From New York City to Cleveland, Georgia and back by Motorcycle

Way back in 1989, I traveled across the country on motorcycle. It was a seminal experience for me. One of the best things about the trip was riding Skyline Drive, the upper portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. One of the worst things was the fact that two of my best friends from high school, Adam and Zac Zimmerman, both avid motorcyclists, were unable to accompany me. The idea of returning to motorcycling in the Southeast has been camped out somewhere in the wilderness of my mind, slowly percolating ever since. About 7 years ago at the New York Auto show I bought "Extreme Twisties", a self published spiral bound book with over a hundred separate detailed routes in the southeast for motorcycle and car, and twice I have ordered small local guides to motorcycling in North Carolina. I first decided I must visit Deal's Gap about four years ago when I came across a website about it, but it was during a mountain bike trip to West Virginia two years ago where, stuck in an underpowered Subaru, I realized I was really going to have to come back to the region on a motorcycle. Making good use of the previously mentioned reference material and the internet, I planned a trip from New York City down through the twisty mountain roads of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and even a little bit of Ohio. This time Adam and Zac were going to accompany me. Adam even shipped his motorcycle from L.A. so he could come. Joined by Matt Goodell, another friend of mine from college, the four of us set out on a nine day adventure covering over 2700 miles of some of the best motorcycling roads in the US. The following links to each day have pictures, notes, accommodation info but most importantly, directions in case you want to try it yourself.

Directions for the entire trip.

Interested in what we thought about the gear we used? Click here.