Abandoned Holiday

DaveO

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If it hadn't been for Corona Virus today I would be jetting to New York for a holiday.

I've been to the US before. Four years ago a friend and I hired a winnebago in Las Vegas (in the UK we say camper van but ours don't compare) and we did the Grand Circle. Rode a horse, went to Page, Escalente, Lake Mead, Flagstaff, drove the Route 66, smoked a cigar, peered into Grand Canyon, visited the John Wayne Centre and Monument Valley, marveled at the Boulder Dam, fired a gun and then three days back in Vegas.

This year I'd planned to fly into New York, train to Boston (just for the experience), back to New York hire a car and then Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and then the Skyline drive (Blue Ridge Mountains right?).

Ah, well. Any suggestions for when I re-schedule?
 
If it hadn't been for Corona Virus today I would be jetting to New York for a holiday.

I've been to the US before. Four years ago a friend and I hired a winnebago in Las Vegas (in the UK we say camper van but ours don't compare) and we did the Grand Circle. Rode a horse, went to Page, Escalente, Lake Mead, Flagstaff, drove the Route 66, smoked a cigar, peered into Grand Canyon, visited the John Wayne Centre and Monument Valley, marveled at the Boulder Dam, fired a gun and then three days back in Vegas.

This year I'd planned to fly into New York, train to Boston (just for the experience), back to New York hire a car and then Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and then the Skyline drive (Blue Ridge Mountains right?).

Ah, well. Any suggestions for when I re-schedule?
Make sure to rent a motorcycle to ride the Blue Ridge.

Its Loooong,; can take a few days to do the whole route.

waterrock-knob-sitting.jpg
 
Sounds wonderful when the time is right. No doubt there will be deals when things first start to open up. The sweet spot would be low prices AND less crowds. No question the rural areas are opening up first. Will the bug come back IS still a question.
Fall is a great time to do travel.
Museums in Washington DC a big attraction. Go just slightly west into Virginia for the (very) rural USA experience. Yes a lot of great motorcycling to be done. It would be cool if you share your trip, even if not motorcycle related!
 
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Agree - Washington DC is a special place with so much to see. Just being there is so full of history and landmarks - well worth it.

Since you are a biker, if I were you I’d want to see two very different and distinct museums in the South:
  • Wheels Through Time in the little town of Maggie Valley, North Carolina - all American bikes including an amazing collection of four cylinder machines, racing Harleys and Indians and some brands that have long-since gone away. The owners will and ask if you’d like to hear a bike started-up and then they’ll do it right there on the museum floor. By the way, WTT is not far from the Iron Horse Lodge which is a nice place to stay and caters to motorcyclists - and it hosts the Vintage Yamaha Rally. Well worth the trip - plan to spend most of a day here.
  • The Barber Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, Alabama - a totally modern facility with its own race track and a very very comprehensive collection of motorcycles from all eras and nations. Truly a one of a kind place that will simply bowl you over with the quality of the restorations. Totally amazing and something that everyone who likes motorcycles should see once in their life. There is a very clean and nice Hampton Inn (and several other good hotels) about 3/4 of mile from the Barber entrance - good places to stay. The Barber is huge and worth a couple of days - and more if the Swap Meet is on. A number of the Alan Millyard bikes are located here.
...and not bike related per se, but also great trips are:
  • The Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio - one of the largest and best equipped aircraft museums in the world. Once again. If you are an airplane / technology buff, this is the place. Worth a day or two at least.
  • Planes of Fame Aircraft Museum in Chino, California - smaller than Wright-Patterson, but still an amazing aircraft museum which features flying aircraft from all eras and nations and is well worth the trip. PoF actually built - from scratch - their own Mitsubishi Zero fighter and they fly it regularly. Don't be put off by the smell - there is an abatoir just adjacent to Planes of Fame - but the smell never seems to penetrate the Museum. Plan to spend a number of hours here.
  • While you are in SoCal you need to nip up to see Edwards AFB - once again a hallowed place to aviation buffs. There are lots of displays sprinkled around the area including Blackbird Park at Palmdale - adjacent to the big Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works building - worth at least a day - plus the desert is beautiful.
I have travelled all across America many times and found the people to be kind and generous and the scenery to be totally amazing. I have a much longer list, but the four or five museums named above are the ones I’d visit again if I could only choose four. If you do head to Barber - try to go during Heritage Week when they have the most incredible Swap Meet (trans-Atlantic translation: “Jumble Sale”) of all kinds of bike stuff. I don’t know the exact dates but it’s usually in September I think - and the weather is HOT. It happened last year the week after the Vintage Yamaha meet at the Iron Horse Lodge (truly an amazing experience too).

Perhaps someday, you’ll venture to the northern part of North America.....

Cheers,

Pete
 
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Perhaps someday, you’ll venture to the northern part of North America.....

Hi @MaxPete, my middle son lives now in Vancouver. We (girlfriend and I) visited a couple of years ago. His girl's parents live in Kelowna and we drove out there too and went out on the Lake. We're definitely going back.

I could spend ten lifetimes visiting America and Canada. They are both just so vast. I was blown away by the beauty of Utah, Arizona and Nevada.
 
Museums in Washington DC a big attraction.

I've actually been to the East Coast before so I know Washington is a great place. It was around 2002, I think. Desperate to do it again.
The East Coast is such a problem. You only have 300 years of history but its all crammed into the East Coast. I'm scared stiff of coming back and someone saying: "Did you not go and see the Liberty Bell, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery?" or a million other things. I'm going with a mate who has never been before, so the pressure is on.

The West Coast trip was much more serendipitous. I had a plan. Basically, it was drive out of Vegas going north and bear right.

Thanks @gggGary, @MaxPete, @rsor and @YamadudeXS650C
 
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Hi @MaxPete, my middle son lives now in Vancouver. We (girlfriend and I) visited a couple of years ago. His girl's parents live in Kelowna and we drove out there too and went out on the Lake. We're definitely going back.

I could spend ten lifetimes visiting America and Canada. They are both just so vast. I was blown away by the beauty of Utah, Arizona and Nevada.

To truly appreciate wide open spaces, everyone should drive across Canada from coast to coast at least once in their lifetime. Canada is the second largest country in the world (after Russia - but we don't have a dictator, at present) and yet, only 34 million people of whom 95% live within 100 miles of the US border and more than 66% are between Windsor, ON and Quebec City QC.
 
To truly appreciate wide open spaces, everyone should drive across Canada from coast to coast at least once in their lifetime............
Appreciate, is that Canadian for die of boredom?
.............95% live within 100 miles of the US border......
If we didn't have an intelligence test to cross They'de all left....
Got keep em honest, right Pete?
On more serious vein a Lake Superior circle tour when, IF the Canadians start letting the unwashed masses in again......
 
Appreciate, is that Canadian for die of boredom?

Nope - its Canadian for "ahhhh....we're the luckiest people in the world, except for Americans who have the best neigbours..." ;)

If we didn't have an intelligence test to cross They'de all left....

Yes - and that test only applies to northbound travellers....so we're OK. :D

Totally agree on the Lake Superior circle tour - beautiful roads and so many trees and rocks!
 
+1 on the Lake Superior circle tour. Have done it several times. Plus you get to go through the birthplace of Winne-The-Pooh!
 
Years back on a trip from Central NY to visit relatives in Minn we decided to go north of the Lakes. Hit Sudbury and then headed to Sault St. Marie. That day figured we drive till supper time and find a motel for the night. I think it was close to midnight before we found any signs of civilization and a motel! And the first thing they said when we went to check in, "How many Moose did you see?". Fortunately or unfortunately we had not seen any!

Just glad we were't riding my Sportster with max of around 100 miles to a tank or we would have been out of luck trying to find gas in that area.
 
Years back on a trip from Central NY to visit relatives in Minn we decided to go north of the Lakes. Hit Sudbury and then headed to Sault St. Marie. That day figured we drive till supper time and find a motel for the night. I think it was close to midnight before we found any signs of civilization and a motel! And the first thing they said when we went to check in, "How many Moose did you see?". Fortunately or unfortunately we had not seen any!

Just glad we were't riding my Sportster with max of around 100 miles to a tank or we would have been out of luck trying to find gas in that area.

It is a bit better now up there - but you still have to plan carefully on a motorcycle and you sure don't want to ride past a gas station without doing a little math. Riding at night is very unwise (I know because when I was young and horny, I mean, ...enthusiastic) I made two overnight rides from Kingston ON to Wawa north of the Sault to see my girlfriend. Both trips were on my trusty XS650B and I didn't see any wildlife on either trip except A LOT of bugs....but I know that a lot of wildlife saw me from in the dark bushes.

Pete
 
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This year I'd planned to fly into New York, train to Boston (just for the experience), back to New York hire a car and then Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and then the Skyline drive (Blue Ridge Mountains right?).

Ah, well. Any suggestions for when I re-schedule?

A suggestion? Skip the cities:lmao:
 
Avoid Kansas at all costs.:yikes: Not that it`s unsafe, there`s just nothing of interest here. Trust Me.:shootme:
 
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