Friday, June 6, 2014

C2C50 - OR - Coast To Coast US Highway 50


ONE OF THE LONGEST HIGHWAYS in the United States is Highway 50, which stretches from Ocean City, Maryland, to Sacramento, California, and passes through Washington D.C., Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, Carson City, Lake Tahoe, and Central Colorado. A sign at Ocean City declares this coast-to-coast highway is 3,073 miles long. The Loneliest Highway and the Lincoln Highway in Nevada are both part of the US 50.
Before 1972 legislation shortened Highway 50, the highway went from Sacramento to San Francisco by way of Stockton and Oakland. Yet despite this act of belittlement in California, Highway 50 is still regarded as one of the last coast-to-coast highways that remains intact — since the road to San Francisco was merely replaced with Interstate names. Time Magazine (July 7, 1997) called Highway 50 “the backbone of America”.


From its earliest days, following active indian trails, then widened for covered wagons lead to a two lane asphalt highway today. US 50 winds its way across and through the heartland of America. Today's modern interstates have taken away most of its' traffic, but there are still those who wish to travel on a slower two lane road, seeing America at work and at home. From the small town squares to country covered bridges, this ribbon of asphalt has a story to tell. We aim to find bits and pieces of that history as we sidecar our way west.
Who is we? Well, three Ural sidecarists: Rudy (Muzzleflash) and VW (Lokiboy) both are retired and live in Virginia. Myself, CCjon, makes three. (Haven't met the other two riders yet, so will post their photos later).Our goal is to ride our Russian Ural sidecar motorcycles across the US following US 50, documenting sights and places that make America great and interesting. 
We plan on posting daily (depending of wifi availability) our findings, happenings, photos and progress records on several internet forums and in personal blogs. We invite you to post comments, ask questions, tell us about "must see" places in your area near US 50, or even join us for a day or three of riding. Various Ural dealers along the route will be visited, to mooch free coffee, advice and to meet local Ural owners. We will be both camping or moteling at night, depending on weather and the need for showers.
If you can recommend a good camp site, state park, or can offer a backyard for camping, please let us know. After riding all day we will be exhausted and turn in early, so not many rowdy late night parties for us.

Early to rise, early to snore, makes for a happy Uraler.... lol

Da'mit and I have to get ourselves to Ocean City to start the C2C on June 15th. From Texas we are planning a scenic tour riding the Natchez Trace Parkway across Mississippi, then the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee, finally the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, reaching Meadows of Dan, VA where Rudy and I will meet up, before crossing over to Yorktown, VA to link up with VW. That's a 1700 mile warm up before we start the REAL ride. 
We will try to post our itinerary a few days in advance so you know when and where we plan to be. Would love to meet other Uralists, if only for a cup of coffee and a few laughs.

June 14th - Arrive Salisbury, MD, do recon, bike maintenance and prepare for ride.

June 15th - Start from Ocean City, MD - Washington, DC, stop for night at Sky Meadows State Park, Rt 17, VA.

June 16th - Aurora, WV-  Grafton, WV covered Bridge - Tygart State Park, Grafton, WV

June 17th - Parkersburg, WV - Athens, OH - Hocking State Park, McArthur, OH

June 18th - Chillicothe, OH - Bainbridge, OH - Eaton, OH. Ural dealer Heindl Engineering

June 19th - Bike maintenance, R&R in and around Dayton area

June 20th - Lewiston, IN - Vicennes, IN - Red Hill State Park, IL

That's our first week's plan, but you know what happens to planning once the ride starts....

Thanks joining in on the ride. Hope you enjoy our tales of adventure...

Nite Da'mit

8 comments:

  1. Safe travels CCjon, wishing nothing but good riding and good experiences!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dom, the eve of departure is always a nervous time, no matter how many trips you have made.

      Delete
  2. I am gonna watch this one ! Thank you for the blog!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Welcome aboard Paul, hope you enjoy the ride.

      Delete
  3. Looking forward to hearing of your trip...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Richard, too bad we're not riding thru Florida this trip. Welcome aboard...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh no, two Richard M's.... from different sites and states.

    with this heat and humidity, I wish I was in AK.

    ReplyDelete

please comment here: