BEGIN TRAN Five days; a user group, a Day of Data, four H-D stops, and almost 20 hours behind the wheel. Nashville first for a Music City Data talk, then a long haul toward Day of Data Pittsburgh — with an overnight stop dictated entirely by a Steelers home game.
Wednesday · Oct 7
Lafayette to Nashville
5.5 hour drive · Music City Data User Group
🚗Out of Lafayette before noon, 5.5 hours south to Nashville. Straight into the hotel, no detours planned.
⛽Buc-ee's, Smiths Grove, KY — a stop that needs no justification.
🛒Meet up with Jason and Sheila Romans before the talk.
User Group
Music City Data User Group
Presenting Intro to PowerShell with dbatools for the DBA.
🚗7.5 hours toward Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh itself is a no-go tonight — the Steelers are hosting my Colts, For the Shoe, and every hotel in the city knows it. Tridelphia gets the booking instead — it'll be home base for the next three nights, an hour out from the Day of Data festivities each way.
⛽Buc-ee's, Huber Heights, OH — fuel and a stretch break before the rest of the drive.
🏍Fink's Harley-Davidson and Valley Harley-Davidson — two more stops for the #V-RodDBA collection en route.
Friday · Oct 9
Into Pittsburgh — H-D Stops & Speaker Dinner
Hour drive in from Tridelphia
🚗Hour drive in from Tridelphia — the first of what'll be a round trip each day through the weekend.
🏍Steel City Harley-Davidson and Three Rivers Harley-Davidson — more #V-RodDBA stops, this time on Pittsburgh's home turf.
🍽Speaker dinner — [TBD: location].
Saturday · Oct 10
Day of Data Pittsburgh
#1163 · Hour drive in from Tridelphia
🚗Hour drive in from Tridelphia again, second day in a row.
Community Conference
Day of Data Pittsburgh 2026 (#1163)
Presenting Intro to PowerShell with dbatools for the DBA.
KEY WEST→MIAMI→JACKSONVILLE→MACON→LAFAYETTEno escort, bike on trailer, home Tuesday
BEGIN TRANSACTION Three days home. Bike gets one last ride — Key West to Miami on Sunday — and then it goes on the trailer for good. The Gulf Coast dealer run got scrapped for a straight shot up I-95 through Jacksonville instead, which turned Monday into more of a fuel-and-food day than a dealer day: a Costco in Palm Beach Gardens, Buc-ee's in Daytona and again in St. Augustine, a late lunch at Angie's Sub Shop in Jacksonville, then west on I-10 to I-75 and a fill-up at the Warner Robins Buc-ee's before Macon. No challenge coin on this leg — that's for when the bike's actually on the road, not the trailer. Tuesday is straight home, no detour through Nashville this time.
Sunday · Sep 20
Back to Miami
~160 mi · 🏍️ Last ride · No H-D stops
🏍Last morning in Key West. One more time down Duval — swing by Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Records studio while you're at it — fill the tank, head north on US-1. The Overseas Highway on a Sunday is about as good as it gets.
📍Pigeon Key — MM 47. Pull off at Knight's Key and walk the old Seven Mile Bridge — cars aren't allowed on the original span, so it's foot traffic and turquoise water on both sides. Historic Flagler railway workers' island at the far end. 20 minutes.
📍Whaling Wall #95 Mural — MM 52, Marathon. Giant marine mural on the side of the Marathon shopping center. Pull over, snap a photo, back on the bike. Five minutes.
📍Islamorada — MM 81.5–82 (two-fer). Bass Pro Shops World Wide Sportsman has a sister ship of Hemingway's fishing boat the Pilar on display inside. Walk next door to Rain Barrel Artisan Village for Big Betsy the Lobster — a 30-foot giant lobster sculpture that is exactly what it sounds like. Park once, hit both.
📍3D Great White Shark Mural — Key Largo. Roadside pull-off, quick photo. The Keys do not lack for wall art.
🍽Lunch at Gilbert's — Key Largo, the last stop before the mainland. Waterfront, laid-back, tiki-bar energy. Closing the Keys out the way it should be closed out.
🏍Hampton Inn Kendall by late afternoon — same hotel as Night 4 on the way down. Bike goes on the MC-10 trailer. That's it for two wheels until home.
⛽Top off the Santa Cruz Sunday evening — standard station near Kendall. Tomorrow's I-95 run has real options: a Costco in Palm Beach Gardens, then Buc-ee's in Daytona and St. Augustine before the cut west at Jacksonville.
Monday · Sep 21
Miami to Macon via I-95
~650 mi · Buc-ee's only, no H-D stops · Santa Cruz + trailer
🚗9:00 AM, I-95 N out of Miami.
⛽Costco, Palm Beach Gardens — first fuel stop of the day, ~90 miles up I-95. No dealer, no shot glass, just cheap gas.
⛽Buc-ee's, Daytona Beach — same one the bike hit on its Ormond Loop day, this time from the Santa Cruz.
⛽Buc-ee's, St. Augustine — second Florida Buc-ee's of the day.
🍽Late lunch at Angie's Sub Shop, Jax Beach — ordered the "My Wife Kicked Me Out." Then west onto I-10.
🚗I-10 W out of Jacksonville, then north on I-75 toward Macon.
⛽Buc-ee's, Warner Robins GA — I-75 Exit 144, same one from the outbound trip. Fill up here, not in Macon — the tank stays full overnight so Tuesday starts full.
🏠Hampton Inn & Suites Macon I-475 — same hotel as outbound Night 2. ~650 miles on the day. Check-in 4:00 PM.
Tuesday · Sep 22
Macon to Lafayette
~640 mi · Straight through · Home
🚗9:30 AM out of Macon. The math on Atlanta is simple: leave by 9:30, through the city by 11:15 AM, clear of both rush windows. Morning rush ends around 9; afternoon doesn't start until 3:30. This is the gap.
⛽Buc-ee's, Adairsville GA — I-75 Exit 306, ~85 miles from Macon. Same one from Day 2 of the outbound. Fuel up before Atlanta.
🚗Atlanta ~11:15 AM, Chattanooga by noon. I-24 W from Chattanooga toward Nashville — clocks fall back an hour at Monteagle (~90 miles in) crossing into the Central time zone.
🚗Nashville is a pass-through this time — no #SQLFamily lunch stop, straight onto I-65 N.
⛽Buc-ee's, Smiths Grove KY — I-65 Exit 38, ~75 miles from Nashville. Same one from Day 1 of the trip out. Rolled in on fumes — the Murfreesboro Buc-ee's would've solved that, but it's still under construction. Should be open for the 2027 trip. Clocks forward CT→ET crossing into Indiana shortly after.
🏠Lafayette by ~5:30 PM ET. ~1,290 miles, three days, zero dealers on the way back.
COMMIT TRAN
V-RodDBA · September 2026 · Lafayette, IN | Part 4 of 4 — the end of the road
