Reader Story: Myrtle Beach Bike Week (Not Like It Used to Be)

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We decided to give Myrtle Beach Bike Week a try when my friend suggested we visit her timeshare. We had read stories about how Myrtle Beach residents didnt want the “big bad bikers” and had instituted a number of laws to convince us to stay home or at least pick somewhere else to vacation. Undaunted by the bad press, we set out on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in early May to see if the press was making it out to be as bad as it truly was.

Early May in southern Wisconsin can be unpredictable. It can be beautiful, or it can be cold. Snow, while not common, is always possible, so we didnt know what to expect. We packed our cold weather gear, just in case. Four of us, my boyfriend Bruce and I and friends Jim and Lynn, decided to ride. Two of our friends, Deb and Mary Kay decided that putting their bikes in a trailer for the 1,200 mile one-way trip was a better option.

We left at 1 p.m. on a Thursday. We had lucked out that Thursday was beautiful. Hopefully, our luck would hold out for the ride home. We had the ambitious goal of reaching Lexington, Kentucky, the first evening. We knew it would be a push; Lexington was close to 500 miles and our goal was not to ride much after dark. At 9:30 p.m., after riding for an hour in the dark, we stopped southeast of Louisville for the night, about 50 miles short of our goal.

The next morning dawned cloudy and overcast. Checking the weather, we found that there was major hail producing storms moving through the Lexington area. We put on rain gear and set out fully expecting to be delayed in the severe thunderstorms. After four hours of riding, the skies turned sunny. We had ridden through five minutes of rain! We rode hard, but were enjoying scenery. Our first day of riding through Illinois and Indiana wasnt that visually stimulating, but upon entering Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, the scenery changed for the better to beautiful mountain views. I had never seen a more beautiful interstate!

We pulled into the Myrtle Beach area and you could smell the ocean. The smell of Lake Michigan is nothing close to the smell of the ocean. The temperature was a bit of an adjustment for us, we left Wisconsin and it was unseasonably warm, with temps in the low 70s. By the time we rode into Myrtle Beach, the temps were in the low 90s and it was humid. Time to get rid of that leather coat! We met up with Deb and Mary Kay, who had arrived only an hour before us and we settled into our resort.

Of the six of us, four of us have been to Sturgis and have experienced Bike Week. Myrtle Beach was incredibly quiet compared to what we had experienced in Sturgis. We thought that it was because it was only the first day and hoped more people would be rolling into town later that weekend. That quietness was definitely a precursor to the rest of the week. The crowds never came. Myrtle Beach had scared off the bikers.

We ventured out on Saturday to see what was around. We stopped for lunch at Dead Dog Saloon in Murrells Inlet. A beautiful location, with friendly wait staff and great food, right on the water. Our waiter mentioned that so far, business was a bit slow. He was disappointed; Bike Week was typically his best tip-producing week. He was worried. We stopped by SBB. It was supposed to be one of the hot spots for music and vendors. It was quiet there too. We shopped a bit and talked to a local, Kristin, who works Bike Week every year. She was disappointed too. We searched for a band Saturday evening and were shocked to find that bar owners couldnt get permits for music until Monday. We visited the beach, which was incredibly beautiful and clean. We talked to a wonderful local woman name Roxanne who was so impressed that we came from Wisconsin to visit. She told us that although Myrtle Beachs council and mayor were not biker friendly, they were the minority. The people who lived and worked in the community wanted us to visit and welcomed us. She also gave us tips for avoiding the City of Myrtle Beach and encouraged us to visit all of the other small towns up and down the Grand Strand.

We spent a day riding to Charleston about 90 miles south of Myrtle Beach. It is an historic city with one of the largest, highest bridges leading into downtown that I have ever ridden. Unfortunately, the day we chose to ride was one of the few rain days we had while visiting the area. We didnt spend much time walking around in the rain. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Hymans. The seafood was to die for.

We spent most of the next few days visiting the gorgeous small towns around the Grand Strand, as Roxanne suggested. There were so many wonderful little towns and nice places to stop. Captain Poos was a welcoming place on the water where we stopped for lunch, although it was quite difficult to find. One evening, we ate dinner at a wonderful restaurant, La Grand at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach and were treated to one of the best meals we had while visiting the area. Of course, we all chose seafood. Fresh seafood is hard to find in Wisconsin, so we ate as much as we could! Everywhere we went, the people welcomed us. We avoided the city of Myrtle Beach. I am sure there were wonderful people there too, but we were turned off by the police on motorcycles waiting at the city line.

While it was quieter than we expected, we were able to find plenty of fun things to do and the people were incredibly friendly and fun, but this wasnt like Sturgis. Later in the week, we found some great cover bands and we enjoyed a wonderful band at the Broken Spoke called DB Bryant. The CD that I purchased that night entertained me later in the trip.

Our original plan was to leave Myrtle Beach and ride north to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Since we had an unexpected breakdown I have never been on a vacation on the bikes when we didnt have some type of breakdown we were delayed in leaving and decided the Outer Banks were out. We opted to ride toward Virginia and West Virginia, riding through the Appalachians on the way home. It was a good decision.

We stayed in Wyethville, Virginia, and had an delicious dinner at the Log House 1776 restaurant. It was an incredible place. It is a restored home that had originally included slave quarters. It was a crazy maze of quaint, beautifully restored rooms. While we waited for a table, we spoke with a local dentist, Tom, who gave us suggestions on where to ride. The food was delicious. Well worth the wait. If you are in a hurry, I would suggest another restaurant, but if you want to experience great food and great hospitality, the Log House is a must.

We spent Friday riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopping to enjoy the scenery and visiting antique stores along the way. We had lunch in Roanoke and stayed in West Virginia that evening. The scenery in West Virginia was even more beautiful and we all decided that we wanted to go back and spend more time there.

Saturday was a long day of riding. In Wisconsin, the interstate is a bit boring, but in West Virginia, the interstate is an incredible ride through the mountains. We left West Virginia knowing we were going to encounter bad weather. We ran into strong winds, but once again, we missed hard rain. The last three hours of our trip was spent riding in fairly cold weather, upper 40s. We were prepared and used the cold weather gear we had been carrying for a week. Those three hours were the worst of our adventure. Not bad, considering we put on more than 3,100 miles in a little over a week.

While we were disappointed in Myrtle Beach Bike Week, we were not disappointed in the southern hospitality. The wonderful people we met all along the way made this a wonderful trip that we will remember.

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