I enjoy weeklong bike trips and take at least one of them every year, but an overnight or long weekend tour is great for getting away when your time and funds are limited. Plus it's easier to rely on the weather when you just have 2-3 days to deal with. I've also been thinking more about taking some overnight tours where I stay in hotels rather than camp, which opens up a lot more possibilities for routes. With camping, you pretty much have to make your destination a park or national forest where there are campgrounds, and then hope you find an open site and have good weather. Around here, we've been having afternoon and evening thunderstorms almost every day for the past month, which makes camping a challenge. Plus, it doesn't cool off much at night and I have trouble sleeping outside when it's hot.

Some friends and I are spending 2 days riding the length of the New River Trail in SW Virginia next weekend. I had initially thought about camping but couldn't talk my friends into that, so we're staying at nearby hotel and riding from the midpoint of the trail to and end and back each day. We'll ride about 50 miles each day, eating lunch at the towns on either end, and have nice cool/dry hotel to stay in at night.