides a motorcycle to the first four races of the season, with two scheduled trips to Phoenix in between. Part 3 sheds light on the end of the trip.
• Part 1: Petty on circuitous route via motorcycle to race sites
• Part 2: Schrader plays role of Petty's 'accomplice' on ride

Any question about Kyle Petty's unique attitude about things became clear when he arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week.

Petty had just completed a journey of about 6,800 miles in just 17 days -- entirely by motorcycle and stretching virtually from coast-to-coast and back again.

"This wasn't a rocket flight to the moon, it was just a motorcycle ride," Petty said on Friday evening of Atlanta race weekend, sitting outside his No. 45 Dodge's hauler about 24 hours after he arrived at the racetrack, beating the weather that included heavy overnight rain that disrupted Friday's schedule before turning to snow on Saturday morning.

Still it spawned a certain amount of incredulity amongst his fellow competitors, at least the ones who knew what Petty and fellow Cup veteran driver Ken Schrader had done following the Daytona 500.

"You know, the guys who know that I did it -- [Greg] Biffle came by and asked how it was, and I said 'good,' and he just shakes his head, like, 'What in God's name were you thinking?'" Petty said. "They're not tempted [to do it].

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"The [transporter] truck drivers are the ones that went, 'Dang, man -- you rode that far in one day? You and Kenny, ya'll are the guys,' you know what I mean? And that's cool -- because I respect the truck drivers, and what they do, and the amount of miles they put in.

"It was probably more physically taxing than it was mental, because -- and this is hard to explain to anybody -- but it was so incredibly relaxing and so incredibly enjoyable; that I don't pay any attention to the physical or the mental aspect of it."

It was Petty's chance to tune into an alternate channel and tune out his potential stressors.

"I'm in this garage area three days a week, with hundreds of people," Petty said. "And then you're out here signing autographs with thousands of people, you're pressed in traffic getting in and out of here -- you're just pressed in a mass of people, and whatever they're doing, you're doing.

"So, to get away from that and not to have to talk or answer -- to not really have to deal with anybody that you don't really want to -- it's very freeing -- almost like a big weight's been lifted off you.

"So you don't pay any attention to it. It's like being on a desert island. You'd probably love it for a week-and-half, two weeks -- but after that, who knows? But you don't have to have contact with anybody you don't want to [so it's OK]."

Of course, as he does with many other things, Petty went out of his way to downplay what he'd done. As he and his partner for half the trip, Schrader agreed, weather is the greatest demon that badly affects motorcycle travel.

"The biggest challenge is always watching the weather, and where the weather's going to be," Petty said. "I left Phoenix when we got done testing, Tuesday night [March 4] and I rode as far as I could.

"I'll admit, I was tired, [so] I rode to Lordsburg, N.M., and spent the night [there]. I knew the next day was going to be a long day, because I really needed to bust across Texas.

"I really wanted to get to Baton Rouge [La.] from Lordsburg, but I didn't make it. I was about 100 or 120 miles from Houston -- in between San Antonio and Houston. So I spent the night there, but they had weather coming in."

While detailing his return to the East Coast, Petty seemed to have a hard time remembering which day was which, and where he was at any given time. But the specter of weather, which badly affected Atlanta -- the second of only four Sprint Cup weekends that have been staged this season to be weather-marred; was a reality in the Midwest, as well.

"I knew they had weather coming in [to the Atlanta area] on Thursday, so that's why I wanted to get as far east as I could," Petty said. "I went to bed about 11 and got a 4:30 wakeup call and got back on the road about 5 -- so I could beat the weather out of there.

"So it worked good. I beat the weather out of there and rode 860-something miles [Wednesday], and then rode 920 or 930 [Thursday] and got in [to AMS Thursday] night about 8:30."

Autostock

Kyle Petty raises money and awareness for the Victory Junction Gang.

And on the way, while his head was swimming with schemes to aid the forward progress of his Petty Enterprises racing organization and the Victory Junction Gang Camp for chronically ill children, he was already plotting the next two-wheeled leg of his zigzag journey through the Sprint Cup schedule.

Petty, 47, eventually wants to ride a motorcycle to every venue NASCAR's premiere series visits -- and chronicle the experiences in a book that would characterize his life away from the racetrack.

"I liked this for a week or two," Petty said. "But I've really been gone since the Wednesday before the Daytona 500 [Feb. 13]. So I've been gone that long, but it's incredibly relaxing to me.

"I don't even know how to explain it to people. But you just mind yourself."

Petty didn't ride from his home in the Carolinas to Florida to open the season, as Schrader did; as another Camp commitment prevented it. But from there he took a huge chunk out of the project by biking to the next three venues, plus adding trips to a charity golf tournament and a test session at Phoenix International Raceway -- both in the Phoenix area, but on separate weeks.

How prodigious a feat it was is revealed by the mileage and the number of days it took to cover the distance; but if you're thinking about averaging it out to say, "That's only about 400 miles a day," don't try it.

From the time Petty and Schrader steered their bikes out of Daytona International Speedway's infield on the day after the 50th Daytona 500, Feb. 18, until Petty rode solo into Hampton, Ga., on March 6, there were a few interruptions.

Like, two three-day race weekends, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively.

And a side trip after that to a two-day test of NASCAR's new Sprint Cup chassis in Arizona.

Voila, the average suddenly hikes up to around 700 miles a day, which is a challenge. Especially when you're doing it alone -- but that's not the way Petty looked at it.

"I wasn't always alone -- or when I say I wasn't always alone, I'd always call somebody and let them know where I was at," Petty said. "Every time I'd stop I'd call my wife, Pattie; and I'd call Montgomery Lee, my daughter.

"And Janice Goss, who works at the shop -- we've been playing a game called 'Where's Carl?' That's because people call me 'Carl' instead of 'Kyle' a lot of times -- when I meet race fans they can't say 'Kyle,' I guess, so we've been playing that game, 'Where's Carl?'

"So I'd text Janice or send her an email and she'd put a little push-pin in a map and they'd know where I was. That way, if I didn't send an email or a text message in an hour, or an hour-and-a-half, they'd know something was up.

"I figured, eventually, if I didn't check in, they'd go back to the last point of contact and they'd look for me there."

For Petty, who carries the load of maybe two or three regular guys, he may never grow up. But he'll keep seeking challenges -- even if they are singular ones.

"You know, you don't ever think about it being alone," he said. "There are so many race fans that you meet along the way -- people that you just stop and talk to, at a gas station or wherever. You figure if you have trouble, someone will help you.

"I tried to ride two-lane roads as much as I could -- like Highway 90 through Texas and staying off of Interstate 10 [because] people that live along two-lane highways are a lot nicer than people that live along interstates -- you know what I mean?

"You can get to their house and knock on their door, and they'll help you if you've got any trouble. You're never alone in this day and time."

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Ken Schrader accompanied good friend Kyle Petty out west.

Schrader, for his part, accompanied Petty up to the Phoenix test on March 3-4, before he had to head home. Frequent travelers know that flights from the East to the West coasts often have tailwinds going one way or the other.

Schrader was involved in Petty's defining moment of difference between the two jaunts.

"The big difference was, I kept looking in the mirror -- I must've checked the mirror 20 million times," Petty said, laughing. "Just to see where Schrader was -- because that's what I did on the way out.

"I was leading, you know -- and when you're trying to look after somebody, or you feel you're responsible for him and you're looking after him -- you're always looking for them."

Petty said there was one major revelation to the trip home versus going west.

"It took me about a half a day to realize I was on my time and not anybody else's time, and if I wanted to get there, I could press hard and if I didn't want to get there, I didn't press hard. You went at your own pace, so that was the biggest difference."

Petty didn't ignore the fact that he only had half the time available to return as he did going to California -- no matter how you looked at it.

"Man, the time just kills you, coming back," Petty said. "You'd leave at 6 in the morning, but it was really already 8 where you were going -- you'd lost at least an hour before you ever got going. That's why, the last day I got up at 4:30 and on the road by 5 so I could bust it to Atlanta."

Petty said the Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas, was "on the map" as a can't-miss stop on the way out, but returning "it was all about getting [to AMS] by [Thursday] night."

"It was just to prove to myself that I could leave Phoenix at 5 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon," Petty said, "and be in Atlanta by midnight Thursday -- and I got in [to AMS] by 8:30. It was good time."

And it was only the beginning. The season goes to race five this weekend, and the twin cities of Bristol, Va., and Tenn., are a quick hop from the Greater Charlotte, N.C., neighborhood.

Petty laughed like a mule spraying Coca-Cola out its nose when he was asked, "what next?" Of course, he hadn't ridden his bike home from Atlanta, as he went to Colombia to support fellow driver Juan Montoya's youth initiatives there.

But it wasn't a long step to his next trip.

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"I got to ride to Bristol," he said. "I'm going to Juan's, and I can't bike there -- though it would be an incredible trip -- but not in a week's time."

But the short track swing of Bristol and Martinsville, Va., was a definite, Petty said.

"I need to bike as many places as I can, and knock 'em off my list, one at a time," Petty said. "So I'll do as much as I can."

And even though he and Schrader had agreed that riding along the Rio Grande River was the highlight of each of their trips West, Petty said he had an affinity for some highways and byways closer to home.

"There's nothing better than riding where you're from," Petty said. "You know the roads, the highways -- and you know the weather, you know the people, the gas stations. You know everybody.

"And to me, there's nothing prettier. I love riding up 421, up by the old [North] Wilkesboro Speedway, and seeing it by the side of the road; then riding up through Boone [N.C.] and then up 321 to Johnson City and Elizabethton, over to Bristol.

"And riding up to Martinsville, riding up old 220, the old two-lane highway -- going up the back ways, there's nothing better than that. It's fun to put in a 700- or 800-mile day, every now and then -- but I'm still a big fan of those 120- and 200-mile days."

Petty said it was a wonderful throwback and a heartbreaker all at the same time. He said he usually always stops in North Wilkesboro, N.C., where one of NASCAR's oldest short tracks still sits, since it went silent in 1996.

"Yeah, I stop and go up alongside and look over the fence," Petty said. "It's all [overgrown] and it's sad, because I always loved that racetrack. It's sad to see it on the side of the highway, just setting there.

"It wouldn't be as sad if they were running something there -- if they were running the Nationwide cars or the [Craftsman] Trucks; or some other stuff -- but it's sad, really, to see any place where you have memories -- your old high school, whatever.

"Remember, I learned to drive on most of these racetracks like that and Rockingham [North Carolina Speedway] and places like that so it's sad for me to see places where I have a lot of memories fallen into disrepair and nobody's using 'em."

Turner Sports New Media

Kyle Petty gave his Harley-Davidson a workout.

He did say he had plans to "bust back to Rockingham and watch it when it reopens [with the ARCA/Remax Series Carolina 500 on May 4 -- the same weekend the Sprint Cup Series is at Richmond on a Saturday night]."

But Petty said his extended road trip did one thing, in reference to memories. It rekindled visions of dozens and dozens of identical trips from his youth.

"I like the road -- I grew up on the road," Petty said. "The funny part for me is this -- it's almost like going back, because I grew up in this sport when we'd jump in the back of a Dodge station wagon and beat it to Michigan.

"Or we'd jump in the back of a van and beat it up to Dover [Del.], and run the race and then beat it home, and almost sleep in the car because we had to go to school [or] go to work the next morning -- whatever it took.

"So we beat it up and down highways, we ate in truck stops -- we ate at Denny's at 3 o'clock in the morning. And set at the counter. Remember this.

"That's a tip for telling: Always eat at the counter, you get served faster at the counter than you do at a booth. You get your food quicker.

"That's the way we grew up. So for me, at this stage of my career, it's almost like a throwback. We're doing the same thing we've always done."

But to show that some things do change, when asked what his dad, Richard Petty, thought of the behavior that, according to the son, the father was at least partly responsible for?

"Oh yeah -- he definitely thought I was crazy," Kyle said. "He's got a jet, and he's like, 'I got a plane -- I got a seat -- I got a ride.' And I'm like, 'I got a ride and a seat,' you know what I mean?

"But it's like I said. If you have that place, and you can find that place and you can go there -- and it just happens to be on a motorcycle, then it's a good place to go."

And he plans to do plenty of it throughout the rest of 2008.

"Having to stop for gas was my only issue," Petty said. "No worries, man -- it was just perfect."