I just rented a sportster 48 and rode around the south of France for a few days... had to give it back today... drinking now.

quote:

Chicago to Epping NH, take a class and back.
Then a week in Southern IN and KY.

Give me a shout. We can meet for lunch. You don't want to take a clean bike back into Area 51.

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Originally posted by ridewv:

.......At this point I have a ride to Big Bend St Park in Texas planned for mid/late April. This will be with another person, a long time riding buddy.......

It's happened again, my riding friend had to back out on our long planned ride at the last minute due to a family member's serious health problem. He wants to stay within a day or so in case of emergency. I understand but damn it seems this often occurs when I include someone else. Our plan now is to do the Natchez Trace, catch the Barber museum in Leeds AL, the Florida panhandle, then east to the SC and NC coast and back. Any suggestions of interesting places to see or great roads would be welcome.

After this I anticipate packing up the bike with camping gear and just doing a lot of solo 4-6 day rides this Summer. I have a few issues I'm dealing with and could use some helmet time.

Barber is awesome. Pretty riding around there as well. I ride down from Memphis and camp at Fort Pickens near Pensacola Beach every year. I just got back from St Augustine and despite having a minor mechanical issue with the bike it was beautiful.

Another really nice ride is to head over into Arkansas and ride through the Ozarks from Little Rock up to Mountain Home. 65 I think? The views are stunning.

The Trace is nice, at least the section from Nashville to Tupelo. Gets a little bland south of that. Be advised that the park service folks are stringent about both helmet laws and speed limits. You don't see many of them out these days, but they don't cut breaks when they stop you.

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Originally posted by copaup:
Barber is awesome. Pretty riding around there as well. I ride down from Memphis and camp at Fort Pickens near Pensacola Beach every year....

Thanks I'll mark Fort Pickens down. Arkansas is a nice ride but we've done that a few times now. I rode down the Trace a couple years back and while the road is pretty mundane to ride it's pleasant enough and rich in history.
I just set my cruise on 59 (GPS) and the rangers that passed me the other way never so much as gave me a look.

Ft Pickens is a cool place. And once you get into the national park you get the beach pretty much to yourself. Lots of old bunkers and gun emplacements to find as well.

https://www.facebook.com/media...&type=1&l=466a4288b4

Here's a link to some shots I took last week in St. Augustine.

My boy is going to hike in Gatlinburg TN with his Boy Scout Troop second week of July. Our whole family is going along to camp with him. I'm taking the Triumph Rocket 3 Touring so I can ride the tail of the dragon. Then, we're heading to Hershey Park for a few days after which we'll head up to Warren County PA where I have some acreage and I'll do some riding throughout the Allegheny National Forest again (this time on pavement).

Nice pics copaup.

The dragon is a victim of it's popularity I hope you can catch it un-congested parallel. But the whole area there is great riding.

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Originally posted by ridewv:
Mutedblade I hope you do get back into motorcycling. You're fortunate to live in a nice state for riding. In fact western VA has some of the best riding in the country. I love riding VA's little county 600 roads, and the already mentioned BRP.

Thanks, I ended up picking up a 1st Gen FZ with less than 11,000 miles. Nice bike so far and I am planning to ride the piss out of it. Put just shy of 200 miles on it Easter day when I rode up to see my dad. Since I was eating family dinner that day, I didn't ride 211 from Sperryville to Luray but I might next week.


Todd Huffman, let me know when you plan on coming through and I might be able to meet up with you and ride part of the park with you. I normally get on at Rockfish Gap at I-64 and Rt. 250 and get off at the Thornton Gap exit on 211.

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Originally posted by ridewv:
***snip***

The dragon is a victim of it's popularity I hope you can catch it un-congested parallel. But the whole area there is great riding.

I intend to ride the dragon on the "off days" like Wednesday, so it should be less congested. Also, I'll be the one having to use the paved pull offs quite often as I have no intention of getting myself or others hurt or killed by trying to pretend that my 900lb torque monster is a sport bike.

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Originally posted by parallel:

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Originally posted by ridewv:
***snip***

The dragon is a victim of it's popularity I hope you can catch it un-congested parallel. But the whole area there is great riding.

I intend to ride the dragon on the "off days" like Wednesday, so it should be less congested. Also, I'll be the one having to use the paved pull offs quite often as I have no intention of getting myself or others hurt or killed by trying to pretend that my 900lb torque monster is a sport bike.

I ride it pretty frequently during the week, but avoid it like a meeting of the democratic party on the weekend.
Too many heroes and too many cops on weekends, and I'm off during the week at least a day or two every week.

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Originally posted by mutedblade:

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Mutedblade I hope you do get back into motorcycling. You're fortunate to live in a nice state for riding. In fact western VA has some of the best riding in the country. I love riding VA's little county 600 roads, and the already mentioned BRP.

Thanks, I ended up picking up a 1st Gen FZ with less than 11,000 miles. Nice bike so far and I am planning to ride the piss out of it. Put just shy of 200 miles on it Easter day when I rode up to see my dad. Since I was eating family dinner that day, I didn't ride 211 from Sperryville to Luray but I might next week.


Todd Huffman, let me know when you plan on coming through and I might be able to meet up with you and ride part of the park with you. I normally get on at Rockfish Gap at I-64 and Rt. 250 and get off at the Thornton Gap exit on 211.

Sounds like a plan!

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Originally posted by rbdub474:
Me, my brother, and my dad are doing a trip for pops 70th bday. Starting out in St. Louis. From there it goes to Granby, CO up through Grand Teton Park, through Glacier Park into Banff National Park in Canada and then into Calgary. From there we are dropping back into Sturgis for a couple days and then back towards home. Should be around 4k miles or so when done.

Thant a great trip, if you can extend it a bit from Banff go up to Jaspar, beautiful roads and scenery.

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Originally posted by rscalzo:

quote:

Chicago to Epping NH, take a class and back.
Then a week in Southern IN and KY.

Give me a shout. We can meet for lunch. You don't want to take a clean bike back into Area 51.

I'll do that.

We ride up to the Ozarks in September. Medium sized group. Everyone stays at same place. Rides are organized, felony, misdemeanor, and legal, so everyone is grouped accordingly.

This August when my fiancé visits, we plan to ride up to Amsterdam, over to Normandy, then back here, possibly via Paris (although stories of Parisian driving habits scare me). We'll rest for a couple days, then take another trip South to see Castle Neuschwanstein, the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.