My riding buddies stuck me with planning our annual summer ride (again). Got 4 days, July 12-15. We've done the BRP, Dragon, Snake, etc already. Looking at doing the Bourbon Trail in KY or Gettysburg Bike Week in PA. Anyone have an opinion on either or another option. We will be leaving from Beckley WV.

 

Why don't you go to the finger lakes area in upstate NY....But i would be partial to the Bourbon trail....i don't really care for bike rallies, i like to ride the open road... Not sure if you have been to KY but it's nice.... and all the distilleries on top of that....freakin no brainer...

 

68 over to Cumberland is a GREAT ride ........ and scenic. Then 99 up to this part of PA. Lots to see up here, and great riding. 68 & 99 are interstates, but hardly any traffic. Then you can go into OH & take 77 home, and avoid 79 around Pgh & Washington PA. Google these, and Mapquest them, up here in Northwestern PA.
Benezette PA (largest population of free-roaming elk east of CO), Kinzua Dam, Kinzua Bridge State Park, PA Grand Canyon, Letchworth State Park (in upstate NY)

 

East is nice but try Beartooth, it is not as twisty as the Dragon Tail but you will never see views like that anywhere. You will be up around 9.5k above sea level and the mountains never have been more beautiful.
http://www.beartoothhighway.com

 

Ah, kind of hard to get to the Beartooth and back in four days from WV. DuraGlide last year I started to ride the farm roads in SE Ohio. Some of the winner's are 800, 148, 555, 26, 7 and 164 toward the north end.

I ride in the Monongahela all the time. I would love some local info of favorites just south of Beckley.

 

Rode the Bourbon Trail last year. Had a lot of great places to stop.

 

We stayed in Bardstown a few years back and enjoyed the area. Downtown by the circle is the old Talbots Tavern where they have something like 80 different brands of Bourbon to sample. Good food there also. Lots of nice winding roads in the region. One day we went to Loretto and the Makers Mark distillery. From there over to the battle field at Perryville which was very humbling and interesting. Also drove a portion of the Bluegrass Parkway and ended up near Fort Knox at the General Patton museum where there are more tanks that any other museum in the world. If you have military buffs in your group this was a good stop. From there we went up and west along the Ohio River towards Owensboro on Hwy 60. Just a few suggestions, Hope you and your group have a great trip! Ride Safe!

 

The Patton Museum moved most of it's stuff to a Museum in Georgia somewhere a couple years ago. Ft. Knox used to be the home of Armor for Army but they moved it to Georgia as well. I ride by the museum often and it may still be open but it looks to be a shell of itself and honestly if it is I don't know what it houses. Its not far from the Gold Vault though which is cool but you can't get very close to it.

As far as Kentucky in general though, you have the Bourbon Trail, Mammoth Cave, the beautiful picturesque horse farms and on and on PLUS some great riding. Of course coming from WVa you're no stranger to great riding.

I was in Gettysburg last year and my only problem is we didn't have enough time. Very interesting town with lots going on. Many ways to tour the battlefield and a park ranger said lots of them ride and if you call ahead with a group they could organize a bike ride although despite the many ways to see the battlefield Motorcycle tours aren't one of them. In truth I'd rather see the battlefield another way anyway. You can walk it, ride a bike, tour bus, self tour it listening to a cd, and Segway.

York is only 45 miles away and you can tour the plant where they make tour bikes and soft tails. West on 30 is Shanksville and the Flight 93 Memorial and exhibit....talk about moving thinking about what those people went through. When I was there looking at the exhibits that tell the story you could hear a pin drop in the place, only the sounds of people quietly crying.

And too lots of great riding just in general in Pa.. Man either choice you can't go wrong. Oh yeah one thing about the Bourbon Trail....you can do the whole thing in one day but you won't have time to tour any distillery. To do that it'd take 2 and some of them are pretty cool. Free samples at each one and your first stop will give you a passport, get it stamped at all 6 and the state will send you a free t-shirt. There are also other distilleries in the state not on the trail but nearby.

http://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm

http://www.kybourbontrail.com/

 

Kahuna, Thanks for the update on the Patton museum, I knew the Armor training division moved to Fort Benning but didn't realize they took their antiques with them.

 

Oh yes! I did this a few years ago on my way to Sturgis! Very Very VERY cool!