Planning on riding Southern NJ to Raleigh NC (June '26) - Any Recommendations/Suggestions Please?

[South Jersey Dave]

I'm thinking to taking my '23 RTL from my home in Southern NJ to visit my son in Raleigh NC sometime in June. I'm thinking of going about half way one day and the other half the next day. I've never done an overnight on the bike and I've never taken it more than maybe 100 miles or so.

I don't mind some time on the interstates, but I'd prefer not to spend too much time on them if I can help it. Any suggestions as to what might be a nice route, places to stop along the way (both for a rest, something fun to see or a place to spend the night), and lodging recommendations in the Raleigh vicinity would be appreciated.

Hell, any suggestions about ANYTHING having to do with the trip would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Woodaddict]

From Front Royal, VA, you can do Skyline Drive, 35 mph, that goes into Blue Ridge Parkway, 45 mph, maybe down to Roanoke, VA. Then angle over to Raleigh.

 

[racoon]

If you go to maps.google.com and ask it for directions from your location to your destination it defaults to freeways.

But if you click the Options link on the left side you can tell it to Avoid Highways, which shows more interesting routes.

And if you don't like a specific section of the route it plots you can drag and drop the route line to a new route.

And you can then send the route to your phone.

If you use a Garmin GPS you can do similar things Garmin Basecamp/Garmin Express, just not as easily.