New Touring Ideas ~~ Finally!

1) Highest Point Tours: We ride from here in Fayette, GA to the highest points in all of the states that share common borders with us. We’ve already done one of these. This past Summer, we rode to Cheaha, in Alabama. Still on the list would be;

Florida. Florala. One way distance of 250 miles

Tennessee. Clingmans’s Dome. Way distance of 225 miles

North Carolina. Mt Mitchell. One way distance of 270 miles

South Carolina. Sassafras Mountain. One way distance 190 miles

Note: All of these distances are first approximation estimates, and are

subject to some serious refinement in the planning of these trips.

Best time of year for any of these trips would be late summer.

2) Outer Banks of NC: The basic idea is a long (maybe very long) regional tour. How does a trip to, and along the Outer Banks sound? Think about riding to the coast, then taking a two hour plus ferry ride over to Ocracoke. Next a long ride up Ocracoke Island, a 45 minute ferry ride to Hatteras Island, a provisioning stop in the town of Hatteras and a side trip to the Hatteras Light. Then a ride from Cape Hatteras up through the National Seashore wilderness preserve, a causeway trip over to Bodie Island, and an overnight stop in a great B&B in Kill Devil Hills, within sight of the Wright Memorial. We could do a quick side trip to the Memorial.

There are several ways we could arrange this tour. One is a very long one, about a two week tour, done as an out and back of close to 1,400 miles….

Or we could do a remote start/finish from Raliegh, N.C. or even Fayetteville, N.C. From Raleigh to the ferry is about 200 miles, a good two day ride. Then it’s possible to do the trip from the ferry up to Kill Devil Hills in a long day. An overnight in Kill Devil Hills, followed by a return trip down the islands to the ferry at Ocracoke, then two day’s ride back to Raleigh.

Each rider would be responsible for their own transport to, and from, the rally point in Raleigh.

Best time of year for this journey would be either mid-April, or late September.

3) Blue Ridge Parkway Tour: I’ve already suggested this as a possible. We’d take Amtrack to Charlottesville, VA, and then ride a self supported tour of the entire 460+ mile Blue Ridge Parkway. This would end in Cherokee, N.C. Riders would be responsible for their own travel from Cherokee to home. Figure about a week for this one.

Best time for this one would be late September or Early in October.

4) Key West Florida: This is pretty-explanatory. We could do a remote start, as the distance from Fayette County, GA to the bottom of the Florida Keys is a bit long. I would think we’d want to pick routes that kept the whole enterprise down to a week’s time, in total. There’s even a ferry option involving Ft. Myers.

There you have it. I need to know what kind of interest there is for each of these. Once I get enough feedback, I can start planning in earnest.

Please feel free to contact me either through the comments on this blog, or at my email address The.Road.Dragon@gmail.com