Lord willing, I'll be on the road at the crack of dawn Thursday headed for the Great Smokey Mountains. Gonna make Asheville, NC. the fist day so I can do the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee first thing Friday morning. I plan to meander aimlessly thru the mountains for the next 2 days and then head back home. This will be a solo trip at my pace and I'll stop whenever I damn well please. For me, this is what riding is supposed to be, free as the wind. No clocks, no schedule, nobody to answer to or for.
Later in the summer, August prolly, I'll make a second pilgrimage with a group of about 5 riders. Things will be totally different on this second ride. For them, all that counts is the miles that roll under your wheels. Last year we covered about 2300 miles in 5 days.