Theme based tours

[B]

What kind of theme based tours have you taken?  Historical, food based (BBQ, etc.), architectural, geological, baseball parks, hot springs, museums, etc., etc.  Weird or mundane, doesn't matter.  Just trying to gather ideas for future tours.  Thanks.

[leicrao1]

I am in the process of planning the route for LA to NY in summer 2010. I live in the UK and have only visited US once (San Francisco for a long weekend conference 1997) so I have no prior knowledge. However, I have spotted that, purely by accident, our current intended route goes through the burial places of three former presidents. These are Eisenhower in Abilene Kansas, Truman in Independence Missouri, and Lincoln in Springfield Illinois. A minor detour in the LA area would bring Nixon into the equation as well, and if you were heading through Washington DC towards the end of the journey, you could take in several more presidential graves. More again if you head from there up into New England.

Morbid/fascinating depending on your viewpoint.

[Westinghouse]

I definitely have been on theme based tours in Europe and the United States, but not by bicycle. All my real theme based tours were by car and train.
I cycle to get out and see the world and the countryside and to have a good time.

[lunamoth]

I did a great 4 day ride from Florence to Rome in the summer of 2006. I wish we had given ourselves more time so we could hang out in each city we stayed in. The food was amazing everywhere we went so we always had that "carrot" dangling in front of us not to mention the scenic beauty. The route was Florence>Sienna>Torre Alfina> Viterbo> Anguillara Sabazia. Then a train ride into Rome.  So I guess the theme of the trip was food, art, and history? It was amazing (but a little hot, right in the middle of July). I used google earth to map our route so I'm guessing there are better ways to do this trip. But it's true what they say.."All roads lead to Rome".
I made a 20 minute movie of the trip if you care to check it out.
http://www.solidmedia.com/italy_small.wmv

The next trip I'd like to do is a tour of the vineyards around Austin, Texas. Probably Austin>Driftwood>Fredricksberg>Spicewood>Austin. Something short with wine involved!

-Laura

[Successor to the Professor]

Last summer I noted quite a few theme based tours that made it through Adventure Cycling's office.  Music and literature seemed pretty common.  There was one group of guys that were collecting jokes as they biked across the country.  Some ambitious themes were from people trying to ride to the highest point in each state, or visit every state capital. 

[johnsondasw]

Thirty years of touring with no particular themes--just adventure with friends and family and memories in great detail about each one!