I'm stunned...

As I mentioned in my profile, I've lived in Virginia for just about three-quarters of my life. I moved from Northern Virginia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in April 2005 and moved back to Virginia August 2006. Myrtle Beach was nice, but, like the title says, I'm a Virginia Girl and I just wanted to come home, so I did.

Today, I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in MB and he told me to check out myrtlebeachonline.com. So I did, and at first, he didn't say anything, like "scroll to the bottom" or "click on this link." He just waited for me to find it. After a second or two, I did...HB Spokes was burned in a fire early this morning! I couldn't believe it! There's nothing left except for the concrete.

My house is in a neighborhood just a few miles west of Spokes and I drove by that place almost twice a day the entire time I lived there. I'm not exactly the biker-bar type, but I did go to a concert there once. During the May biker rally, they have police controlling traffic in front of Spokes almost 24 hours a day and it's almost as bad, though not quite as much, during the Fall rally. I know Spokes opened only about five years ago, but in my mind, it's a fixture to the Myrtle Beach area, and to a lot of bikers, it's one of the places to go when in MB. I'm just absoluely stunned that the place has been destroyed. The investigation's just begun, so they're not saying yet if it's an accident or arson or what. I'll definitely be following this story.

The owner says he'll rebuild, and plans to be open for a New Year's Eve party. Knowing what I do about the construction industry down there, I will be quite surprised if he lives up to that promise. I think, barring any problems, he should be able to reopen by next May's rally.

Here's a link to the story: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/183731.html

I'll be going to MB the first week of next month. If I can, I'll stop by and take pictures.