Riding northern Colorado means climbing through the Rockies and cruising past wide-open cattle country. The roaming up and down near the Wyoming border encompasses some of the most thrilling areas for motorcycling we've experienced.

Of all the towns named in honor of Marie Antoinette after the American Revolution, the one in Georgia probably springs to mind first to most of us. But on this tour, we've traveled north and west not south to visit another royal namesake on the banks of the Ohio River. This Marietta, once a crucial cog in the anti-slavery movement and the Underground Railroad, is a part of the south only to the extent that it's in southern Ohio, a beautiful region that welcomed us with bright sunshine, blue skies, and slow-flowing streams.

After two years absence from good old Europe, Christa and I are back to refresh our memories of the twisties in Austria and Italy. Great weather and an unusual heat wave welcome us when we arrive at the Munich Airport. Daniel, my brother, picks us up, and immediately he starts babbling about the tour that we've planned in the Dolomites.

Late in March RoadRUNNER sent me south to the Sabine River Delta around Lake Charles, Louisiana, and on into East Texas to explore four National Forests and the Gulf Coast. That sounded like a top-notch trip. But from studying the map, it appeared the trip might include too many entrance-ramp cloverleaves and horizons stretched with oil derricks. Happily, those assumptions proved grievously wrong in travels through a landscape filled with great blue rivers, lakes, green pastures, valleys, rolling hills, and lonely white beaches.

Back in the States after escaping the heat wave in Europe, the Neuhauser family - Christa, Manuel, Florian, and I - are still on the run. This time it isn't the heat; it's some unbearable NC humidity. Thankfully, our next big adventure calls us to Central California, and the butterflies begin when we finally take our seats in the cool dry air of the jet to San Jose.

The motorcycle manufacturers are always very imaginative when coming up with new names to create a new market. But though this name game usually succeeds in the marketing world, it's also a source of mystification for many motorcycle enthusiasts. Why am I talking about this? Because a couple of days ago some biker called my Triumph Tiger a crotch rocket and today another biker pointed at the Multistrada and said, "Nice funbike." "What do you mean?" I asked.

There are only a few bikes that can claim to belong in the category defining the best long-distance bikes in the world. We tested two of them, the Honda Gold Wing and the BMW K1200LT-E - both outstanding touring bikes but very different.

Fresh air has been blowing through the Moto Guzzi factory in Mandello del Lario ever since Aprilia took over, and owner Ivano Beggio has made sure the entry class wasn't left behind. The company's 750cc Breva is a lot of fun for beginners and old hands alike.