Planning a bike trip for my Red Beret Riders Association from the Netherlands Europe.
Red Beret Riders' members are veterans who are serving or have served in the Netherlands 11 Airmobile Air Assault Brigade deployed in Mission Areas like Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, Bosnia, Kosovo etc. Dutch airmobile army soldiers conduct joint exercises in helicopter operations with the US 82nd Airborne Division on a regular base.
Our plan is to ship our bikes by boat from the Netherlands to Newark NJ in May 2019 and fly in from Amsterdam to Newark EWR.
We're looking into a ride heading SW over BRP towards TOD.

First stage of this trip (Newark NJ area towarda York and Gettysburg PA) will start May 24-2019 in Newark NJ (EWR area).
I was thinking of leaving Newark NJ area using either Interstate I-78 or US-22 (see image below).
Please advise on what option to choose and some interesting stretches from there to York and Gettysburg (Amish Area along PA-340 already planned)
Your help is much appreciated and who knows we could arrange a meet (I will arrive as a pre-party May 15...)!
Thanks, René

 

Unless you are rushed for time, I would avoid anything with an "I" [interstate]. If you have no choice and must ride section[s] of any interstate, I would time those rides to avoid rush hour around major cities [roughly 8-9 am or 5-6 pm]. Also, if you are planning to go to York, PA in order to visit the Harley factory, I'd suggest planning on being there Monday - Friday, and call ahead for a tour reservation , so you can see the plant in operation. Have fun and be safe.

 

So i live basically in the #2 section. i78 would be terrible, unless you are pressed for time. 3 lanes each way with commuters try to get to/from NYC.
Coming from Newark, I would try to get off onto rt 22 as soon as possible. its a 2 lane divided commercial area so lots of stoplights / cross traffic, but its better than 78. then Id try to get onto 124w. Its a nice suburb route that will take you west. follow that to 202 and take that west / south. again, rumbles through a lot of the country side of central NJ, and then depending on your needs, Youll want to look at route 523 which heads south into the PA side, or just stick with 202 which also rumbles along maybe a bit more direct. 202 actually heads all the way to King of Prussia which is about an hour into PA. 202 then changes with 30, which is another nice quiet highway - thatll bring you right into gettysburg. Again, you could follow some of the more side roads for an even quieter ride, like if you really wanted to add some time, take rt24 in Morristown all the way out to 513, down to High Bridge, and out to 614 to Upper Black Eddy PA, where you can catch 32, and ride that down the deleware river about to New Hope, where you could catch 202 again.

 

Good info, gus. Thanks!

 

That day, May 24th is the Friday that starts the Memorial Day weekend here in the US. Not sure what you're planning in York but I suspect it could be the H-D plant/s. If it were me and with your military connection I would consider on the 24th traveling down to Washington D.C. to participate in the Rolling Thunder activities that will be happening that Fri, Sat and culminating with the Rolling Thunder parade on Sunday. I would expect the H-D plants to be closed (if that is the reason for the York visit) on Sat the 25th and not reopening til Tue the 28th.

Don't mean to hijack your itinerary but I think you'd be missing out on a "memorable" experience.

After that is when I think I would start my York/Gettysburg agenda. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Xcrossbow.

Our plan is to visit Gettysburg on Saturday morning and ride to DC in the afternoon. We planned to participate in the parade at Sunday. We booked a hotel in Fairfax for two nights.

 

Cool. Not sure how congested Gettysburg will be on Memorial Day weekend. It's not a very big town. If you're staying in Fairfax I guess you'll be "hooking" up with the Patriot H-D rides into DC. I believe they have rides in on Friday night, Sat and then early on Sunday morning.

If you plan on being in the parade and going to the Pentagon parking lot, you do realize that even though the parade starts at noon that you could be in that parking lot for an additional 2-3 hours waiting your turn to join the parade. I'm sure I've waited my turn for over 3 hours and after that year I became a parade watcher rather than a parade participant. A parade does need both.

 

Do you happen to know how to get in contact with the Patriots in order to hook up on their ride-in?

 

Here is their website but I don't see anything on their events calendar yet regarding Rolling Thunder but I'm sure they will have their usual participation. On the website click on "About" then "Map and Hours" then "Contact Us" and email them with any questions and hopefully you'll hear back from them. If you don't let me know and I'll try on my end.

https://www.patriothd.com/check-back...h--eventflyers

 

Thanks, CJ. I'll try that.