Jul/Aug '15 Premium Content Trans-America Trail, Colorado to Oregon: Detours, Broken Bones, and New Friendships As if on cue, my new riding partner, Luke Swab, rolls into Fairplay, CO, on a Yamaha WR250R, where I am waiting to meet him by the side of the road. I’m relieved, yet I’m apprehensive to have a riding partner. The first half of the journey had
Jul/Aug '15 Premium Content Reader Ride–Utah Highway 12: It's the Journey and the Destination In my impetuous youth, I felt the kickstand was my sworn enemy. I was one of those guys who wore continuous hours of saddle time as a badge of honor and total miles for the day like the crown jewel on my riding tiara. In my more mature years, I
May/Jun '15 Premium Content Trans-America Trail, Tennessee to Southern Colorado: Banjos, Tears, & Corn Nubbins I have arrived in Tellico Plains, TN, and the official starting point of the Trans-America Trail (TAT). It took thousands of miles just to get here, but as I prepare to make my first turn onto the trail, I feel a weight and a reality of what I am
May/Jun '15 City Escape: Seattle, Washington > This circuit includes Seattle's own volcano, Mount Rainier, climbs over the 5,430-foot Chinook Pass, goes through Mount Rainier National Park, and returns via the Puyallup River valley. Park entry fee is for motorcycles. Stop in charming Elbe and take a two-hour steam train ride
Mar/Apr '15 Premium Content California and Oregon: High Sierra Hoedown Call it unfinished business, if you will. In 2006, I collected a Ducati Multistrada 1000 DS from Southern California Motorcycles in Brea, CA, and set off to tour the northern Sierra. My trip would include most of the famous Golden Chain Highway, California 49, through the foothills and over the
Mar/Apr '15 City Escape: San Diego, California This exhilarating day ride emanating from San Diego comes within a quarter mile of the Mexican border at its southernmost point and reaches an elevation of almost 6,000 feet to the north in Mount Laguna. In addition to the elevation and terrain changes, this route has the added attraction
Mar/Apr '15 Premium Content Wyoming and South Dakota: Where Indians Roam Again Given only rough guidelines and a new touring motorcycle, I set off to explore Wyoming on two wheels following the Sturgis Rally in August. My goal: bring home a “living with proof” report on what Indian Motorcycle calls the best of their best, the Roadmaster. Impeccably suited to fit on
Jan/Feb '15 Premium Content Washington—Olympic Peninsula: Water Rules The Olympic Peninsula is not only surrounded by water on three sides—it is ruled by the wet elements, which forms a unique place in the Pacific Northwest. Whack! This could go so wrong, I think to myself. Just before the salmon hits the faces of the surprised customers, the
Nov/Dec '14 Premium Content Colorado Rockies: Mountains, Mesas, and Monsoon Season? What a difference a day makes. Riding the ski lift at Crested Butte, my wife, Sharon, and I attempt to watch both the alpine panorama unfolding ahead and the shrinking festival grounds below where Lukas Nelson’s band POTR is performing to a growing crowd under a sapphire blue sky.
Nov/Dec '14 Premium Content Maui, Hawaii: Jungle vs. Paradise When I finally booked my ticket to Hawaii for the first time, I had no idea what was in store for me or how it was going to change my life. Honestly, I would have never bought the ticket if it weren’t for a friend that I met four
Sep/Oct '14 City Escape: Los Angeles, California Northbound > A great northern escape from Los Angeles is through Ojai and the Los Padres National Forest, which is commonly considered the “better way” of getting to the Pacific Coast Highway from LA (between Cambria and Carmel). Best rides are in the fall when central valley temps drop below 100
Sep/Oct '14 Premium Content Reader Ride–Colorado High Country: Back to My Childhood Home Our 2012 Honda Gold Wing purrs as we head south on U.S. 6 through the beautiful Spanish Fork region. It’s Day 2 of our seven-day journey from Eagle, ID, to Golden, CO, where I grew up. I look forward to sharing my home turf with Howard, my
Sep/Oct '14 Premium Content Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington: The Scenic Way I’m standing in a fine Japanese garden, and I’m looking at a volcano—an exotic combination. I didn’t have to go too far. This is neither Tokyo nor Mount Fuji. I’m in Portland, OR. Toward the east, the snow capped peak of Mount Hood is clearly
Jul/Aug '14 Premium Content California: Extremes in America’s Far West This is not the best way to start our trip—but what shall we do? Today is one of those many days when the fog from the cold Pacific rules San Francisco’s weather. We had planned to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and then cut east. But in
Jul/Aug '14 Premium Content Weekend for Two: Paso Robles, California When you head on tour with your special someone, you aren’t just looking for nice roads and pretty views; you’re on the hunt for a place where you can relax, unwind, and enjoy some quality time together. That’s just what you’ll find in Paso Robles, CA.
Jul/Aug '14 City Escape: Denver, Colorado > Dual sport Colorado in a day! The twisty paved roads of Jarre Canyon connect to the sandy forest of Rampart Range and return you to pavement among the stunning rock formations of the Garden of the Gods before soaring 14,115 paved feet of elevation on Pikes Peak. Ride
Jul/Aug '14 Premium Content Midway, Utah Shamrock Tour®: Where the Swiss Settled It’s the fourth day of our adventure in Utah. We skip breakfast to get an early start as meteorologists are calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highway 40 takes us out of Midway past Heber City and Daniels Summit Lodge toward Strawberry Reservoir. The low sun provides warm light.
May/Jun '14 City Escape: San Diego, California > This ride travels to Julian, an old mining town, in the Laguna Mountains. Roads wind through a picturesque country setting, into the mountains, and down through the desert. The Julian area is most beautiful during the springtime, and the Anza Borrego Desert is cool enough to ride at that
May/Jun '14 Premium Content Deadwood, South Dakota Shamrock Tour®: The Black Hills and Beyond “My hat is off to South Dakota Treasures … Go to South Dakota, but drive there. It is so near to us all and yet I never knew, nor had ever heard much about its southwestern treasure house ….” — Frank Lloyd Wright Motoring west across the Great Plains, we see the dark
Mar/Apr '14 Premium Content Reader Ride: San Pedro, California-The Long Way Home San Pedro enjoys a mild year-round Mediterranean climate with cool ocean breezes and usual temps around 72 degrees. In addition to easy access to kayaking, skin diving, mountain biking, hiking, surfing, and sailing, it also happens to be a great place for motorcycling. I ride my 2003 Triumph Bonneville
Mar/Apr '14 Premium Content Idaho, Washington, and Oregon: The Lewis & Clark Trail By fall 1805, the Corps of Discovery was following Lolo Pass through the snow-covered Bitterroot Mountains. The men were near starvation when Sergeant John Ordway recorded in his journal: “We followed down the main creek about 4 miles had nothing to eat but Some portable Soup we being hungry
Jan/Feb '14 Premium Content North Dakota and Montana: The Lewis & Clark Trail When the Lewis & Clark Expedition departed Fort Mandan on April 7, 1805, Lewis noted in his journal, “we were now about to penetrate a country at least two thousand miles in width, on which the foot of civillized man had never trodden; the good or evil it had in
Jan/Feb '14 Premium Content Salem, Oregon Shamrock Tour®: Over the River and Through the Woods Dense stands of old-growth conifers line ribbons of smooth asphalt that climb from the crashing waves and rolling fog of the Pacific Ocean to the desolate lava fields and craggy peaks of the Cascade Range. Despite 30-degree temperature swings, the weather is perfect. Welcome to Oregon. Early on
Nov/Dec '13 Premium Content Colorado: Off Road Across the Rockies I could stay on I-70. It crosses the Rocky Mountains in a couple of hours—but this would be a waste of landscape and adventure. Here in Colorado, America’s major mountain range offers one fantastic and rare opportunity. You can cross it almost completely off-road. Not in
