If it's going to be Maggie Valley it looks like a 6 day drip for us Texans. 2 days to get there to day's there and 2 home.
I'm am South of Houston my mom is east of Carthage (AL Gores Home town) and it takes me 12 to 14 in a cage with Kids.
Paul:
Like I said at the start, it don't matter to me at all. I can come to Texas just as easily. I've always wanted to explore Texas Hill Country around Austin. That's where we are planning on retiring someday anyway. It could be in Wyoming or even California. I don't care. It could be New Hampshire or Vermont. I'm just inputing Maggie Valley because I've been there on the bike and it's a nice place. I'm sure there are many nice spots all over the country to go to. However, wherever we end up going, I'd like for it to be somewhere where there is a local Captain or two that are familiar with whatever destination we wind up choosing. That way, we have a 'one up' on what's good and what's bad concerning lodging, eats, things to do and the quality of riding on the local roads.
Obviously, if it's The Lone Star, it's closer for you and farther for me. If it was here in Michigan (God help us), it would be close for me and far for you. I don't want anyone to come here. We have a helmet law, the cops suck, the roads suck, the Governor sucks but in defense of Michigan (a little), northern Michigan around the Traverse City area is not only beautiful but has fantastic secondary roads just made for bikes. They have casino's, good beaneries, plenty of camera ready scenery and lots of babes, mostly scantily clad. Every destination is good, just some of them are going to be some miles. Look at it this way.......
Half the adventure is getting there. That's what motorcycling is all about. I did Nashville last summer via York, PA, Norfolk, VA, Kitty Hawk, NC, Maggie Valley and on to Nashville. I made it a 2500 mile adventure and 90% secondary roads. I had the time of my life, met great folks everywhere I stopped and I'll never forget the wonderful time I had on the
whole trip, not just in Nashville.
Of course I can do that stuff. I'm retired (retarded by some folks perspective around here), fiddle with teaching, farming and the bling business but I can easily partition my time to allow for a bike trip. That's not an easy thing for you 9-5ers, especially when the man demands your prescience at the salt mine.
In retrospect however, I should have told the man I was going to 'take off' more often than I did when I worked a regular job. Looking back, I've missed some grand opportunities to enjoy the great country I live in from the perspective of a motorcycle seat. Sadly, it's too late to do it over again. You only get one shot. You can never retrace your footsteps.
We are all getting older at the same rate of speed, well, maybe Jack is accelerating a little bit more. Some of us started sooner than others, but the progress toward St. Peter is an eventuality. Whenever it comes about, try to make it, even if you have to make some compromises. After all, life is all about compromises. I'm sure you'll never regret taking that trip to wherever it may be.