Monday, April 19, 2010

The July 2010 trip planning time

Last year's July plans were changed by the passing of my step-dad and I ended up only making one short day-trip to Mt Airy North Carolina and having a PCS (Pork Chop Sandwich) at the Snappy Lunch. While this included back roads and the back-to-the-past nature of Mt. Airy, the model for Mayberry of the Andy Griffith Show, a little of Andy and Oppie only goes so far. The PCS was good and there were actually a few shops in downtown that yielded cool stuff. But that is not a road trip!

MAP
So I am now planning what will come this July. Note that the map is a rough draft, I won't be on all those interstate highways. And most likely it will not even go to all those places! That is the wonder of it all...

Thanks to the gods that control schedules, Vintage Motorcycle Days is back where it belongs at the beginning of July. This would work with a visit to Baton Rouge for Kent's birthday (can it be three years already?) but the birthday boy and family are planning to be in New Jersey anyway, so I am looking for a first week route that will end up in Ohio. Southwest Virginia to Ohio? Via the coast, of course.

We had so much fun in Savannah last year and thought of doing that again, but now I think I'll make it a solo trip on the planned route from last year, starting out with a trip across Southern Virginia to the coast near the North Carolina border, up the coastal area to Maryland and then head west to Ohio. I have a couple of friends along the way to visit and lots of small fish places to eat at. Weather permitting, I will be camping along the way and trying to get in a few ferry rides. After VMD I may make a trip down to see some newly-reunited Haiti-era friends in Arkansas and the Ozarks, back via Clarksdale (for Ribs and music) and Greenville (for a stop at Doe's Eats Place) Mississippi with a day in Baton Rouge (for kid spoiling time) in case I am not hot enough at that point.

Since I will be so close, I'll have to stop to see Vech and Elaine at Benchmark Works (might need some parts at that point anyway), and a day or two to make sure all is going well with all my friends & family in Atlanta and then a trip home via the mountain roads that connect Hot 'lanta to our hillside home. Now to decide which bike to ride.

I guess I better teach Ann how to work the new mower ...