In about a month mom and I will be off on a motorcycle trip. We so loved our trip last year through Colorado up to South Dakota and home. We're doing another this year.
This year our plan is to go south slightly from KC to southern Missouri. Across Missouri to the tip of Kentucky and across Tennessee. When we reach North Carolina the adventure begins. We are going to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway north all through to northern Virginia and then cut across to Washington DC. From there I know a great seafood restaurant with crab cakes to kill for right down by Camden Yard, Orioles Stadium. Out of Baltimore our plan is to ride northwest through Gettysburg, PA. Pay our respects and then it is down through West Virginia and Kentucky to home. About 2700 miles round trip according to Harley Davidson's map program.
When we travel mom and I try to stay away from chain restaurants and tourist traps. A big part of our trip is designed to be on 2 lane state highways to see the local country better.
Our request is, I am hoping some of you that read this blog live in these areas or have traveled this and we want to know where should we eat and what should we be sure not to miss, where are those hidden gems. Plus if anybody is on our route and want to join us for dinner or have coffee just let us know and we can work out the details.
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Gosh Ron and Mom.. Names of resturants fail me right now. I will ask around today. But if you are coming thru Ohio on your way home, Columbus, feel free to stay at my Bed and Coffee home and we can go to dinner in old Dublin. Sounds like a great trip! Kelly
I was in Asheville last summer. I would recommend Deerpark restaurant in the Biltmore Estate highly. I would also recommend touring the estate, it is quite something. We also enjoyed lunch twice at Chelsea's & the Village Tea Room located in the Biltmore Village.
Postcard Cindy
Make sure you let me know when you decide to take a trip through Ca. :o)
Let me know if you'll be coming through Northeast Tennessee. I live on the border with Virginia. Would love to get together, and I'll probably can recommend some eateries too.
What if we formed a motorcycle group like the "Hell's Angels" but called it "Parent's in Hell?"
I would need training wheels.
good one VJ ! Ron...we're in Va.Beach,...if you come by here....I'd love to see you two,,.your blog is what started me reading the others, and has been such a help to me during this journey of our son's addiction. I'll look at the route you're taking and think about what to let know regarding sights and restaurants, etc..
By the way...we're about to go to Vegas, then Vail,CO. Any Colorado tips ? Also going to the Grand Canyon from Vegas,...if anyone has any info. on any specific tour/which rim, etc..
Believe it or not they actually have training wheels for Harley's. But you put them on your bike I ain't ride'n in your group.
There is a difference between the training wheels and a Trike.
let me know if you are brave enough to hit pittsburgh area. i live in the tri state area comprised by ohio/west virgina/pennsylvania and would LOVE LOVE LOVE to meet up with you and mom!!!
fondly, dawn
oh. and we know some AWESOME restaurants in the strip in pittsburgh..they are famous worldwide actually.
There is a great restaurant called Tio pepes in Baltimore maryland. it is in a sort of cave the food is awesome and so is the service. it is very Spanish from Spain. <i suggest the paella. have fun.
You're heading the wrong way. The SoCal contingent hopes you'll head our way one day!
Seriously though, you're headed for some gorgeous country. My dream is to retire in NE Tennessee, in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area. Heaven on earth, to me. I love the mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway - I camped Shenandoah Valley as a kid. I'm jealous - can you tell?
And if we get our motorcycle group going, I'll make awesome jackets with our "colors" quilted on the backs. ;) (I'd need training wheels if I was soloing too, but I love, love, love riding along.)
I hope you have a perfectly wonderful trip, in every way!
Blame mom for this trip. I gave her a choice The Blue Ridge Parkway trip or we were coming to San Fran and ride the PCH down to LA and back across desert and mountains. She said Blue Ridge this year and maybe PCH next year.
No contest: for true award-winning North Carolina babeque it's Short Sugar's in Reidsville. Northeast of Greensboro, getting towards the Virginia state line.
Finally learning to say "no" to my son six years ito his battle with heroin. Only another parent can understand how hard that is.
In Asheville try 12 Bones. Wonderful ribs and sides.
Be prepared to wait......but it is well worth it !
Time your visit carefully. They are only open Monday to Friday from 11 to 4.
Don't miss Black Mountain in NC. It is quaint and interesting. In Western VA I really like Lexington where you can visit Washinton and Lee Univ. Lots of great places in Charlottesville to stay and eat. Luray Caverns are neat as is Natural Bridge.
hi,
i'd like to introduce myself, i'm daisy. i just started a blog and am so happy to have found yours. my son is also 22. i've read through quite a few of your posts and i am quite inspired. thank you for all your wonderful advice.
daisy
ps ~ i know you asked for advice for your trip but i really don't have any, just wanted to say hi.
Have a great trip. You know to go 2700 miles in the UK, you'd have to ping up and down the country, right up to Scotland, about 5 times!
Americans apparently find it really entertaining that Brits consider a "very long journey" to be a five-hour car drive. In this time you could get almost anywhere within England (Scotland is another matter).
I saw a TV programme tonight about drugs, addiction, parents who have lost kids etc, and they were all saying drugs should be LEGALIZED!
I thought the views I was hearing from parents across the Pond sounded quite different from the general attitude here, but couldn't really prove it, because I don't know many parents of addicts. But I'm getting the impression there's actually a pretty wide cultural divide in attitudes to addiction on each side of the Atlantic, which is quite fascinating. It is, after all, the same drugs in question (if anything, heroin seems to be several times more prevalent over here than over there, which surprised me, but I've come across statistics several times that imply that the amount of heroin used annually in the USA and the UK might actually be the SAME ~ about 35 tonnes. The USA being a country with FIVE TIMES greater population! The main difference in drug culture seems to be that prescription opiate abuse is pretty rare here. In Britain "opiates" in the context of addiction, nearly always means heroin.
I was going to post on this subject, but don't know that I could martial my thoughts together any better than I've done here. But I thought this might interest you. I always saw British and American culture as practically the same, but with attitudes and approaches to addiction differing so very greatly perhaps there is something in that saying about "nations divided by a common language" after all...
I camped (for the first time in my life...in a real live tent) in North Carolina, near Ashville, in June. The Blue Ridge Parkway was incredible. I didn't have one negative experience....but would absolutely say you must check out the waterfalls along the parkway....one that is so very cold but you can (and I did) slide down it....lots of fun....beautiful photos. We also ate at a cafe on top of Mount Mitchell in North Carolina.....the view was fabulous.....food was good but I think the hike up and the scenery was what put it over the top for us. Have fun.
I dont have any restaurant advice but you must tour the Biltmore Estate in Asheville - it's incredible. If you decide to add it on to your itinerary, purchase your tickets on line to get a good discount. The Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful but totally different the Rocky Mountain roads you travelled last year. If you drive through Louisville, KY on your way home, look me up. Have fun.
My wife and I just rode part of the Blue Ridge Park, from Waynesboro, VA to Roanoke about 130 miles, it was fantastic..... wish we had more time we would have gone farther. We are from CT and one of our neat detours was the York, PA Harley Plant Tour. Its an hour tour completely free if your up that way, and The Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, PA was a good meal along the way.
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