Tours

Summer '02 Premium Content

Great Britain: A Special Trip to Wales

First I lived here and then I even spent my honeymoon here and now, a dozen years later, my wife and I return to enjoy once more the wonders of Wales on motorcycle! Some things never change! Like the constant drizzle of rain when leaving the ferry that just took

Summer '02 Premium Content

Cruising Central California's Missions

There's a small window of time for comfortably riding between California's central coast missions. It begins with the blooming of the blue wisteria and ends when they lose their blossoms. You'll even catch yourself looking for these flowers along your favorite roads in the

Spring '02 Premium Content

North Carolina Coast

With the new Le Mans and Stone (on loan from Moto Guzzi) beneath us, Christa and I put them through their paces on a treasured trip along the North Carolina Coast. Goose Bumps Late in the afternoon, with some 80 miles to travel, there's little time for us

Spring '02 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Snowshoe, West Virginia

What's going on in a well-known ski area like Snowshoe in the summer? Daniel, Andrea and I find some answers in this curvy paradise. With that old John Denver tune looping around my mind, I lead my brother Daniel and his girlfriend Andrea from Winston-Salem, NC, toward Snowshoe,

Spring '02 Premium Content

Europe: Andalusia & Murcia, Spain

Five sunny days amid blooming trees, unspoiled nature reserves and empty roads in an inviting corner of southeast Spain. Our spring vacation begins in Alhama de Murcia, some thirty miles northwest of the Mediterranean port city of Cartagena. Jan's Kawasaki ZX-9, Matthias's BMW and Regina'

Spring '02 Premium Content

West Coast Wonders

Most famous for their gorgeous coastlines, Washington, Oregon and Northern California offer any visitor an array of sights and sounds. But further inland the Pacific Northwest also harbors a host of surprises for the motorcycle traveler. This time out, the Promised Land lies between San Francisco and Seattle  -  the

Spring '02 Premium Content

Tibet: The Road to Lhasa

There it is, 20 horsepower of 1940's technology that will carry me on a truly once-in-a-lifetime adventure. I have always wanted to visit Tibet but never in my wildest hallucinations did I expect to do it on a motorcycle. The plan is to depart Kathmandu, Nepal, and cover

Spring '02 Premium Content

Highway 50 - Coast to Coast

As the days of my retirement drew closer, the most asked question by my co-workers was "What are you going to do when you retire?" My standard answer, "It's not what I'm going to do but what I'm not going to

Fall '01 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Dillsboro, North Carolina

Deep, hanging clouds at 7 a.m. and the heavy raindrops tell us we have to wait. Some four hours later, the wait is over and it's time to call Garry, and start our tour of the Nantahala National Forest. We meet at my home in Clemmons  -

Fall '01 Premium Content

France, Provence: A Great Escape

For centuries, Provence in Southern France has served as a refuge for victims of persecution and for people who are just plain tired of modern civilization. Alone with my thoughts, I sit on the summit of Mont Ventoux surrounded by a large landscape of rocks and boulders. If you have

Fall '01 Premium Content

Nantahala

A half a million years ago, tectonic plate movement in the Atlantic Ocean caused a massive upheaval of solid granite that eventually became the Appalachian Mountains. These lofty peaks at one time were over 100,000 feet high. Exposure to the elements, the many epochs of glaciation, and time itself

Fall '01 Premium Content

Finland: Northern Highways

2,500 miles around Finland and Lapland on a Yamaha TDM 850 and a BMW 850 GS (Translation by Colin Brunskill) We took the night ferry, the M/S Finnpartner, from Lübeck, Germany, to Helsinki and after a calm crossing left the ship shortly after 7 a.m. At this

Fall '01 Premium Content

Adirondack National Park

A visit with our son Florian at his ice hockey camp in Lake Placid, New York, this July presented an excellent excuse for Christa and I to explore the Adirondacks. But if you happen to be anywhere close - you won't need an excuse. However, you will need

Summer '01 Premium Content

Great Lakes Escapade

Destination USA doesn't always have to be the much-visited Southwest. Foreign visitors, who think only of red boulders and dry desert expanses in association with the US, should think again. A vast gamut of alternatives runs everywhere. In this case, a tour of the Great Lakes region in

Summer '01 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Marion, Virginia

Poring over my maps on a lazy Sunday, another rainy day in March, I felt restless. The urge to ride was almost overwhelming and I could hardly wait for the first warm days of spring to start the next tour. The winter had been long and cold, fairly unusual for

Summer '01 Premium Content

Italy: Cypress Scented Vacation Time in Tuscany

Bewitching mixtures of scenic beauty, fabled lore and the lure of an amazing culture highlight a memorable tour of Tuscany. Inhaling the invigorating fragrance of the cypress groves above the small village of Castagneto Carducci, we listen to crickets and enjoy the freshening breeze that ascends from the nearby coast.

Summer '01 Premium Content

Thailand: Along the Mekong

Swirling clouds of red dust calm and slowly settle. The droning rattle and hum ceases. Four strange figures emerge from the murk with vividly colored bowls on their heads. They step away from unusual contraptions that look like bicycles, only bigger. And the sound they produce is very peculiar. It&

Spring '01 Premium Content

Blue Mountain

Driving through the Rockies means getting a real out of this land of wonderful landscapes, fantastic lookouts, rockin' backroads and friendly people. Andi Seiler got it. The radio is turned up. Steppenwolf's 'Born to be Wild' is resounding from the speakers, sunshine is back after

Spring '01 Premium Content

Deals Gap

'Hey guys, tomorrow something exciting is going to happen,' remarks 'Tiger' Christian at dinner, putting on a smug smile like a Cheshire cat sitting in front of its Christmas turkey. It doesn't matter that it is only October. Somehow, everyday is Christmas in the

Spring '01 Premium Content

Italy, Sardinia: Universe in the Mediterranean

Five motorcyclists had enough of the long cold Austrian winter. They left to find spring. Between the turquoise blue sea and the blooming flowers they found it in Sardinia. They, like everyone else who travel Sardinia, will definitely be back. 'This is like a fairy tale. Or is it

Spring '01 Premium Content

A Day on the Road

Brrrrr...my alarm clock is ringing. Half asleep I blink at my watch. What! seven o'clock already? Right, we planned a motorcycle trip - Christa, my wife, Gerald, our friend, and me. This tour will be a little trip in the surrounding area of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A

Spring '01 Premium Content

Costa Rica & Panama

Some motorcyclists from Europe pushed forward into a different world. The vacation through Costa Rica and Panama ended up with a lot of adventures and surprises.Note: This tour happened before the American operators of the Panama Canal and the US Army pulled out of Panama at the end of

Spring '01 Premium Content

Austria, Slovenia and Italy: Cappuccino Time

Surrounded as they are by the Alps and enveloped by the cold, many Austrian bikers consider the long wait for the arrival of May and June to be a dangerous time. Why? Because the urges produced by their "motorcycle hormones" can drive them absolutely nuts. It is the