Tours

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Hunting Mountains in the Heart of Dixie

Years ago while on our way back to college in Western Maryland, my friend Rick and I stopped at a wide spot by the road next to the Potomac River. We simultaneously picked up rocks and hurled them into the current. Rick opined that it's impossible to stand

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Iron Country Getaway

Industry and the Ohio River go hand in hand. Mighty tugboats muscle teams of barges laden to the waterline with raw materials destined for factories and power plants along the banks. Despite the fact that Ohio may not be experiencing the best of times, it is obvious that this area&

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Northeast Africa: Fear & Roving in Africa

If not for these unnerving roadblocks all the time, Egypt could be really enjoyable. A boiling hot ribbon of tar takes us through the densely populated Nile Valley. Palm trees lining the shores of the mighty river rush by. The lush green sugarcane plantations are dotted with workers dressed in

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Through Trees of Stone

The wind howls across the Arizona plains as I aim a Honda Gold Wing 1800 toward the Petrified Forest National Park on US 180 east. I lean the 850-pound machine into the gusts to hold a straight line. The Painted Desert spreads before me  -  a vast horizon of cracked

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

Bakersfield, California Shamrock Tour®

Arriving at John Wayne Orange County Airport, the "Neuhauser Motorcycle Gang" is excited to begin their explorations in yet another area of Central California. In the next few days we'll roam over four loops in the Bakersfield area and our base, the Four Points Sheraton, is

Mar/Apr '05 Premium Content

The Land Chief Joseph Lost

On a blue-sky July day in tiny Joseph, Oregon, a carpet of golden grassland stretches north to the horizon, hemmed by a line of sturdy, white-topped mountains. So much land, so few people. You'd think there would have been enough to go around. And there almost

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Charleston, South Carolina

Call me crazy, but I have this firm belief that motorcycles should be on a trailer for only two reasons: mechanical issues and the absence of a license tag. If you want to ride somewhere, ride to get there. This goes for scooters too. When I told people I was

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Alaska

Tired, I stumbled into the airplane. Heading for Seattle on a BMW K 1200 GT, I had left Spokane at five o'clock in the morning. Four hours later, I spotted the city skyline, made for the airport and eventually fell into my seat totally worn out. Only a

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Riding the Royal Road: Australia's Princes Highway

The Hume Highway is a one-day straight shot of superslab, notorious for the fleets of truck convoys thundering over its tarmac, their drivers reputedly addled by sleep deprivation and amphetamines. Aussie bikers call it the "Gloom and Doom," and avoid it like warm beer.Then, there'

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Egypt: Eventually, All Roads Lead to Egypt

Our ridiculous predicament in Ras Ajdir, the small border post between Tunisia and Libya, began three days ago. The slow emigration procedures on the Tunisian side of the border had taken ages and we arrived dead-tired late at night, obviously not the best of times to cross a frontier.

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Southwestern Wisconsin

As the miles roll on across the Southern Wisconsin countryside, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that agriculture is big around here. This fact is certainly not lost on my wife Kathy, occupying pillion. Each time the large fields of stock change, she announces it

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

High-Country Idaho

One of the most absurd advertising taglines ever conceived to appear on a license plate has to be the one chosen for the drivers in Idaho: "Famous Potatoes." Arguably, the Gem State contains the highest concentration of eye-popping scenery in the US, with its soaring, snowy mountains,

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Crossing the Delaware

The Delaware River was treacherous with ice on Christmas night 1776 when General George Washington led 2,500 Continental Army soldiers across in small boats during a snowstorm. A bold and dangerous mission, but one that quickly led to a stunning victory over the British and Hessian soldiers occupying Trenton,

Jan/Feb '05 Premium Content

Eureka Springs, Arkansas Shamrock Tour®

My destination, Eureka Springs, an authentic nineteenth-century resort tucked away in the Ozarks, is 992 miles away. While on my way and passing through the Smokies, it was 37 degrees and sleeting. The next afternoon in Arkansas, it was 92 and bright. Quite a contrast, and it set the

Nov/Dec '04 Premium Content

In and Around Washington's Cascade Range

The Cascade Mountains of Washington State are subjected to the regular four seasons of the northern calendar: Nearly Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction. So, it's no surprise to find those familiar orange diamonds indicating road repairs on Highway 2. But this summer, a new, more ominous sign

Nov/Dec '04 Premium Content

Missouri

I'm 38 years old and I've only been west of the Mississippi River by air. Today, that all changes. As the miles tick down to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the anticipation is beginning to grow. If I'm going to tour Missouri, I have to complete

Nov/Dec '04 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Portland, Oregon

As we dismount in the parking lot of Mount Hood's Timberline Lodge and gaze at the still snow-draped peak that towers above us, Christian proclaims, "I'm blown away. It's like God created the world in six days, and then on the seventh,

Nov/Dec '04 Premium Content

New Zealand: Canyons and Water Crossings

I don't like heights and what stood (actually, swung) between us and the other side of the 450-foot-deep canyon was a single-lane wooden suspension bridge that appeared to be doing the Mambo in the high wind. Ah, New Zealand, the land where bungee jumping originated,

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Northern Arizona

I awake in Flagstaff to a dusting of snow on the trees and bushes. More of the same is heaped upon the naked rock that crowns Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona. This sharp summit, stretching 12,633 feet above this old railroad town, tears holes in

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Norway: Wild, Scenic Fjord Country

Want to explore Europe's wild North? Then traveling western Norway between the historic city of Bergen and Geiranger, along the secluded coast and over the central mountains with its demanding rides around Dalsnibba and Trollstigen, is your best bet. When the Fjordlines ferry Bergen opens its jaw-like

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Eastern Ohio

Why did the black snake cross the road? I don't know either. Maybe he's fleeing to higher ground from the floodwaters that have recently plagued the Eastern Ohio countryside. Maybe the critters on his menu are just a bit more succulent on the other side. Either

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Missouri Rhineland

Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet left the first written account of the land that became Missouri after descending the Mississippi River in 1673. Today, Father Christian Neuhauser, his wife Christa, and their sons Manuel and Florian are on the road with Aprilias and Piaggios to follow their trail. Fathers

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

In search of Washington's Coastal Mountains

At a Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group meeting the president looks over and says, "Robert's just back from an interesting trip."And perhaps a bit too smugly I begin to sketch the details of my recent tour of Washington's Olympic Peninsula; 700 miles in three

Sep/Oct '04 Premium Content

Shamrock Tour® - Williamsburg, Kentucky

Two-lane asphalt snakes its way through steep mountain gorges sculpted over millions of years by rushing streams. Lush vegetation presses in from all sides, often overarching the road and blotting out the sun. My feet and hands move with practiced precision, downshifting, tapping the brakes, leaning deeply into the

Jul/Aug '04 Premium Content

Appalachian Trails

Most riders and drivers prefer to wait for autumn's cavalcade of color for scenic tours along the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway. In the summer, these outrageous roads are packed full when loads of city slickers escape the lowland humidity for picnics and maybe some napping in