A warning

This is just to warn anyone who cares, that I plan on blogging our way through this year's ride. Due to the cool wet conditions we experienced during last summer's outing we are opting to head south this year. That way we will be riding in hot wet conditions. We'll also be leaving earlier than the past two rides.

The plan is to leave on June 12 and be gone for two weeks. The goal along the way will be 2 fold. First it's our intention to avoid the super slabs and ride through some small towns and second will be to stop at some Ma and Pa eateries. We'll travel southeast through Indiana and Ohio and cross the Ohio river into West Virginia at a place called Sistersville. For the past 2 years we have boarded a ferry someplace along the way and this is the place this year. We'll then hit the tip of western Maryland (not far from the hound's birth place) and on to Front Royal, Virginia. This is the beginning of the Shenandoah Skyway which hooks up with the Blue Ridge Parkway.... 2 roads we've been wanting to ride. Riding the BRP south, we'll make a side trip to Christiansville, Virginia, the home of my cousin Jack and hopefully get a little riding in through his neck of the woods. We've been "talking" via e-mail over the past few weeks and he pointed out that it's been 45 years since we've seen one another.... time flies when your having fun. Heading into North Carolina we'll swing by Deal's Gap on the way to the Cherohala Skyway in Tennessee. We've been on that road before, but it's worth doing again. Out of Tennessee we continue southwest through Alabama and stop near Birmingham to see the Barber Motorcycle and Car Museum. From Alabama we'll pick up the Natchez Trace and stop for a while in Vicksburg to check out some of the history of the area (there's supposed to be a pretty nice civil war military park in that town). From there we'll continue south on the Trace and follow the smell of Cajun cooking to New Orleans, so at least I can say I've been there (Charlie has been there before). From Louisiana we'll head into East Texas and start north. At Broken Bow, Oklahoma we'll turn right into Arkansas and north to Missouri (probably stopping at Branson and a few other spots), then east into Illinois (at Springfield) then through Indiana and home. Best guess is we'll cover about 4,000 miles, but nothing is etched in stone so any of this could change depending on our mood, the weather, and whether or not we're ready to kill each other after that much time together.

In any event, we're still a little over a month away so I'm sure there will be some discussions that will modify some of the itinerary.... we'll see.