Blue Ridge Blues and BBQ - Motorcycle Tour - New Orleans to Nashville

Let the team at EagleRider know if you want to arrive a day or two early to kick around New Orleans a bit before meeting up with your Tour Guides and fellow travelers at an Orientation Meeting. Our hotel is in the heart of the French Quarter where New Orleans retains much of its French colonial influence. This unique American city is famous around the world for its culture, cuisine, and music but go easy in the Big Easy, as we’ve got some ridin’ to do tomorrow.

Today we pick up our bikes from our Eaglerider location in New Orleans and ride out to spend the day exploring one of the Antebellum Plantations and gardens, soaking in the landscape and cultural history of this special region. Tonight, will be all about our Welcome Dinner and celebrating the beginning of our amazing experiences together.

We’ll begin our ride today by rolling out of New Orleans by way of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, at 24 miles it is the longest bridge over water in the world! From there we spend the day riding the backroads of Mississippi, experiencing our first towns along the Blues Trail we’ll be following for a few days. Tonight, we get to explore the great blues town of Natchez, on the banks of the Mississippi.

Today we continue to immerse ourselves in the history of the Mississippi blues. Blues Trail markers riddle the countryside giving insight to the history of the blues and marking the locations where places or events shaped the blues and our understanding modern music. We’ll explore parts of the Natchez Trace and ride through plantations of cotton. The food, well, that goes without saying. It’s a menu of soul food, BBQ, and sweet tea. Before arriving at our hotel, we will visit the B.B. King Museum. The museum commemorates the famous blues artist B.B King, who was born in the area. Tonight we will stay in the Town of Indianola and take in the local flavors of the Mississippi delta.

Today we continue our journey through the heart of blues country stopping at Dockery Farms "The Birth Place of The Blues" to see where it all started. No tour of the delta would be complete without a stop in Clarksdale to see the crossroads where it's fabled that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be able to play the blues. We will arrive in Memphis early enough to see Sun Studios, One of the city’s most important Rock and Roll icons. which discovered the talents of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison. Tonight, we will dine Memphis style Bar-B-Que and take in some live shows on Beal Street, a national historical landmark which showcases the impact Memphis has had on the Blues and Jazz. Legends such as Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Memphis Minnie, and most notably B.B. King, all helped develop the style known as Memphis Blues.

From Memphis we’ll head out of Tennessee and into Alabama where we’ll have time to explore the famous city of Muscle Shoals. Since the 1960s, the city has been known for music – developing the "Muscle Shoals Sound", as local recording studios (including FAME Studios in the late 1950s and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969) produced hit records that shaped the history of popular music. Tonight, we’ll spend along the shores of the mighty Tennessee River in this lively music and arts district.

Today we head North into the foothills of Tennessee for a beautiful day of riding on our way to Lynchburg. Home of the world-famous Jack Daniels Distillery Where we will have a chance to visit the distillery and have lunch in the historic town square. Tonight, we’ll land in the Country Music Capital of the World – Nashville!

We hope you had a wonderful tour with Eaglerider, and we’ll see you on your next great motorcycle adventure!