Motorcycle Culture
City Portrait: Syracuse
Refuge from the relentless glare and insistent heat of the day's sun, the night is soft around the edges. Streetlights glow in the humidity with a luminescence that blurs the sharp contours of brick, old and new. Sounds float muted but distinct on the evening air – melodious jazz from a live band, intimate laughter, the throaty gurgle of big twin...
City Portrait: Bar Harbor, ME
Bar Harbor is located on Mt. Desert Island just north of the midway point along Maine's Atlantic coastline. The shoreline looks more like pieces of it are crumbling into the ocean than it does permanent terra firma, but this landscape typifies the storied look of the rocky New England coast where waves slamming against the seaside cliffs explode in...
Krisy Kreme: Hot & Now
What is it in this big, round world about a hot, glazed doughnut? After all, we've learned a lot about the food we eat, and we've been trying to get healthier for years. No more smoking, frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, egg-beaters, veggie burgers, low-fat, low-cal – and generally not much of it very tasty. But in the midst of the health craze,...
Hollister
Thirty-five miles east of Monterey Bay the small but growing town of Hollister welcomes you. New homes, most inhabited by an overflow of Silicon Valley's workforce, spread across its rolling grassland, with many a backyard overlooking precisely manicured golf-course fairways. But on every July 4th since 1997, in sharp contrast to this middle-class...
Travels on a Triumph
Redmond, Oregon: Early Sunday morning. I awoke to the sound of zippers. Nothing signals the end of a rally more than the swoosh of sleeping bags being stuffed into compression bags and the sound of tent flaps opening. Over 6,000 tents were spread out at the BMWMOA national rally; and with no two of them alike, they all put out a different sound. Somewhat...
Washington State:
Bonnie and the others invited along for a week of laid-back motorcycling – cruising Washington's beautiful Mount Rainier and the Cascades – had commitments at home in New Jersey. As for me, I was as free as Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson in the 60's classic Easy Rider. Free to soar on a Harley-Davidson plucked from Cruise...
A Bandit Digs Into the Mother Lode
Eureka! "Thar's gold in them thar hills" and everyone – even outlaws with in-laws in tow – is coming to strike it rich. The 'poor' ghosts of James Marshall and John Sutter would find it easier to put the sins of the world back into Pandora's box than to stem the tide of discovery they wrought....
Winter or Summer, Ride to the North Jersey Shore
Exiting Garden State Parkway's #114, south of the reeds and grasses of the tranquil Cheesequake estuary, a trip on Harley's Road King to New Jersey's north shore can be more rewarding than just another day at the beach. Panoramic vistas, educational exhibits, hiking trails, occasional wildlife sightings, musical rock groups, and good food may be enjoyed...
An Interview with Burt Richmond - Tourmeister, Lotus Tours
You can’t publish a magazine on motorcycle touring without knowing Burt Richmond, the founder of Lotus Tours and one of the creators of the motorcycle touring industry. We were curious and intrigued by his company’s motto “You supply the helmet – we supply the adventure.” A quick review of the Lotus Tours website revealed...
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 future. Carol and I were only waiting for the perfect weather....
