So, who is planning a long ride or going to a rally this year? My longest ride will probably be around Lake Tahoe, which is probably about a total of 600 miles. And I plan to do this in one day this year. I have always wanted to do this and think I will take a day off to do this.

Does anyone plan on a rally and how far do you think you will need to ride to get to it?

I have every intention of going to the rally in Eureka Springs this year, seeing as to how i am only 45 minutes away!

And i may go visit my daughter in AZ as well, I have no idea how far it is from Springfield mo. to Tempe and back.

Ok. Google says its 1236 miles, one way! Yikes!

My local scooter club is in the planing stage for a rally on the west coast of Florida in the St Pete/Tampa Bay area. The plan is for Nov.11-12-13.Hear is a link to the discussion if anyone is interested.As I said it's still in the planing stage,I can post a link for the rally when we get one up.

http://www.meetup.com/st-petersburg-scooter-club/messages/boards/thread/10662326

My buddy Jerome and I came back from Florida in March - we attended the Iron Butt Association party in Jacksonville during Bike Week. We rode 890 miles from Philly to Jax on Wednesday, rode 1033 miles in 22 hours on Thursday, and rode back home to Philly on Saturday.

Plenty more riding to be done this year. Jerome's probably going to attempt 2 consecutive 1000mile/24hr days and I'm going to attempt a 1500/24 very soon.

Jerome and I have also designed a little 8 hour adventure rally for our motorcycle and scooter groups to be held in Philadelphia on May 14, if anyone is interested in joining in. Visit http://www.meetup.com/phila-moto/events/15964378/ for more details.

A few riders here in KC are going to Metropolis, Ill next month to see the superman museum. 450 miles one way.

Also planning rides for the STO in Eureka Springs in Sept.

Debbie and I are planning a trip from Rison to Kitty Hawk to Gettysburg and return. Not sure how many miles yet, because I keep changing the route. It will be about 2 weeks and over 2K miles.

Also going to the STO rally in September

I am planning a ride for the Perth branch of the club east to Southern Cross via the wheatbelt in May. Round trip of about 1000kays.

Any takers?

Bob and I are planning a trip to St Louis, MO over Memorial Day weekend. Family gathering.

In June we are headed to Knoxville, TN about 560 miles one way.

July we plan to attend the National BMW Rally in Bloomberg, PA. Not sure how many miles. Mapquest says about 570 or something but that's direct we probably will take our time getting there.

September we plan on going to Eureka Springs, AR for the STO Rally. Somewhere over 600 miles depending on our route.

That's our vacation plans. There are plenty of weekend rides ahead this season. Just rode 340 miles over the last two days in Northern Illinois. Nice to finally get a long ride in.

Cathy

Cathy,

What kind of bike does Bob have? That's a nice ride going from Chicago to St Louis. Some people don't realize that Illinois is a long state and takes some time to go from the North to the South. Will you be able to ride down the Mississippi River going down there or back to Chicago. It sure is a nice ride.

Going to Brittany again next month; six nights as I'm breaking the journey down and back into two so I'll ride between 1000 & 1500 miles.

Can't wait!

JeffR, the Chicago to St Louis trip can be real neat. Take old Rt 66 and stop often to see the sites along the way. You really meet some interesting people and see a lot of interesting stuff. We did it a couple of years ago.

JeffR,

We only have 3 days maybe 4 over the Memorial Day weekend. We are going to have to stay with I55/Route 66 to I44. We have a family gathering going on just SW of St. Louis.

I would like to take some of the Great River Road when we go down for the STO Rally. We will have more time to get to the Rally.

Bob rides a 2004 BMW R1150R with 60,000 miles on it.

We were on the beginning of Rt 66 for awhile this weekend. It was a nice ride.

Cathy

Well it seems to me that there will be quite a few saddle sore folk this year.... So in the comfort stakes, are we talking about more mods such as sheepskin rugs, airhawk seats, sargent/corbin seats, and the like, or is this all stock.... and just gritting your teeth...!

I am hoping to do some touring this year, and hope to spend as much time near the coast and seaside as possible..... And for the longer hauls I use the airhawk seat....

I'm going to Germany this year with Mrs M, I've got an Airhawk and I don't think I need it fitted, as the Silver Wing seat is a lot more comfortable than the much firmer seat I had on my 650 Burger.

I find a lot of discomfort can be avoided by wearing synthetic underwear that wicks moisture away from the skin, and of a design with no seams in the area of your butt cheeks to cause 'hot spots. Plus they're a lot easier to rinse through and dry overnight in your hotel room than a pair of cotton skiddies.

I, too, find the Silverwing seat very comfortable and agree that wearing the 'right' clothes is very important, especially for longer trips.

Interesting, your observation about seams - I have a pair of leather gloves which I can't wear for long as they have an awkward seam where the thumbs meet the palms and dig in after a while.

I know exactly what you mean about glove seams, I have a pair of Elkskin Roper gloves from Aerostich, they may be tough enough for barbed wire fencing as their catalog states but the internal seams on one of them made them uncomfortable for riding. I relegated them to gardening duties.

If all goes to plan over the next few weeks, I will be riding down the 250 miles to Dover from home here in Shropshire on the 27th May and meeting up with some guys from the xrv.org.uk forum, several of whom I have ridden with before. Then it is a 3 day trip down through France to Tuscany in Italy. Hopefully next to no Motorway work.

Then, 2 days in the Tuscany area, followed by a run back through the Dolomites, through Austria and into Germany for a run back through the Black Forest and into the Vosges mountains then possibly the Ardennes for the run back to Calais. Camping tall the way, unless the weather goes tits up...

I expect to do around 2800-3400 miles based on my last big European trips in 09. Gonna be fun, I just need to decide Swing or Transalp!! Decisions, decisions

Have they messed about with the familiar 91 Normal, 95 Super, or 95 Euro/Regular octane ratings over in Europe in the last year?

It's all to do with adding ethanol to the petrol/gasoline and according to my handbook, fuel with more than 10% ethanol should not be used in the Swing.

I am planning a trip to New England, I have wanted to visit Acadia National Park and the coast of Maine.
Hershey, PA my wife wants to do this with me.
Perhaps Eureka Springs AR., Kansas City, and the Rockies on a Western Swing.
The Outer Banks of North Carolina after visiting family in Cary, NC.
Michigan UP and into Canada.
I have wanted to circle the gulf but my last trip into Mexico I was taken from the road by the police near Mexico City to an auto wreching yard and extorted for money so my wife has put her foot down about Mexico.

Change of plan:

Not going to National BMW Rally in Pennsylvania. Conflict with Bob's vacation schedule.

We are now going to try and see the June 28th shuttle launch in Florida.
I would like to try and go south to New Orleans and accross the southern part of the states of Miss., Alabama and Florida to Cape Canaveral. Then after the launch go down to Key West. Then back up and north along the east coast.

I know this is a hot time of the year but Bob always wanted to see a shuttle launch. Hopefully, the launch goes as planned. If it gets cancelled before we leave we may head northwest. Who knows.

Any suggestions for rides in the southern section of the country?

The best places to eat in southern United States is Sandwich Shoppe and More and Marcelas' in Rison Arkansas. There is a real cool guy that kind of runs the town. He has a very special scoot that the area is going crazy over. Guest appearance can be arranged in advance. Right up there with a shuttle launch.

There are dozens of routes to get to the Big Easy. Weather is going to be getting HOT by that time. You can leave your thermal underwear at home. Getting from New Orleans to Cape Kennedy is going to be a great ride. Lots of good roads and places to see and eat. You are going to hear of some sites to see, but that would be a ride you could just point east then turn south. Beautiful country. No hills or mountains, but beautiful.

Cathy- I live on the Spacecoast of Florida, about 45 minutes from the Cape. A shuttle launch is an awesome thing to witness, and each one is exciting. A couple of hints- try to allow yourselves a couple of days if possible, the launches can very easily slip in time- delays are common. Try to book any lodging as early as possible, they are expecting about 750,000 people for Friday's launch, and given that the June launch is the final one, the numbers will be astronomical. Also be aware, traffic will be insane- backups of 8 hours are expected this week.
A beautiful, scenic road to take south from the Cape is A1A. It runs along the beach for the most part and is beautiful. If I can help with any of your questions regarding this area of Florida- just give a holler!

Ride safe-
Wayne

Mrs M and yours truly are on the last full day of our nine day break in Germany, and head back for the ferry in Rotterdam tomorrow, so we'll be spared all that Will and Kate rubbish back home.

We are in Lower Saxony and spent our first four nights in Bremen, and spent a day in nearby Oldenburg where Mrs M's father flew Hawker Hunters out of RAF Oldenburg in the 1950's. The weather has been great all the time, and I've been very impressed with the way the Silver Wing has handled two up touring. There's been hardly any turbulence when overtaking trucks on autobahns, something that was noticeable on the big Burger. I was concerned with the new petrol octane ratings but we've had no trouble getting the usual Super.

Of the places we've visited - Bremen, Oldenburg, Lubeck and Luneburg - Luneburg remains our favourite. A little-known gem of a town which was once the richest city in Germany with the biggest industry in Europe in the Middle Ages (salt mining and exporting).

Mrs M is enjoying the beer and wine, and I have been sampling the various girly drinks that suit me better - shandy, wheat beer with raspberry syrup, banana beer etc. It is always amusing when the waiter serves the fruity concoction to Mrs M and we have to put him right. Next time we're ordering a pint of skull crusher and a snowball and watching the waiter's face

Its a really nice area of Germany Meldrew I spent 7 years there with the British Army of the Rhine back in the late 80 & early 90's. Celle is well worth a visit - very picture postcard and if you have the stomach for it the memorial at Belsen Bergen, which I believe is now part of a NATO camp called Hohne.

Have a Haver Weitsen Beer for me (Crystal Clear) and make sure you avoid the Hereforder Pils! Painted on the wall of the ablutions at Soltau Training Area (which is on Luneburg Heath where the British Army came to rest at the end of WW2, and so had its HQ there) is the fabled statement 'Don't let the ar#e fall out your World!!! Drink 'Hereforder' and let the World fall out of your ar#e'!! Tells its own story

Have a safe trip

Cathy, riding along the coast can be quite boring. I lived in various parts of FL for 20 years, and used to visit there from the Carolinas for another 10 years or so.

The terrain is flat, flat, flat. Most roads are pretty straight as well. The riding will not put your skills to a test (except staying awake!). The closer you get to the coast, the more the palmetto (bushes that look like the top of a palm tree) pines and palm trees predominate. Scenery becomes rather monotonous.

Keep in mind that it will be hot. Not necessarily any hotter than you might experience in IL or the rest of the midwest, but it does not cool off much at night. Also, humidity will be high all around the clock. As long as you are moving, you will be okay, but when stopped you will warm up quickly. This is not the time to choose your leather over your textile jacket.

I am not trying to be completely negative here, just offering an opposing viewpoint. I still have some fond memories of FL, but most involve laying on the beach or boating on a river (mostly Indian River on east coast). When it comes time to think of great riding roads, the coastline (FL, GA, SC, AL, MS, LA, TX) does not come to mind. The closer to the water you are, the more you will enjoy the scenery.

In regards to what route to follow: I would suggest running along the Appalachian Mtns as much as possible, then heading from north GA down I-75 into FL. Problem is, that puts you nowhere near New Orleans.

I hope you get to pull off the trip and enjoy it. I would suggest dropping the New Orleans visit so that you can alter your route. NO will still be there for another trip another day. Don't forget your sunblock and sunglasses!

Cathy you will have to come down and form your own opinion.I came to the west cost of Fl.in June of 72,and you could never talk me in to leaving Fl.Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Cathy... let me add my two cents... I live in timber country... I get bored of seeing miles and miles of trees... I have a friend in Kansas that use to come visit me just to see the trees. Some folks in Illinois live in corn country. I have driven through miles and miles of corn. I thought it was really something to see. Same for the Kansas wheat, Tennessee bathrooms and other places you don't see everyday. I recently traveled down the East coast of Florida and saw many many palmetto plants ( I really hate to call them trees). If you don't see them all the time, they could be interesting. Have you ever seen a tumble weed? Oklahoma has em. Colorado has the majestic mountains, but they also have prairie dogs that dig in the dirt.

One thing that this country is blessed with in all 50 states... friendly people. You will meet them from sea to shining sea.

The one piece of advice you got from Wayne about the crowd is probably the most important bit to plan for. I hadn't thought about that. I have a friend in Orlando which is 60 miles inland from the Cape. He has told me that the shuttle launches are magnificent to see from that far away, so, if they won't let you and Bob in mission control you should still be able to witness a part of history. Just get close and enjoy. I just decided to call my friend Ron and ask him about where you might go to avoid the crowd but still see the launch. I will get back with you after I talk to him.