The Long Ride

It's getting closer to my long ride and I am starting to get excited about it. I spoke with my brother yesterday and I have been looking at possible routes and points of interest along the way.

I have to admit that I am more focused on the journey itself and am having to force myself to think about stopping and enjoying more than just the ride. Some of the days will cover quite a few miles, so there won't be a lot of time for sight seeing. Other days will find me in cities with all of my gear strapped to the bike and no way to really secure it from being stolen.

There are a few people I would like to see on my journey and I still need to coordinate with them. It is difficult to know what my daily plans will be since I'm wanting to keep it pretty loose and make some allowances for weather or unforeseen problems.
I think the outbound ride to my brother's place in Vermont will be pretty straight forward.

Right now I'm planning a relatively short Day 1 with a 400+ mile day and an overnight at my parents' home in Metamora IL. I hope to visit with them through most of the following day before making the short ride (125 miles) to Chicago to see Aaron and Jenny.
Leaving Chicago will be a long day as I clip the northwest corner of Indiana and then cross southern Michigan on the way to visit my Canadian friends north of Toronto.
From there, I'll ride to Montreal and then drop down to Vermont for a few days with my brother.

It's after Vermont that things are less clear.
Initially, I plan to make my way to Kittery Point ME. Mostly, it's just to add a couple of more states to the journey. I'll skirt the Boston metropolitan area, pass through Rhode Island and Connecticut and plan on making my way through the NYC area past the Statue of Liberty. As much as I'd like to spend some time in NYC, I probably won't. I'd rather see it with Chris (although she has been there many years ago) and I'd need a place to stash my stuff while I sight see.
I suppose I could find a hotel and use public transport or cabs ... we'll see.

Mileage wise, that's about the halfway point.
From there I'll ride into New Jersey, clip Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, cut through the northern tip of Delaware into Maryland, go around DC and into Virginia. There are a couple of friend stops in Virginia before heading through North Carolina (maybe a stop to see my nephew and his wife and new baby) to the Tail of the Dragon.
Then it will be westward through Tennessee until Nashville, then north to Kentucky and home across southern Missouri.

If that route holds, I'll touch 18 states and 2 Canadian provinces in the 4,000 mile trek over nearly two weeks.

If you know of a must see place along the way or a dive restaurant that is a can't miss establishment, let me know. If you're close to my route and want to meet for coffee or a snack, let me know that, too.
I should be hitting the road around the 6th or 7th of September and back home around the 19th.

Watch out for old guys on motorcycles!

John <><