- June 11, 2026
- Debbie Hall
Kevin and I have been riding motorcycles together for a long time.
We’ve done highways, back roads, mountain passes that technically close in two weeks, and dirt roads that made us question whether that was actually a road at all. We’ve even traveled through Spain on motorbike.
Our latest thing is Back Road Discovery Routes, known as BDR riding. Remote, off-road, far from everything. Old towns, streams you can hear before you can see, and nobody else around.
I love it.
I’ve written before about how travel feeds my design eye (you can find that in our Design Journey blog series) but this post is a little different.
Over the years, we’ve figured out our travel style. And since summer is here and everyone’s planning something, whether it’s a road trip, a long weekend, or just a few days somewhere different, I wanted to share a few things we’ve learned along the way.
The Sweet Spot Between Over-Planned and Totally Winging It
Kevin and I don’t book things in advance. When you’re on a motorcycle, you don’t know how tired you’ll be, what the weather will do, or what you’ll stumble across. Scheduling hour-by-hour kills that.
But showing up somewhere with no idea what’s nearby? You’ll drive right past things you would have loved.
What I try to do (and what I’m trying to be more consistent about) is researching three to five things of interest in each area before we leave. Not a full itinerary, just awareness. So when Kevin says, “There’s supposed to be something cool about 20 minutes off route,” I can say YES instead of, “I don’t know, should we?”
That’s the sweet spot.
Say Yes to the Weird Stop
Speaking of Kevin saying things, he once told me he wanted to stop at the Zippo Lighter Factory Museum in Bradford, Pennsylvania. I thought it sounded like the most boring detour imaginable.
I was so wrong.
Zippo lighters are lifetime guaranteed. The museum has cases full of them that were run over by dump trucks, flattened completely, and still sent back for a replacement. Soldiers from Vietnam sent in lighters they engraved. Some of them wrote that a Zippo in their front pocket stopped a bullet.
The history in that place was incredible. And when we pulled up, there happened to be food trucks set up outside that day.
It’s one of the trips I remember most.
Here are a couple others worth adding to your radar if you’re roadtripping this summer:
Casey, Illinois
A small town known for having an extraordinary collection of giant things. Giant wind chimes. Giant rocking chair. Giant golf tee. It sounds absurd. It absolutely is. Go.
The Arabian Steamboat Museum in Missouri
The Arabia sank in the Missouri River in 1856. The river eventually changed course, and the boat was found buried in a cornfield. When they dug it up, the mud had preserved nearly everything on board—including bolts of fabric that looked like they’d just arrived from a warehouse. Being in the window treatment business and a fabric lover, I found it fascinating.
Follow the Water
Waterfalls, rivers, lakes…there’s something about moving water that makes a route worth taking. On the BDR routes especially, you’re riding down roads that look barely passable, and suddenly you come across a stream running alongside you, or a waterfall tucked into a hillside that isn’t on any map. Nobody else is out there. You’re seeing something most people never will.
Some of the most beautiful places we’ve found started with Kevin saying “let’s turn here” onto what may or may not have been an actual road. We’ve driven past our turn multiple times before realizing that’s where we were supposed to go. Once you commit, it almost always delivers.
Support Local Wherever You Land
This one matters to me. When we travel, especially through small towns and remote areas, I try to be intentional about buying from local places. A meal at a diner that’s been there for 40 years. A small purchase at a shop that someone built from nothing. A conversation at a bar with people who actually live there.
It doesn’t have to be much. But it adds something to the trip that a chain restaurant or a highway stop never will. And for the towns we pass through, it matters that people chose to stop.
Northeast Favorites—If You’re Mapping a Summer Route
We’ve covered a lot of ground in the Northeast. Here are a few places we’ll return to again and again:
Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont
A narrow mountain pass with steep cliffs on both sides. The road technically closes for winter, and there’s something about riding it knowing that in a few weeks, it won’t be passable. Worth every mile.
Lake Placid, New York
A genuinely beautiful small town. Great energy, great food, great excuse to slow down.
Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes, New York
Waterfalls, gorges, and wine country. The one drawback of being on a motorcycle is that you can look at the vineyards and not much else. (We’ve learned that some wineries will ship.)
The Covered Bridges of Lancaster, Pennsylvania
We rode to as many as we could find and went through most of them. Lancaster is easy to underestimate if you’ve only driven through on the highway. Get off the highway.
Saratoga Springs, New York
Horse country. We knew absolutely nothing about horses when we arrived, and we learned quite a bit just sitting at a bar. It’s that kind of town.
What’s Next
Kevin and I are currently planning our 2026 backroads ride. We’re thinking north, maybe up toward Canada. We’re still mapping it out. I’ll share more once we have a route, and I’d love for you to follow along.
If you want to get those updates, along with design tips, project stories, and the occasional thing that has nothing to do with window treatments, join our email list today.
