East coast routing ideas for 10 day ride in late Sept. 50/60/70 ride

[bikerskier]

If you were to ride from the Canadian Maritimes thru Northern Maine to Miami in late Sept over a 10 day period and wanted to:

1) avoid freeways

2) see cool and interesting things

3) avoid chain restaurants

4) stay in clean inexpensive motels

what ideas or routing would you suggest?

This section will be part 2 of my 50/60/70 ride this fall. Part 1 will start in late August from Portland, and spend 3 weeks, hitting many places in western Canada and north western US before meeting Marianne in Montreal. Part 2 will be two up as above for 12-14 days before Marianne flies home from Miami. Part 3 will be the 3 weeks returning thought the southern half of the US.

Ralph

 

[Sno Cat]

No ride through Maine would be complete w/out a drive up Cadillac Mountain & the (Acadia) Park Loop Roads, especially past Thunder Hole. And of course, the only way to truly reward yourself is with a honkin' steamed (not boiled!) lobster @ Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound. I moved from that area 4 years ago but now, I understand cruise ships infest Bar Harbor during the summer / early fall. It's still well worth seeing, but avoid holiday weekends.

Route 1 from Ellsworth all the way south to 295 in Brunswick is an alternative to the 95 slab. There are lots of peninsulas along Maine's 'Midcoaast', some noteables are Pemaquid Harbor / Fort William Henry (Rt130), Bristol (Rt129), Ocean Point (Rt96), Popham Beach (Rt209 out of Bath), Orr's & Bailey Islands (Rt24 out of Brunswick). Lots of decent backroads & sights up & down those peninsulas.

Maine does not have a helmet law for us geezers older than 18.

 

[Full House]

I would suggest doing at least some of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Wow, sounds like a great time on the motorcycle!

 

[Canadian FJR]

What is your start point in the Maritimes?

Canadian FJR

 

[bikerskier]

What is your start point in the Maritimes? 3 weeks into the trip, Marianne will fly to Montreal and meet me. After a couple of days there, we will head East, through the Maritimes, probably including a run up around Gaspe, until we hit the tip of NS and then go south to Yarmouth and ferry across to Maine. Then look for interesting roads and stuff heading south. Canadian FJR

What is your start point in the Maritimes? Canadian FJR

3 weeks into the trip, Marianne will fly to Montreal and meet me. After a couple of days there, we will head East, through the Maritimes, probably including a run up around Gaspe, until we hit the tip of NS and then go south to Yarmouth and ferry across to Maine. Then look for interesting roads and stuff heading south.
Well, I pretty much fucked up that response. I'll do better next time.

 

[Geezer]

The Atlantic coast is very nice to see, but traffic is usually heavy anywhere near the ocean and prices for food and lodging are generally higher than they are inland. If you do want to see the ocean.

If you don't need to see the ocean, then head west from Maine across New Hampshire and Vermont to the Adirondacks in northern NY. There is a lot of good riding in the 'dacks.

If you are interested in baseball there us the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, just south of the 'dacks. From there you can head south and follow two lane roads that parallel the I81 corridor. Traffic is much better that way than if you try to go south through New Jersey.

As stated by Full House, don't skip the Blueridge Parkway. You can ride it end to end in one day if traffic is light and you don't stop often, but you'll want to pull over and take some pictures a few times, so plan on sending more than a day or just ride part of the parkway. It's all god, but the south end is the best part.

Now that you've gne far enough south, you might want to ride The Dragon, which is on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, near Robbinsville, NC. It's worth riding at least once in your life.

There is good riding across South Carolina and Georgia, but I don't have much experience riding there so I can't recommend anything in particular.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Got nothing to add except, can I come along?!? j/k

Seriously, sounds like a great trip Ralph. Can't wait to hear about it!

--G

 

[bikerskier]

Do not need to see the ocean, we have plenty in Oregon. May want to get out to some historical areas on the coast but have no desire for heavy traffic.

 

[bikerskier]

Will set up a separate post with proposed map for the whole journey in a few weeks so folks can contribute from all corners. This is a 50 state and province, 60 day ride in my 70th year. So lots of smelling the roses, taking pics, avoiding freeways, avoiding chain restaurants, etc, etc.

 

[maddad]

I live in New Brunswick and have gone pretty much all the way South 4 times and partially South numerous times. Here's some of my thoughts.

- Gaspe - Did an iron butt up there last June. Took 24 hours to do the 1,000 miles from Saint John because of the traffic in Quebec. Very pretty. Head up along the St. Lawrence and around the top into Gaspe is the prettiest part but you may want to head inland just before you get to Gaspe or you get stuck in some slower traffic coming from Gaspe into New Brunswick. Inland roads are not travelled as much and are a little twistier.

- Stay at the top of New Brunswick and go directly down to Nova Scotia. You'll be a day getting from Gaspe into NS. At the start of NS, google either Sun Rise Trail or Advocate Harbour. Both great places and popular with bikers. If you are pressed on time, I would do the Sunrise Trail most of the way and then head down to Parseville and back through Advocate Harbour. If you have lots of time, do the Cabot Trail. Very nice run, but it's just one loop of a road and will pretty much take up a day.

- Two ways to get to Maine. I'm not sure the Ferry to Bar Harbour has actually been running. That used to be the CAT. Suppose to be a new service starting May 2014. The ferry used to land you in Bar Harbour. Bar Harbour is nice, your typical Coastal Town. Route 1 along the coast is a lot of nice smaller coastal towns but frig it's some crowded and slow after get towards Bangor.
- If you take the land route from Nova Scotia through NB to Maine, you can run from Sackville along the river route to Moncton, cross Moncton and go through Fundy National Park. Very nice ride. Some river runs along the Saint John river towards Saint John and Calais. Pretty much hiway from Saint John to Calais, but a few coastal runs like the one to Point LePreau is nice and a common spot we go to.

- From Calais, considering your not looking for the Ocean, I'd take the Air Line Road all the way to Bangor. Good road, lots of sweeping turns and up and down. From Bangor hop on the I95 for 30 minutes to Newport and then take Route 2 all the way to Gorman and the White Mountains. White Mountains are well worth seeing. And a ride up Mount Washington is a must.

- Go down the 16 from Goram to Glen, then across the 302 for a bit to Bear Notch Road, down the Bear Notch Road to Kangamangus hiway over to Lincoln. From Lincoln look for sawyer hiway. Sawyer Hiway is a bit of a cow path and lots of bumps so take it slow. We normally gun it and just grit our teeth. White Mountains are magic. Another great route from Bethel, go North to Bear River Road (26) through Erroll all the way up to Colebrook and then take the 102 back down to the 302 and then catch up with the Bear Notch Road and Kank that I mention above.

- We head across to Brattleboro and then Albany on the 9. Great ride. But from there we try to make some time taking the I87 to Newborough and then the I84 to the I81. Although interstate, you are getting into the Shanadoa Valley. Still nice curves through the New York state and lower. This route keeps you away from New York and all that traffic. I87/84/81 is like riding on clouds compared to the I95.

- Next thing to look for is Smoke Hole Resort West Virginia. Just look for any twisty roads to get there. We doing an iron butt to there in June. Great place and lots of switch backs, no traffic up over the mountains and back down.

- Leaving Smoke Hole, look for old Smoke Hole Rd. Careful at the end, 20 feet of gravel caused one of the guys to go down last time. The rest is great pretty much one lane road with no straight parts. Follow the 220 and then take one of the roads back across to the I81. Can do a small road or turnpike through the mountains. Next place to look for is Buchanan. Head up through Buchanan to the Blue Ridge Parkway. You'll be down a 1/4 of the parkway but this, but the north part of the parkway isn't as nice. So you are getting the good part.

- Next look for Boone. Summer home of Billy Graham and just down the road is the Snake. Do the snake, not as crowded as the Tail of the Dragon, more turns and some parts more challenging. Coming from Boone you'll go up over the mountain to Shady Valley, hit the cross roads and then go South till the turns end, come back, go West till the turns end, come back to Boone.

- Head back down the Blue Ridge to Gatlinburg. Depending on the time of year the Blue Ridge can be crowded and I tend to get a little tired of it. Same thing for 400 miles. So to make a little time, see a little view, we switched between the Blue Ridge and route 221 which runs in parallel. But keep on the blue ridge around cities like Roanoake as it avoids all the city traffic that the 221 may not stay away from. Map it out, some good places to hop on and off.

- Along the blue ridge look for some of the side roads like 80 and 226A. Both are great roads, we jump off the blue ridge onto the 80 and then back up the 226A. Wow. Sometime turns.

- Next site is the Tail of the Dragon which is a must do.

- From the Tail of the Dragon, look for the Moonshiner 28 into Georgia.

- At this point, I'm less familiar and will leave it to others.

 

[bikerskier]

Maddad, thanks so much for the great ideas. Will be definitely following a lot of this advice. I appreciate everyone's contribution to this ride.

 

[leedavis]

This is as many waypoints as Google Maps allows through my section of the country. Google Map Route It gets you a bunch of motorcycle roads and sites: Smoke Hole Rd WV, Potts Mt VA-311, Tazewell > Marion VA-16, Highlands Pkwy VA-58, The Snake TN-421, Boone/Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Pkwy, The Whip NC-80, Mt Mitchell, Asheville, NC-215, Moonshiner 28.

You could spend weeks in these areas and barely scratch the surface of all there is to see but this route keeps you mostly moving north to south and you'll knock out quite a few attractions.

 

[El Toro Joe]

This is as many waypoints as Google Maps allows through my section of the country. Google Map Route It gets you a bunch of motorcycle roads and sites: Smoke Hole Rd WV, Potts Mt VA-311, Tazewell > Marion VA-16, Highlands Pkwy VA-58, The Snake TN-421, Boone/Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Pkwy, The Whip NC-80, Mt Mitchell, Asheville, NC-215, Moonshiner 28.
You could spend weeks in these areas and barely scratch the surface of all there is to see but this route keeps you mostly moving north to south and you'll knock out quite a few attractions.

Nice route Lee...it does cover a nice selection of roads.

 

[Fred W]

One thing to keep in mind is that he is talking of doing this in late September (which is an excellent choice).

If the ferry does get started up again and you do decide to take it, things are pretty much quieted down in Bar Harbor and Mt Desert Island after labor day, so you don't need to worry about crowds or traffic except on weekends. Also, depending on how late in September this is, you may run into the dreaded leaf peepers in the White Mountains, but it is still generally OK there on weekdays.

I'd recommend going to Lundts Lobster pound, it's just up the road (Rte 3) 100 yards from the Trenton Bridge lobster pound. Their lobsters are just as good, and they have great blueberry pie. The Lundt family are nice people too.

If you do ride from Calais down the Airline road (Rte 9) instead of taking the ferry, stop at the Eagles Nest in Brewer (just across the river from Bangor). It's right on Rte 9. Arguably the best and biggest lobster rolls in Maine. And don't be scared, it won't fall into the river, it just looks that way.

From the Bangor area I would also head west on secondary roads (Rte 2 is OK, but a bit boring) into NH and some of the roads mentioned by maddad, maybe slide west all the way into VT, still going south and then down into the Berkshire Mountains in Western MA, While avoiding the Albany area, try to get over to Rte 30 in upstate NY and ride that down to PA. Very nice ride.

Keep working south and west (you really have no choice 'cause that's how the coastline goes) and stay away from the coast as much as possible until you get down past Baltimore/Washington area. The coastline is one massive hunk of congestion from Portland Maine to DC, not much fun for motorcycles. I love the ride down 219 in West Virginia, and then work back east to the lower half of the Blue Ridge Pkwy which is the best part.

At the end of the parkway pick up moonshiner 28 and take that over to the dragon for the obligatory up and back. There is a bunch of great riding all over the place in that area. Just stay off the highways and you'll be treated to roads you probably don't see a lot of on the left coast.

I'll let others give you advice on the southern parts of the ride.

 

[wheatonFJR]

This is as many waypoints as Google Maps allows through my section of the country. Google Map Route It gets you a bunch of motorcycle roads and sites: Smoke Hole Rd WV, Potts Mt VA-311, Tazewell > Marion VA-16, Highlands Pkwy VA-58, The Snake TN-421, Boone/Blowing Rock, Blue Ridge Pkwy, The Whip NC-80, Mt Mitchell, Asheville, NC-215, Moonshiner 28.
You could spend weeks in these areas and barely scratch the surface of all there is to see but this route keeps you mostly moving north to south and you'll knock out quite a few attractions.

^^^some primo advice here.^^^

 

[bikerskier]

Whoa, some really good advice here, thank you all very much. Now I hope for some input for the southern half of the east coast.

 

[wheatonFJR]

You will likely be too busy in the scenic Appalachians to head to the coast and take in some beach and ocean, but in case you do have time this trip or next.

Fight the crowds and head to the NC outer banks and stay in a beach house for a few nights...see Kill Devil Hills, Cape Hatteras, take a ferry at Ocracoke to the mainland and head west to the mtns or head south to Charleston where Revolutionary War and Civil war historical interests occur...then head south to Savannah.

Blast down to Key West.

Like I said, probably not doable on this trip...but there's stuff there if you want a change of pace. However, coast = congestion as you would expect. Consider that in your plans.

 

[Checkswrecks]

pm me if you want to stay in the DC area. I'm about an hour north.