Tours

Jan/Feb '06 Premium Content

Charleston to Cincinnati

Well mama said, "Son before you goThere's something I want you to doPromise me that you won't go wrongAs you travel down Highway 52."With a map spread across our table at a rooftop bar in Charleston, South Carolina, we began calculating the daily

Jan/Feb '06 Premium Content

Eastern Arkansas

The light slanting through the slit in the blackout curtains seems to indicate the day has dawned bright and sunny. Slowly, like a tortoise, my dream-fogged head extrudes from the dark shell of the motel room at the door and swivels in the outside world. Yes, it's a

Jan/Feb '06 Premium Content

Old Salem to Williamsburg via Virginia Highway 40

Ah, vintage motorcycles  -  No matter how well you plan and prepare, nothing seems to quell the mischievous nature of the little gremlin that seems to reside in all things carbureted. An irksome imp whom I oh-so fondly call #*@%^$ occasionally visits my 1978 Kawasaki KZ650C. Unfortunately, the little rat decided

Jan/Feb '06 Premium Content

New Zealand: The Land of The Long White Cloud

In a state of complete mental exhaustion at the airport in Auckland, I refuse to believe what the voice at the other end of the telephone line is saying: "You wanna collect two motorbikes from us? Shipped from Australia, you say?" An ominous, long silence follows. "I&

Jan/Feb '06 Premium Content

Oman and a Woman

Arabia, the home of Aladdin and Sinbad the Sailor, has always intrigued me, and I eagerly signed up when friends began planning a motorcycle trip to Oman. As dual-sport bike riders, we especially wanted to get off the pavement and see Oman's backcountry. So there I was, flying

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Western Colorado: Mesas, Mountains, and Mines

The road from Silverton to Ouray is one of only three I've wanted instantly to go back and ride again (Wyoming's Bear Tooth Pass and British Columbia's Duffey Lake Road are the others). Colorado 550 turns into a snake slithering down, around, and across

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Canada: Quebec, Gaspé Peninsula

Setting out from Lake George, New York, we arrive a few hours later at the US/Canadian border in North Troy, Vermont. A Canadian officer checks our passports and waves us on with a cheerful "Bon voyage!" Christa and I are on our way to Montmagny, Québec, to

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Spokane, Washington

With the licence perhaps only a realtor (as was his profession) would dare employ, Seattle pioneer C. T. Conover is responsible for Washington state's nickname, The Evergreen State. It might look that way from the Emerald City, but as Christian and I raced along the Snake River Canyon

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Southern Minnesota

Even though Minnesota lies halfway between the east and west coasts, it's not one of the dry prairie states. Millions of years ago, retreating glaciers took care of that, leaving more than 15,000 lakes behind. So, there's always water around the corner. Apart from that

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

A Gem in Eastern North Carolina

We had planned to tour this historic area of the North Carolina coast for quite a while but the weather was always too uncooperative, making us reschedule the trip week after week. Finally, when The Weather Channel virtually guaranteed a stretch of sunny days with no rain, we quickly packed

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Australia: From The Snowy Mountains to Chilli Beach

The clear icy waters of the Snowy River are framed in yellow leaves and the nearby ski slopes of the Snowy Mountains wind through the wooded hills. It's the end of May and winter knocks on the door in the southern hemisphere. To escape the cold, we'

Nov/Dec '05 Premium Content

Lithuania: A Two-Up Tour

Slightly larger than West Virginia, Lithuania seems to have it all: huge dunes and forests, seashore, lakes, impressive architecture, and above all, a people with a strong desire for freedom. No longer hidden from the world in the gloom of the Iron Curtain, Lithuanians led the fight for independence in

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Central Alabama

Where is it? I know it's around here somewhere. After all the pictures and movies, it shouldn't be that hard to spot, yet for some reason it seems to be eluding me in the early stages of the tour. Oh well, they say patience is a

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Carving Canyons in Utah

Torrey would be an unremarkable small town in Utah but for two things: the soaring crimson cliffs of the Capitol Reef National Monument that overlook it, and Highway 12, which ends there. Arguably the most exciting motorcycling road in the state, it's a 100-mile continuum of fast, open

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Eugene, Oregon

"Skinner's Mud Hole" is hardly a name civic boosters would use to attract settlers to a new city. But in 1852 that's what everyone called the township Eugene Franklin Skinner established on the banks of the Willamette. Following his first spring there, when the

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Northwest Washington

Shelly Harper, owner of the "destination shop" Scooter Stuff, tells me "Business is great." I've stopped by her solitary store on a quiet country road close to Whatcom Lake in Northwest Washington to see what it's all about. Oddly, though, there are

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Australia: An Outback Excursion

I don't know what came over me. What on earth was I thinking? After one year spent traveling across Africa and its numerous border crossings, I had become an utterly cynical creature of habit, all too used to victimization at the hands of frontier officials. Those hands, I

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Portugal: Curves, Culture, Cuisine

Either the flight to Portugal took more out of me than I thought or my normally nutty dream pattern has been kicked up a notch. Somewhere within the jet-lagged haze of a nap, a distant cuckoo clock chimed fifteen, paused, and began another rhythmic announcement of an hour well past

Sep/Oct '05 Premium Content

Scranton, Pennsylvania

What is it about riding the back roads that creates such an intimacy with the surroundings? Maybe it's the heightened sense of awareness that's required for this type of riding. The mind is wide open, processing not only the sights, but the rhythms and even the

Jul/Aug '05 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Ashland, Wisconsin

Nightfall, and after a long tiring ride we turn into the drive of The Inn at Timber Cove, our tour base camp. Hidden behind old, massive trees, this romantic Bed and Breakfast lies in a lush green meadow. The owners Tina and Brian Miller escort us to our cottage and

Jul/Aug '05 Premium Content

Rhode Island

An hour out of the Big Apple on my 2004 BMW Rl150R, I spy surly, fat, gray clouds rushing belly-up behind me in the mirrors. I, in turn, rush east on the super-slab of I-95 through Connecticut. I'm on my way to begin my tour of the biggest

Jul/Aug '05 Premium Content

South Africa: Between Cape and Kingdom

Braai (equivalent to an American barbecue) is the first word in Afrikaans that many travelers learn simply because they're invited to them so often. Having a braai involves grilling something over a fire, from huge succulent steaks to whole fresh fish. And it always tastes very lekker. In

Jul/Aug '05 Premium Content

Medford, Oregon

Commitment isn't what it used to be. Each New Year's Day millions commit to lifestyle changes that last, on average, two weeks. Couples vow " 'til death do us part," yet divorce is commonplace. True commitment  -  a parachute jump, for example  -  offers

Jul/Aug '05 Premium Content

Arkansas

Farm tractors churning earth on either side of I-40 west of Memphis have created finely powdered clouds the prairie gusts tumble over the featureless landscape. Target: Gold Wing. Thanks to the conspiratorial workings of Mother Nature and John Deere, the grit slowly building on my sunscreen-slathered face has inspired images

May/Jun '05 Premium Content

Florida Panhandle Tour

The R rule is one of the seafood basics I remember from my younger days on the Chesapeake Bay. If a month contains the letter R, it's OK to eat oysters. My destination is the Florida Panhandle, the month is February, and the Apalachicola area of the Panhandle