USA - Rock 'n' Roll Highway - 2011

Ride your motorcycle on the Rock ’n’ Roll Highway!

MC-Travel arranges a two week long blast of a musical tour to the most holy wells of rock music. A guided motorcycle tour full of musical events within rock ‘n’ roll, blues, country and cajun music.

We will visit the cities of Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans, and on the way we will visit museums, record studios and other places of importance where we get close to many of the legendary musicians and artists.

The motorcycle tour is made up by our guide, singer and songwriter Nils Maaetoft, who has travelled and also performed in the area during the last 25 years.

Listen to Nils’ music and check his MySpace profile here: www.myspace.com/freshoillooserock.

Read biography about Nils Maaetoft here:
From raunchy rock 'n' roll to ol'timey and back 

This is a unique opportunity to get into close contact with rock ‘n’ roll music as a life style and at the same time obtain an insight in the development of the music from primitive folk music to modern entertainment business.

The motorcycle tour Rock ‘n’ Roll Highway:

Day 1: Major European airport – Atlanta, Georgia.
Departure from major European airport and arrival in Atlanta. We are quartered downtown, and we will have dinner at the legendary “Hard Rock Café” and subsequently briefing about the tour.

Day 2: Atlanta – Nashville, Tennessee. Approx. 350 km.
We pick up our motorcycles and set off for Nashville. A beautiful drive that takes us across the Cumberland Mountains before we arrive at the capital of country music.

When we have taken up our quarters, the evening is at your own disposal, and there are plenty of possibilities of listening to music. You can go to “Printers Alley”, to the small music venues at “Lower Broadway” or maybe to the clubs “Bluebird Café”, “Douglas Corner” or “Station Inn”.

Day 3: Nashville.
Visit to the “Country Music Hall of Fame”, “RCA Studio B”, “The Ryman Auditorium” and maybe shopping at “Green Hills Mall”. We will spend the evening at the “Grand Ole Opry”.

Day 4: Nashville.
The day is at your own disposal. You can visit the clubs at Lower Broadway – “Tootsies Orchid Lounge”, “The Bluegrass Inn”, “Roberts” or others – dependent on the programme of the evening.

Day 5: Nashville – Lynchburg, Tennessee. Approx. 250 km.
Departure for Lynchburg, Tennessee, where we visit the Jack Daniels’ Distillery. We drive on to Tupelo, Mississippi, and visit Elvis Presley’s childhood home. After that we drive on to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and visit the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. We take up our quarters in the precincts of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Florence.

Day 6: Lynchburg – Memphis. Approx. 200 km.
Departure for Memphis and a visit to Graceland, where you will have various museums to choose between. Of course there is the home of Elvis Presley, but his car and aircraft museum is also worth visiting.

Day 7: Memphis.
Visit to downtown Memphis (Sun Studio, Beale Street, Stax Records Museum, etc.).

Day 8: Memphis – Clarksdale, Mississippi. Approx. 250 km.
Departure for Clarksdale (the Capital of Delta Blues). We are quartered at “The Shack Up Inn”, which is a quite fantastic bed and breakfast block, consisting of old plantation workmen’s houses, also called shotgun shacks. Visit to the “Delta Blues Museum”.

Day 9: Clarksdale.
Tour to some of the famous places at the Mississippi Delta. Maybe a visit to the “Stovall Plantation” (Muddy Waters’ childhood home).

Day 10: Clarksdale – Lafayette, Louisiana. Approx. 300 km.
Departure for Lafayette. We will spend the evening at the “Restaurant Prejeans”, where we will enjoy the fabulous Cajun food (alligator, oysters, crawfish, shrimps, Gumbo and Jambalaya among other things) and dance to Cajun music (two-step and waltz). We will be quartered near Prejeans.

Day 11: Lafayette – Mamou – New Orleans. Approx. 280 km.
Early departure for Mamou, LA. Visit to “Fred’s Lounge” for a radio broadcast with live Cajun music and festive atmosphere from 10 to 13 o’clock. After that, departure for New Orleans, where we will stay the night downtown in “The French Quarter”. New Orleans (in French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is also called “Crescent City” because of the shape it has assumed due to its siting along the Mississippi river. The nickname of the city is “Big Easy”. The city is renowned for its night life with all kinds of restaurants, bars and music venues.

Day 12: New Orleans.
The day is at your own disposal. You can visit the “Farmers Market”, “Café du Monde”, get on board a paddle steamer and take a sail on the Mississippi or maybe just go shopping.

Day 13: New Orleans – Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Approx. 350 km.
We leave New Orleans and drive along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile, Alabama, and on to the holiday village Fort Walton Beach in Florida. On the way we will have lunch just outside Mobile, Alabama, at “Ed’s Shed” – a restaurant where you can have alligator steak and watch its wild fellow species swimming around just below the terrace where we are having lunch. Of course, you may choose a more traditional lunch.

We arrive at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where we will be staying at a hotel on the beach. We will spend the rest of the day bathing and relaxing on the beach.

Day 14: Fort Walton Beach – Atlanta, Georgia. Approx. 550 km.
The day starts early. We leave the beach and head north to Montgomery, Alabama, and on to our hotel in Atlanta, situated near the motorcycle rental company. We will have a farewell dinner and stay the night in Atlanta.

Day 15: Atlanta – major European airport.
We start the day by handing over the motorcycles, and afterwards we will go sightseeing and shopping the rest of the day. In the afternoon, we drive to the airport and fly back to our departure destination.

Day 16: Arrival.
Arrival at our departure destination. We say good-bye, hoping that you have had a fantastic tour, and, to the motorcycle touring enthusiasts, until later – we look forward to seeing you again for other fantastic motorcycle tours at destinations out in the world.