My hope to ride to Montana and Wyoming will remain as such for at least another year. Instead, we’ll travel to New England and go back to the places we’ve already visited over the last couple of years such as Kentucky and The Ozarks. But even these rides won’t be the same. I’ve revised and expanded the routes and added a number of scenic roads.
Here’s our preliminary schedule:
- May – Kentucky (8 days)
- June – Indiana / Kentucky (4 days)
- July – Spring Green (3 days)
- August - New England (12 days)
- September – The Ozarks (11 days)
Kentucky – 8 days, 2,300 miles
Scenic Driving Kentucky by William and Cora Kappele includes 36 scenic roads. I think I captured most of them.
To make the trip even more fun, I’ve included a lot of winding 2-lane roads going up and down the hill in addition to the scenic roads from the book.
- Days 1 & 2: Chicago - Elizabethtown (3) - Danville (17)
- Day 3: Danville (17) - London (36)
- Day 4: London (36) - Manchester (52)
- Day 5: Manchester (52) - Hazard (65)
- Day 6: Hazard (65) - Paintsville (83)
- Days 7 & 8: Paintsville (83) – Wilder (104) – Chicago
Indiana / Kentucky - 4 days, 1,200 miles
Howard and I tried to ride this route last year, but after I crashed my bike, we had to cut it short. We’ll try it again this year. To make the trip even more interesting, I’ve added a Mammoth Cave National Park to the route. It would be nice to do a tour of the subterranean labyrinths of Mammoth Cave. But this has not been discussed yet.
- Day 1: Chicago - New Albany (12)
- Day 2: New Albany (12) - Cave City (30)
- Day 3: Cave City (30) – Jasper (42)
- Day 4: Jasper (42) - Chicago
Spring Green – 3 days, 680 miles
The road to Spring Green, the place of our annual pilgrimage, will go through Galena this year. As usual, Dodgeville will serve as our base.
Howard found an article in the September issue of the Motorcycle Rider magazine describing a 300-mile loop that starts near Dodgeville and includes a scenic ride along the Mississippi river from Prairie du Chen to La Crosse.
- Day 1: Chicago – Dodgeville (4)
- Day 2: Mississippi Loop
- Day 3: Dodgeville (28) - Chicago
New England – 12 days, 3,800 miles
The map below includes 25 out of 28 routes described in Scenic Driving New England by Stewart Green. We are not going to ride all of them, but it was a nice thought of spending a month exploring New England.
It will take a couple of days of interstate riding, but after that we’ll hit the best and most beautiful roads in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
- Days 1,2, 3: Chicago – Akron OH (4) - Newburg NY (7)
- Day 4: Rutland VT (19) - Portland ME (34)
- Day 5: Portland ME (34) - Bucksport ME (52)
- Day 6: Bucksport ME (52) – Lubec ME (69)
- Day 7,8: Lubec ME (69) - Rockwood ME (74) – Conway NH (83)
- Days: 9,10,11,12: Conway NH (83) - Saranac Lake NY (93) - Batavia NY (99) - Wauseon OH (100) – Chicago
This would be the longest trip so far. I didn’t have a chance to think about sightseeing, but I’m pretty sure after going through Stewart Green’s book Scenic Driving New England will give me plenty of ideas. Besides, we’ll need some rest after the first week of riding any way. So this trip will probably take at least 13 days.
And yes, I love Scenic Driving books. I think I have all of them – from Main to Alaska.
The Ozarks – 11 days, 3,200 miles
I think I’ve gotten carried away planning this ride. It was supposed to be just 8 days, but, I guess, there are just too many good roads down there.
- Days 1,2: Chicago - Perryville MO (6) - Salem MO (16)
- Days 3,4: Salem MO (16) - Pocahontas AR (25) - Harrison AR (37)
- Day 5: Harrison AR (37) - Clinton AR (48)
- Day 6: Clinton AR (48) - Eureka Springs AR (61)
- Days 7,8: Eureka Springs AR (61) - Russellville AR (70) - Sallisaw OK (79)
- Days: 9,10,11: Sallisaw OK (79) - Ozark MO (89) - Warrenton IL (98) - Chicago
Two 2-week long trips in a row could be a little bit too much. If not this year, we’ll ride it in 2012. Right after we come back from Montana -:)
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