Joined
·
1,986 Posts
My wife and I are in the middle of our eastern tour. Here are the highlights thus far.
The road from North Dakota to South Carolina: This was basically a "get there" run of 1900 miles in 2 1/2 days mostly on interstates. Not that fun but saw lots of beautiful farmland. Did my first run over The Dragon. As I approached The Dragon I met an ambulance followed by a tow truck hauling a Gold Wing. Hmmm? The Dragon was fun although the hype didn't quite live up to reality for me. Regardless, we scraped a peg or two. Perhaps it's not an ideal road for a fully loaded Gold Wing pulling a trailer.
Blue Ridge Parkway: Beautiful? Yes. Fun? Yes. Unfortunately, much of the BRP is just another curvy drive through the forest. Traffic on the BRP was mostly light with just as many bikes as cars. Everybody seemed to be behaving. It seemed as if whenever we exited the parkway we were subjected to traffic problems.
Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive: We enjoyed this segment more than BRP because there are scenic overlooks almost every mile and the road surface is perfect. This is a very relaxing ride. The only downside was the 35 mph speed limit but I cruised at 40 and had no issues. For the most part, 40 is fast enough.
We're now just east of Baltimore and will continue northward to take in parts of the northeastern states before we head for home across the northern tier of the US and possibly southern Canada as well.
The road from North Dakota to South Carolina: This was basically a "get there" run of 1900 miles in 2 1/2 days mostly on interstates. Not that fun but saw lots of beautiful farmland. Did my first run over The Dragon. As I approached The Dragon I met an ambulance followed by a tow truck hauling a Gold Wing. Hmmm? The Dragon was fun although the hype didn't quite live up to reality for me. Regardless, we scraped a peg or two. Perhaps it's not an ideal road for a fully loaded Gold Wing pulling a trailer.
Blue Ridge Parkway: Beautiful? Yes. Fun? Yes. Unfortunately, much of the BRP is just another curvy drive through the forest. Traffic on the BRP was mostly light with just as many bikes as cars. Everybody seemed to be behaving. It seemed as if whenever we exited the parkway we were subjected to traffic problems.
Shenandoah National Park/Skyline Drive: We enjoyed this segment more than BRP because there are scenic overlooks almost every mile and the road surface is perfect. This is a very relaxing ride. The only downside was the 35 mph speed limit but I cruised at 40 and had no issues. For the most part, 40 is fast enough.
We're now just east of Baltimore and will continue northward to take in parts of the northeastern states before we head for home across the northern tier of the US and possibly southern Canada as well.