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[benswing]

I'm leaving for a month long road trip on June 16th and hope to meet some of you!  Here is the general plan right now:

June 16 - Ride from NYC to Centreville, VA (near Washington, DC)
June 17 - Appear for showing of Kick Gas in Richmond, VA
June 18 - Go to Electric Vehicle Owners of DC meeting in Silver Spring, MD
June 19 - Ride from Centreville, VA down Skyline Drive to Blacksburg, VA
June 20 - Ride from Blacksburg, VA to Asheville, NC
June 21 - Stay in Asheville, ride around the mountains
June 22 - Ride to Robbinsville, NC
June 24 - Stay in Robbinsville, NC to ride the Tail of the Dragon & other amazing roads.
June 25 - Ride from Robbinsville, NC to Nashville, TN
June 26 - Stay in Nashville, TN
June 27 - Ride to St. Louis
June 28 - Attend wedding in St. Louis
June 29 - Fly to NYC
              Swing Dance performance at Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing
July 7 - Return to St. Louis
July 8 - Ride from St. Louis to Chicago
July 9 - stay in Chicago
July 10 - Ride from Chicago to South Bend, IN
July 11 - Ride from South Bend, IN to Cleveland
July 12 - Stay in Cleveland
July 13 - Stay in Cleveland
July 14 - Stay in Cleveland
July 15 - Ride from Cleveland to Rochester, NY
July 16 - Ride from Rochester, NY to Colgate University
July 17 - Ride from Colgate to Montreal
July 18 - Ride from Montreal to Quebec, City
July 19 - Ride from Quebec City to Montreal
July 20 - Ride from Montreal to Wolfeboro, NH
July 21 - Stay in Wolfeboro, NH
July 22 - Ride from Wolfeboro, NH to Boston
July 23 - Ride from Boston to Providence, RI
July 24 - Ride from Providence, RI to NYC

That is the basic plan!  Most of the first half is pretty well set, but the second half is still subject to change. If you live somewhere near any of these places, let me know and let's ride together! 

I'm also looking for a place to stay in St. Louis, and will need to leave my motorcycle there for the week when I fly back to NYC.  Let me know if you would like to meet up or if you know of any events or Zero dealerships along the route. 

I have far less time to plan than anticipated, and I hope to see as many electric motorcycles as possible.  I'm already planning to ride the Tail of the Dragon with ultrarnr in NC, and would like to see more of you along the way. 

[kensiko]

How do you plan to ride that many kilometers a day? Do you have chademo ?

[oobflyer]

Lucky! I would offer you a place to stay and charge, but I don't see California on your itinerary ;-)

Will you be blogging? Have a great trip!

[benswing]

I wish California was on the itinerary!  Can't wait to hit the roads in VA and NC on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway! 

I have 2 Elcon 2500W chargers, so I can do between 200-300 miles per day.  I have done 250 miles in a day going from NYC to DC.

The key piece of equipment that allows me to get to the fun roads (like Skyline Drive & the Blue Ridge Parkway) is a cord with a NEMA 14-50 on one end and J1772 on the other end.  I can charge up at any RV campground.

Will look into blogging.  I want to post updates regularly, but don't have a place to put them up yet. 

[protomech]

If you haven't made other arrangements, I can offer you an air mattress in Nashville and a 120V socket.

[benswing]

i happen to have a place to stay in Nashville, but we definitely need to go for a ride together!

[motorfiets]

Would like to see your bike when you come through Nashville!

[Doctorbass]

July 17 - Ride from Montreal to Quebec, City
July 18 - Ride from Quebec City to Montreal

Great!

I have a Level II J1772 charging station at home for my Volt and my Zero and alot of various power supply to fast charge any battery up to 125VDC  and a 240V 40A plug and a place for sleeping if you need!

It will be a pleasure to meet you in Quebec and maybe take a ride with you on our Zero and make a visit of Quebec city with you.

Doc

[benswing]

It's almost time!!!  I can't wait to ride some of the great roads of the Appalachian mountains like Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

Please let me know if you are near any of my stopping points and I hope to meet up with you along the way.  I'm already planning to meet with people in NC, TN, and Quebec.  I won't have time or internet connection to figure out where everyone lives, but hopefully we can ride together somewhere along the way. 

If you are on facebook, my profile name is Benswing Rich.  I will probably update facebook most (so my mom knows I'm okay)   

[Justin Andrews]

Have a safe ride! 

Wishing you clear skies and a following wind.

[benswing]

Thanks guys!  So many stories to tell, but need to sleep now!

Latest odometer reading...

[protomech]

Looking forward to your Nashville visit.

[benswing]

Arrived in Nashville last night, looking forward to meeting a couple of forum members in the next couple of days! 

1,861 miles on this trip
250-300 miles each travel day

Met up with evdjerome in Blacksburg and ultrarnr at Deal's Gap.  ultrarnr and I rode the Dragon (in NC) 3 times and spoke with dozens of bikers about electric motorcycles!  They were very interested in our Zeros and the Harley announcement.

Roads included:
Skyline Drive in VA
Blue Ridge Parkway in VA & NC

in NC (basically the top 5 roads on http://www.motorcycleroads.com/best/?c=109)
The Dragon
Cherohala Skyway
Hellbender 28
Mount Mitchell

Looking forward to riding around TN for a bit before heading to St. Louis!

Charged at Ford or Nissan Dealerships, RV Parks, Chargepoint stations & Blink stations. 

Here is my first ride of the Dragon (it gets pretty good around 3:19, but I am not a racer nor do I pretend to be.)

[BSDThw]

How Cool is that - LOL

[benswing]

Longest ride so far: 372.3 miles.  Began riding at 6:45am, arrived at destination at 10:30pm.  Now sleep.