Tours

May/Jun '08 Premium Content

Northern Indiana

Transportation has a rich history in the USA, and a lot of it can be found in northern Indiana museums. So pull out your maps and start planning a trip to the flatlands of northern Indiana. You'll even see a little living history too. I'm very

May/Jun '08 Premium Content

British Columbia - Pacific Rim Tour

There can't be too many places people travel to in order to watch the weather. But every winter patrons cram the hotels lining Long Beach on Vancouver Island's west coast and do just that. The next stop from there is Japan, and the 5,000-mile

May/Jun '08 Premium Content

Mexico, Part 2: The North

A Mexican in a white sombrero rides his donkey on the dusty gravel road in front of us. His appearance in this deserted region presents an unexpected opportunity to ask if he knows of a shortcut through the mountains of the Sierra Madre. Squinting, he scans the surrounding hillsides. Perhaps

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

In Arizona and New Mexico

It's hot, an "airless" afternoon, when I park the K1200R and hike across bus-sized boulders to Spider Rock Overlook at Canyon de Chelly. I snap my camera onto the tripod to take a self-timer shot, set the shutter and pose near the edge. Just

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Maine

The biggest, wildest state in New England, Maine is also the first state in the union to catch the light of the rising sun. As a September dawn wakes me in Kennebunkport, the nearby routes along this storied coast exert a very strong pull - nearly 3,500 miles of beaches,

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Eastern Kentucky Round Trip

The wondrous back roads of Eastern Kentucky unravel in crazy-quilt complexity. Hewn from time-scarred mountains and rising and falling along creek bottoms and ancient hunting trails, they wriggle in madcap fashion through boundless forests and hidden hollows. To a motorcyclist, it's country like this that represents

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Edmonton to Alaska

Joining a band of motorcyclists on an annual run to Hyder, Alaska, we rode north from Edmonton to celebrate Ron Ayres's 1998 feat of smashing the Iron Butt record (riding to 48 states within 10 days) in what is now called the 48 Plus! Iron Butt Ride. Making

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Mexico, Part 1: The South

Traveling northwest from Guatemala, we reach Chiapas. Mexico's southernmost state is referred to as "Mundo Mayas," the gate to the world of the Mayas. At 6,900 feet, in a densely forested valley in the mountains of the Sierra Madre, lies San Cristóbal de las Casas.

Mar/Apr '08 Premium Content

Western Maryland Shamrock Tour®

The Appalachian Mountains, once reaching Himalayan-scale heights, are among the oldest on earth. Erosion-resistant sandstone sustains their rounded green shoulders, while limestone undergirds the verdant valleys. Yes, there are many attractive features in the western highlands of Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia; but the most appealing of all

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Sturgis and Deadwood, South Dakota

The biker hordes have yet to arrive for the annual Black Hills Motor Classic Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. I have this majestic and surreal landscape mostly to myself for the next several days to explore. Buttes, bison grazing on rolling grasslands, the infamous town of Deadwood, South Dakota, historic

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

Along the Trans-America Trail

After surviving the unexpected floods in the Utah desert caused by the most rain the area had seen in the last 60 years, Jeff and I are on to the next, and hopefully drier, state of our cross-country motorcycle adventure. Goat Trail to Iceberg Peak In the far northwest

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

RoadRUNNER's Five-Country Europe Tour

The dog days of summer have slowed life to a crawl, with seemingly endless triple-digit temperatures scorching everything in sight. As I ride home after dark, even the sliver of moon hanging low in the early evening sky is on fire. Battling traffic, impatiently waiting for lights while inhaling

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

Burke's Garden, Virginia

Years ago, Kathy and I met a fellow rider while touring the Virginia mountains. As residents of Asheville, North Carolina, at the time, we thought one of his tales was unusually curious. It seems that the beautiful location of our city's crown jewel, the Biltmore Estate, was really

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

East Africa

The horizon is pink and yellow and purple and we are airborne, high above East Africa. Our destination is close  - Mombasa at the Indian Ocean. Some 200 miles south of the equator in northeastern Tanzania, we see the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro. The rising tropical sun catches the flanks of the

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

Tour of the Week: Williamsport, PA - Round Trip

Like most American kids, I had my baseball heroes. The exploits of Roberto Clemente and Brooks Robinson inspired me to pick up a glove and take to the diamond. Though the mitt eventually gave way to a soccer ball and dirt bikes, I always managed to tune in to ABC&

Jan/Feb '08 Premium Content

Touring Southern West Virginia

The history of West Virginia, the only state established as a result of the Civil War, is defined by its location and geology. Allegedly split in personality, it has simultaneously been called the most southern Northern state, the most northern Southern state, and the most eastern Midwestern state. Seceding from

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Helen, Georgia

Smoky Mountain roads are quiet places, especially in the morning. Turn off the key and listen. Beneath the engine's cooling ticks, the subtle sounds of nature close in. The ever-present breeze dances with leaves above the clear streams tumbling from ancient mountains. Birds and crickets call, then

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

From Bismarck to Pierre

Arriving in the city of Bismarck after driving through the grasslands of North Dakota for a couple of days is a slight shock to the system. And though it only has a population of 55,000, Bismarck's big streets and noisy traffic are as far removed from the

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

Along the Trans-America Trail

Year to year, under normal conditions, most riders don't contemplate getting very much riding in on the trails in Colorado and Utah after September. But for my Canadian friend Jeff Sherren and me that couldn't be helped, and it was already October by the time we

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

Scotland

"Glenlivet it has castles three,/ Drumin, Blairfindy and Deskie,/ And also one distillery,/More famous than the castles three!" It's not Glenlivet we're visiting on our Edelweiss Royal Tour of Scotland, but tiny Cardhu in the village of Knockando on the River Spey. The

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

Canada: New Brunswick

Our crossing from Maine into New Brunswick was quick and easy. We only had to stop long enough to answer one question: "Do you have any alcohol with you?" We had some wine and beer on board, but since the tight spaces on motorcycles are seldom thought to

Nov/Dec '07 Premium Content

Long Island Scooter Tour

Long Island, in geological time, was born yesterday. Glaciers that created this 120-mile long, fish-shaped pile of rock and sand began retreating some 22,000 years ago. Sea levels rose in concert with the thaw, completely encircling the land mass 11,000 years later. Today, it's

Sep/Oct '07 Premium Content

Mountain Magic

As many people live in California as in the whole of Canada, so you'd expect the state to be pretty crowded. And around the major conurbations that's certainly true. But much of the Golden State's northern territory is wild, mountainous, thinly populated, and etched

Sep/Oct '07 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Tupelo, Mississippi

Yesterday's soupy clouds have dissolved in Mississippi blues. Nearby, two boys playing tag dart past, disappearing around a signal corner  -  one side of the shotgun shack in which Elvis Aaron Presley entered this world on January 8, 1935. As their shouting fades the sound of rustling leaves returns.

Sep/Oct '07 Premium Content

Along the Trans-America Trail

When we landed this assignment, I couldn't have told you why taking a trip across America on the "worst" possible roads sounded so appealing. Maybe it's because off-road riding doesn't even exist back home, in densely populated Germany. Or perhaps it&