Long Road Planning-extra

I responded earlier to the thread about the Long Road. Wanted to start a new thread in case anyone missed this message. Maybe word can get around. I've added a little more to it to let everyone know a rough proposed route.

Hey Randy! I've been in contact with Edge for the past month and with his very welcomed advice and input, we've been putting together a route for the Long Road this year. I had given him some suggestions a couple of months ago and he responded by saying there wasn't going to be a long road. I was so disappointed, I proposed to him that myself and Phil from Texas would be more than willing to plan up something. He thought it was a good idea. If you were at the campground in Columbia SC, he said " we(as in us Long Road riders) are the ones who determine whether it continues for 4 or 40 years" so we picked up where he left off as he had other commitments which were going to make it impossible to put the time into another Long Road by himself.

We are taking into account some of the comments and an e-mail to Edge about a pig roast in Tennessee. We are modifying our proposed route and will have something together in a couple of weeks. This year will be a little different with no large towns and lots of secondary highways, many of which either I or Phil have traveled. Each day will be no more than 250-350 miles long. A poker run for those that go the distance and a few new things may be added. The silver medallions given in the past to new riders have been eliminated as the entry fee was actually about the cost of the silver alone, let alone taking into account manufacturing costs. Stay tuned for details.

If anyone who plans to travel, the Long Road has any suggestions or improvements, please feel free to e-mail me in the next couple of days at uncle_ben123@yahoo.ca. I'll try to respond to each. We won't be able to satisfy everyone's request obviously, but with a few options, we may be able to make this year as good or better than ever! I'm looking to find out opinions on arriving at The Rock Thursday or Friday. It also may be a good way of judging how many people are interested in TLR.

After talking with Edge, we were amazed as we both had the same idea for part of the route. We are in the process of contacting hotels and campgrounds so nothing is set in stone. We thought it might be cool to start at Byrd's campground where we camped on the second Long Road. Most on that run said it was their favorite spot! Nice spot, and gives everyone a good place to meet. Riders could even show up early and enjoy the campground and beautiful river. From there, cruise across northern Arkansas, through the sliver of Missouri, arc north easterly through Kentucky up to northern West Virginia. From here, this is where Edge and I were really in synch. We both wanted to do West Virginia.So, it's over to US 219 and ride most of it south. From there, it was up in the air on the southern end of 219. I've ridden 219 several times between the Smoke Out and Ontario. Twisties are plentiful, but not near as tight as The Dragon. More 4th, 5th gear than 1st, 2nd, 1st like the Dragon. The pig roast I mentioned is something new and I'm going contact the guy that mentioned it.

By the way, for anyone who rode the last 2 years, I'm the Uncle Ben from Canada who had the black superglide with the Canada flag on my homemade beer box. Phil is the tall slim Texan riding the fire engine red geezer, er, street glide.

Ride Safe everyone!