Tours

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

Coast to Coast on the Cross Country Part II: Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri via Route 50

The cool, dry May, desert air carries a slight nip as it pours over the Victory Cross Country's short windshield and proves an excellent adjunct to the pick-me-up qualities of our breakfast caffeine. The early morning traffic is light, the road lonely, and in the distance, the fabled

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

Riding and Eating in the Berkshires, Massachusetts

It's one of the ironies of motorcycling — you sit there on the bike, the motor doing all of the hard work, and you get hungry. Really hungry. It's understandable on a bicycle, your legs pumping like Lance Armstrong and your furiously beating heart making you regret

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

Las Vegas to San Francisco

Everybody warned me not to go through Death Valley in summer, but nobody said a word about Las Vegas! So I find myself in the stop-and-go traffic on I-15, as I try to get out of the city. The thermometer on the bike shows exactly 105 degrees. Underneath my riding

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Hannibal, Missouri

Designate a pivot point for the Midwest and it could surely be Hannibal, MO. Located on the Mississippi River north of St Louis, MO, and south of Quincy, IL, it's darn close to dead center. It's the bastion of Midwest "manners," a mix of

Jan/Feb '11 Premium Content

Reader Ride: Michigan

Thirty years ago, in an attempt to replace a native herd hunted to extinction in the 1920s, the state of Michigan re-introduced elk to the Pigeon River State Forest. A great success, a large herd of the impressive beasts now call the northeast corner of the lower peninsula home. One

Nov/Dec '10 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Bristol, Virginia

A late spring tour in the southern mountains often brings rainstorms along for the ride. On the way to Bristol, the dark and ominous clouds chase us wherever we go. Then, finally, in Jefferson, the rain gets a hold of us and doesn’t let go until we get back

Nov/Dec '10 Premium Content

Apostle Islands, Wisconsin, and Minnesota

The rustle of autumn leaves and the sight of a golden pumpkin can bring back memories of high school football games, neighborhood battles of Kick-the-Can, and the sweet smell of leaded exhaust from your first bike. This kind of nostalgia can be dangerous, especially if you still own a bike

Nov/Dec '10 Premium Content

Part II: Four-State Anasazi Archeology Tour: Utah, Arizona and New Mexico

The modern-day popular media has often portrayed the Anasazi people as having mysteriously vanished without a trace. Some have even implied that there is a paranormal or extraterrestrial explanation for their “sudden” disappearance. In our quest to better understand the more earthly explanation for the Anasazi’s disappearance, Steve and

Nov/Dec '10 Premium Content

Part I: California, Nevada, and Utah via Route 50

While the Interstate Highway system may be the quickest way to wheel from sea to shining sea, it certainly lacks the personality that most motorcycle travelers seek. On the other hand, the process of discovering small towns, local color, and scenic stretches can eat into those precious vacation days. Well,

Nov/Dec '10 Premium Content

Malaysia, Motosikals & MotoGP

Malaysia Tourism asked RoadRUNNER if we'd like to come and see what this booming Asian country has to offer. The roots of this tour really began back in 2008 when I rode a Borneo expedition with the "Bumi Bikers," a large group of prominent motorcyclists active

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

The International Selkirk Loop

Here we are in Castlegar, Nelson can't be very far. Climbing out of Castlegar on Highway 3, the view of British Columbia below is so captivating that I pull over to fully appreciate it. The Columbia River glistens in the afternoon sun like the chrome on the 2009

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

East Texas

And left my self-respect, on down the road I guess. And they won't catch me. I planned my getaway. And things are lookin' great 'cause it's a one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight..."Longneck"by The Von Ehrics* The raucous vocals and jackhammer drum lines of Texas

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

Southeast Asia

Our plan is to not have a plan; to let things happen by chance. Herbert and I have spent a good part of our lives riding to the last corner of this big round rock: 40 years and 595,000 miles collectively - enough experience to rely upon. This time,

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

New Mexico and Colorado

It's early September and the summer tourists have abandoned the 130,000- square-mile red rock landscape known by geologists as the Colorado Plateau. It contains the largest concentration of scenic wonders in America. Roughly centered where the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona meet, the plateau

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Greenwood, South Carolina

When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road."Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon ..."Amersham 2411. I still remember her phone number." His

Sep/Oct '10 Premium Content

Reader Ride - Shaniko, Oregon

Don't call it a ghost town; Shaniko, OR, has maintained a population of 30 people. A far cry from the turn of the 20th-century town that billed itself as "the wool capital of the world." By 1911, a competing railroad line diverted much of the town&

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Lake Superior - Canadian Side

Two countries, one lake. On the US side, Lake Superior abuts small towns, local businesses, and large industrialized cities. People abound. Yet, along the Canadian border, with the exception of Thunder Bay, the land is pristine, green, and seemingly untouched by man. As John, Jim, and I continue our Circle

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Central America - Moto Mundo Maya, Part 2

As we continue our journey through four time zones and seven countries, we cross the border (frontera) from Mexico into Guatemala, near El Carmen. We're surrounded by chaos. At least a dozen pushing and shoving street hustlers encircle us, yelling simultaneously in Spanglish that they're the

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Nebraska Outlaw Trail

What motorcyclist doesn't feel a kinship with America's cowboys? Our bikes have saddles, not seats. We use saddlebags for storage, not a trunk. And, of course, we wear boots, not shoes when we ride. So, when the opportunity arose to tour Nebraska's romantic Outlaw

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect that it will cease to be divided."Abraham

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Death Valley, California and Nevada

The roads between Nevada's Amargosa Desert and California's Panamint Valley are as much about big sky and land as they are a connection to the area's historic past. It's a place where myth meets reality and the remnants of that union-abandoned mining

Jul/Aug '10 Premium Content

Reader Ride - Eastern Ohio

Ohio boasts one of the highest numbers of registered motorcycles in the nation, and for good reason. The rolling hills that dominate the southeastern corner of my native state are laced with twisting ribbons of asphalt that offer some of the best motorcycling found anywhere. I have ridden Ohio'

May/Jun '10 Premium Content

Southern California - Reader Ride

Where else could one ride less than 200 miles and experience the Pacific Ocean, the mountains, and the desert, but in Southern California? Take into account that it's virtually always sunny, rains less than 45 days a year, and temperatures generally hover between 60F - 85F. Throw in

May/Jun '10 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Mountain View, Arkansas

We race toward the setting sun, darting from curve to curve along Arkansas' Route 14. A glance at the odometer verifies that the miles have really piled up since our departure from North Carolina. But the welcome climb into the foothills of the Ozark Mountains is reenergizing a couple

May/Jun '10 Premium Content

Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia

Soaring 186 feet above the Chesapeake Bay, on its 4.3-mile namesake bridge, our motorcycles seem to have slipped the surly bonds of earth. Enormous ships glide silently below and seagulls follow our exhilarating descent onto Kent Island, MD. Another bridge crossing and we'll arrive on a rural