Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
Adventures in Sport
Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT
Exploring North America...One Road
at a Time
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Guy
Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages
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The East Coast
Tour 2005
After a couple of days in Prince Edward it was
time to head back south I left Vermont for DC to visit family, then headed home via East Tennessee and Gatlinburg. The same ride as always when I leave Northern Virginia, too good to pass up. For a long time I wanted to ride the East Coast in the same manner as the West Coast, mixing sport riding with back roads, and small towns. Soon after returning from California, I had my atlas out looking at various options and strategies. After checking several scenarios I concluded I was going to HAVE to spend more time than I liked on expressways, just no way to get around it.
Northern Maine was another area I needed to visit, and I was able to this tour, riding north up the coast from Bar Harbor, and crossing the border at Calais. The details of how I accomplished that are in
the pages that follow. In I had a unusually good ride through Tennessee on the way home, and found a few new roads entirely at random, that turned out worthy for the Hall of Fame. Don't be mislead, I got in some great leaning on this tour, and loved my time in New England and Prince Edward Island, but getting in, and out of the Corridor, was taxing to say the least.
The trip covered 16 days and 5,031 miles. This tour marked the first time I was riding something other than a Honda on a long ride. The RT performed flawlessly, its long list of touring amenities are too long to post here, and the way this baby handles twisty roads is almost unbelievable. The RT is a lot of fun to ride. The bike garnered attention everywhere
we went. People
stopped to I was impressed with the all around comfort of the BMW, the way it handles challenging roads, but gives up nothing on long freeway drones. The bike averaged about 55 mpg, fully loaded at 80 mph. I'll add more details about this on the motorcycle page at the completion of this journal.
Hope
you enjoy the ride.
Day 1- Short ride to North Alabama Day 2- Riding north to West Va. Day 4- tough ride to Rhode Island Day 6- New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island Day 7- Tour of Prince Edward Island Day 8- Back to Maine and the start of the VVV rally Day 9- Augusta to Killington Vermont Day 10- New York, Lake Placid, Vermont at the VVV Day 11- Day 2 of the VVV rally Day 12 - rainy last day at the VVV Day 16- riding south to Gatlingburg. Great day
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This journal is about my most extensive and
detailed tour to date of the Northeast corner of North America. A ride
that first took me through the hills of West Virginia, where I leaned and
twisted for 200 miles, before breaking out across southern Pennsylvania
toward the coast. I spent time in coastal Rhode Island and Massachusetts,
then moved north through Maine and across the border into Canada to my ultimate
destination-Prince Edward Island. 
to the VVV rally. Several members of the ST
community were gathering in Killington for a few days of riding in the Green
Mountains. Many of my good friends were in attendance and I wanted to
spend time riding and socializing. I had a great time in
Vermont.
A veteran of 4 previous Northeast
tours, I
knew what to expect. Because I avoided the Northeast Corridor like the
plague (I-95 from DC to Boston) my resume was void of any coastal riding in the
states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I wanted to change that.
Prior routes were a more westerly crossing, one year I even dropped in by
Canada. Not a bad tactic, but if I wanted to get to the coast, I'd have to
tackle the Corridor.
between the quiet coastal jaunts, small New
England towns, twisty mountain roads, and farmland vistas, I battled traffic
snarling wrecks on I-95, trashy expressways, turnpikes, frazzled commuters, toll
booths, and radar
traps. The price of living on the East Coast. Of course, riding through
West Virginia to get there was a pleasure.
The weather was nothing short of a miracle for
this tour. A high pressure system was locked over the Eastern seaboard for
9 days, driving temps 20 degrees above normal. Temps should be high 60s in New
England this time of year, but I enjoyed mid 80s with blue skies everyday but
one, that was of no consequence, occurring on a short riding day in
Vermont. 
look and hunted me down to pay a compliment about my
motorcycle. Many times passing motorists gave me the thumbs up. In front of cafes, motels, and shopping center lots, I
constantly heard the axim "nice bike." It came from men, women, kids, riders and
non riders, everywhere accolades were heaped on it. I NEVER got one on the 1100,
only a few on the 1300, but this was something else. I don't know if it
was the red color, styling, the BMW roundel, or how I contrasted in my blue riding
gear with the red bike, but I received many, many nice remarks. A whole
new experience for me.
Now
it's time for a magical ride in America's oldest and most complex region.
From the hills of West Virginia, to the coastal shores of Prince Edward
Island. We will pass through the large historical cities of Philadelphia,
Boston, and Washington DC, and visit hundreds of cozy villages New England is
famous for. I walked along the shorelines of Prince Edward, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts
and soaked in their harbor views. Five thousand miles is not a lot miles
in 2 weeks, but I never judge the success of a tour on how many miles I
ride. No, success is rated on the number of roads, people, and places I
see and visit, and on this tour I covered that criteria very well.