From Central Texas Back to Long Island - 2600 Miles
Ann flew out to Austin, Texas to meet up with Billy and ride the return trip - hoping for better weather than on the way down! We had a great visit with Suzie and Jack on Saturday and then onto the bike and headed down to San Antonio to see Ann's college roommate Carol - good buddies! It was great to see Carol and Bruce - some friends you can not see for years and when you do, it's just like no time has passed at all.
Day 1: San Antonio, TX to Many, Louisiana.
We started on Interstate I10 for about an hour and a half before getting onto some more interesting back roads - routes 609, 159, 237, 105, 90, 30, 19, 94 103 - Texas roads are great! Then Route 21 and 6 into Lousiana. The town of Many, Lousiana isn't very big, but did have a clean hotel. After some discussion with the attendant while checking in about the website stating that breakfast was included, he arranged to bring us breakfast from McDonald's the next morning and sure enough at 8:00 arrived 2 bacon and egg biscuits :) Dinner was harder to find within walking distance and a DQ provided some really mediocre salads but the banana split was just fine. Before starting out the next morning, we had an interesting jog around the local neighborhood through lots of back streets and run down homes - didn't look like this area was doing well economically.
Day 2: Many, Louisiana to Eupora, Mississippi
We took route 6 and crossed the mighty Mississippi thinking of all the lore about the river. Then route 84 to Natchez and Port Gibson. At Port Gibson we picked up the fabulous "Natchez Trace Parkway". We HIGHLY recommend this road to all travelers - it is an immaculate highway through beautiful country with limited on/off, no commercial traffic, no commerce at all along the way - just country. What a gem!!! We spent the night at a small town called "Eupora" in another so-so motel - clean but old. We're seeing that many of the older motels in small towns have been bought by people from India. The facilities are older yet always very clean and have been refurbished to some degree. We hit a gem of a dinner at a Mexican place (La Cocinas) where the Vegie Fajitas were an immense skillet of grilled vegies along with rice, beans, salsa, guacamole... and Billy's taco salad was a winner also. Waddling back to the hotel we crashed for the night. In the morning Billy took another run while Ann did a workout and then onto the bike again.
Day 3 Eupora, Mississippi to Dayton, Tennessee
Back onto the Natchez Trace Parkway through Tupelo, MS (remember the Ode to Billy Joe song??) and into Tennessee. We reluctantly left the parkway (it continues north up to Nashville) and took Tennessee route 64 which turned out to be another great road to Winchester. Then it was the decision to go south around Chattanooga or north through the mountains, so we chose to go wiggling up mountain roads passing through some beautiful country and small towns. We are amazed at the number of small independent churches along the way - seems you can choose your religious flavor here from a wide variety. We got in late partly due to a time zone switch and wandered around finding a grocery store and a 24 hour restaurant. The restaurant, Bimbos!, had been inundated with baseball teams that must have been in some local tournament, but we did get some food finally and then back to the motel.
Day 4 Riding the Motorcycle Roads of Tennessee and North Carolina ending up in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
This was our day for not really traveling but riding on some of the iconic motorcycle roads renowned in this area of the country. We crossed the Appalachian mountains twice in a big loop - first along the Cherohala Skyway, a 50 mile highway that took 30 years and 10 million dollars to build. It's a beautiful 2 lane road with lots of twists and turns skimming the top of the Appalachians. Then down, around a loop to get a great lunch at 'Lucy's Place' in Robbinsville with a full salad bar. Next it's continuing around the loop and arrive at Deals' Gap, the eastern end of the 'Dragon's Tail'. The Dragon is an iconic motorcycle road with 318 curves in 11 miles. We take is slow, but there are those who like to test their skills around the curves - they have recently lowered the speed limit on the road and put in lots of police to patrol it as there had been so many accidents. We were fortunate to come across with little traffic and no one directly behind or ahead of us. There are 2 companies with photographers taking pictures of riders at strategic points and then upload the photos for purchase - why not?? Billy is sure he maneuvered at least 1000 curves over the course of the day (Cherohala, Dragon's Tail, returning Parkway). We end up in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and are gobsmacked at this town - it must be the country entertainment capital of the East. Miles and miles along a wide strip road of arcades, country shows, rides, amusement parks, restaurants, hotels, and mega shopping opportunities. Dolly Parton is really big in this area! What a crazy place. We wanted to go to one of the many pancake houses along the way for dinner but found them all to be closed, so ended up with wood-fired pizza, then back to the Super 8 for the night.
Day 5 Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Staunton, Virginia
Mostly interstate driviing today with trucks, trucks and more trucks - yuck! We did detour for a short time to the Blue Ridge Parkway and want to come back another time to experience more of this. We can feel the weather changing as the temperature drops and clouds move in. The Red Rood Inn provided a really lovely room, with exercise facilities and breakfast.
Day 6 Staunton, Virginia to Southold, NY (home!)
Morning comes with rain and a decision as to what to do - the weather looks clearer to the north so we decide to head that way. It's cold - about 52 degrees which on a motorbike is pretty chilly so we are fulling geared up. About a half hour of driving in the rain and we reach the edge of the storm and into cloudy skies. A late lunch at Esther's Place (somewhere in Pennsyvania) and then back on the road. The weather pattern is bringing rain to the north east for the next couple of days so we decide to bite the bullet, drive through NYC and all the weay home to the East end of Long Island. (Sometimes it's better to drive further north, into Connecticut and take a ferry to Long Island, thus missing NYC.) We come through the chaos of NYC at rush hour on Friday and it's stop and go traffic for almost 2 hours - move a little, stop, move a little, stop - it's tiring for Billy to keep the bike balanced and then WHY do people always change lanes - do they really think that one lane is going to move significantly faster than another??? Then when the crush finally clears to a degree when everyone can move, everyone sprints to 75 mph - yikes! So it's down the LI Expressway we go - there is a gorgeous new Welcome to Long Island Center that we stop in to take a short break - the center is very well done, beautiful displays, food for purchase. After the final stretch down Long Island we arrive home exhausted, but safe around 9:30 pm.
Day 1: San Antonio, TX to Many, Louisiana.
We started on Interstate I10 for about an hour and a half before getting onto some more interesting back roads - routes 609, 159, 237, 105, 90, 30, 19, 94 103 - Texas roads are great! Then Route 21 and 6 into Lousiana. The town of Many, Lousiana isn't very big, but did have a clean hotel. After some discussion with the attendant while checking in about the website stating that breakfast was included, he arranged to bring us breakfast from McDonald's the next morning and sure enough at 8:00 arrived 2 bacon and egg biscuits :) Dinner was harder to find within walking distance and a DQ provided some really mediocre salads but the banana split was just fine. Before starting out the next morning, we had an interesting jog around the local neighborhood through lots of back streets and run down homes - didn't look like this area was doing well economically.
Day 2: Many, Louisiana to Eupora, Mississippi
We took route 6 and crossed the mighty Mississippi thinking of all the lore about the river. Then route 84 to Natchez and Port Gibson. At Port Gibson we picked up the fabulous "Natchez Trace Parkway". We HIGHLY recommend this road to all travelers - it is an immaculate highway through beautiful country with limited on/off, no commercial traffic, no commerce at all along the way - just country. What a gem!!! We spent the night at a small town called "Eupora" in another so-so motel - clean but old. We're seeing that many of the older motels in small towns have been bought by people from India. The facilities are older yet always very clean and have been refurbished to some degree. We hit a gem of a dinner at a Mexican place (La Cocinas) where the Vegie Fajitas were an immense skillet of grilled vegies along with rice, beans, salsa, guacamole... and Billy's taco salad was a winner also. Waddling back to the hotel we crashed for the night. In the morning Billy took another run while Ann did a workout and then onto the bike again.
Day 3 Eupora, Mississippi to Dayton, Tennessee
Back onto the Natchez Trace Parkway through Tupelo, MS (remember the Ode to Billy Joe song??) and into Tennessee. We reluctantly left the parkway (it continues north up to Nashville) and took Tennessee route 64 which turned out to be another great road to Winchester. Then it was the decision to go south around Chattanooga or north through the mountains, so we chose to go wiggling up mountain roads passing through some beautiful country and small towns. We are amazed at the number of small independent churches along the way - seems you can choose your religious flavor here from a wide variety. We got in late partly due to a time zone switch and wandered around finding a grocery store and a 24 hour restaurant. The restaurant, Bimbos!, had been inundated with baseball teams that must have been in some local tournament, but we did get some food finally and then back to the motel.
Day 4 Riding the Motorcycle Roads of Tennessee and North Carolina ending up in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
This was our day for not really traveling but riding on some of the iconic motorcycle roads renowned in this area of the country. We crossed the Appalachian mountains twice in a big loop - first along the Cherohala Skyway, a 50 mile highway that took 30 years and 10 million dollars to build. It's a beautiful 2 lane road with lots of twists and turns skimming the top of the Appalachians. Then down, around a loop to get a great lunch at 'Lucy's Place' in Robbinsville with a full salad bar. Next it's continuing around the loop and arrive at Deals' Gap, the eastern end of the 'Dragon's Tail'. The Dragon is an iconic motorcycle road with 318 curves in 11 miles. We take is slow, but there are those who like to test their skills around the curves - they have recently lowered the speed limit on the road and put in lots of police to patrol it as there had been so many accidents. We were fortunate to come across with little traffic and no one directly behind or ahead of us. There are 2 companies with photographers taking pictures of riders at strategic points and then upload the photos for purchase - why not?? Billy is sure he maneuvered at least 1000 curves over the course of the day (Cherohala, Dragon's Tail, returning Parkway). We end up in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and are gobsmacked at this town - it must be the country entertainment capital of the East. Miles and miles along a wide strip road of arcades, country shows, rides, amusement parks, restaurants, hotels, and mega shopping opportunities. Dolly Parton is really big in this area! What a crazy place. We wanted to go to one of the many pancake houses along the way for dinner but found them all to be closed, so ended up with wood-fired pizza, then back to the Super 8 for the night.
Day 5 Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Staunton, Virginia
Mostly interstate driviing today with trucks, trucks and more trucks - yuck! We did detour for a short time to the Blue Ridge Parkway and want to come back another time to experience more of this. We can feel the weather changing as the temperature drops and clouds move in. The Red Rood Inn provided a really lovely room, with exercise facilities and breakfast.
Day 6 Staunton, Virginia to Southold, NY (home!)
Morning comes with rain and a decision as to what to do - the weather looks clearer to the north so we decide to head that way. It's cold - about 52 degrees which on a motorbike is pretty chilly so we are fulling geared up. About a half hour of driving in the rain and we reach the edge of the storm and into cloudy skies. A late lunch at Esther's Place (somewhere in Pennsyvania) and then back on the road. The weather pattern is bringing rain to the north east for the next couple of days so we decide to bite the bullet, drive through NYC and all the weay home to the East end of Long Island. (Sometimes it's better to drive further north, into Connecticut and take a ferry to Long Island, thus missing NYC.) We come through the chaos of NYC at rush hour on Friday and it's stop and go traffic for almost 2 hours - move a little, stop, move a little, stop - it's tiring for Billy to keep the bike balanced and then WHY do people always change lanes - do they really think that one lane is going to move significantly faster than another??? Then when the crush finally clears to a degree when everyone can move, everyone sprints to 75 mph - yikes! So it's down the LI Expressway we go - there is a gorgeous new Welcome to Long Island Center that we stop in to take a short break - the center is very well done, beautiful displays, food for purchase. After the final stretch down Long Island we arrive home exhausted, but safe around 9:30 pm.
