World Travelers
China
Delicate white lilac blooms and the rosy blush of peach tree blossoms herald the arrival of spring in Beijing. Some Chinese residents have helped me with the importation of my motorcycle into the country, and now my new friend Pai and I are strolling in the glorious garden of the New Summer Palace. After the long, cold winter I spent in Germany, the...
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 assuming that we are on the brink of light-headedly risking...
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. This lively town is a unique mixture of Spanish and Pre-Columbian architecture...
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 mountain, and glaciated Uhuru, Africa's highest peak...
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 yield huge quantities of that sort of contraband we were waved through in the blink of an eye. Welcome...
Canada: Nova Scotia, A Seaside Sojourn in the Maritimes
I have traveled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes, the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all!– Alexander Graham Bell...
The Colors of Guatemala
When last we heard from them in the tropics, our world travelers Ramona Eichhorn and Uwe Krauss had crossed Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras on their KTM 640 Adventures. They now take us into Guatemala to explore the Mayan heartland of Central America....
Canada: Newfoundland - To Terra Nova
We couldn't recognize much of what the attendant was saying as English, nor did we understand him when he smiled and rattled off a rapid-fire warning, "Yobettagedyoassoutofhere!" But we quickly got the message as the big truck approached. The man's dialect, we later learned, unmistakably identifies him to the rest of Canada as a resident of Newfoundland....
Colombia: The Far Side Of The Moon
Riding a motorcycle around the world is the ultimate learning experience. Take Colombia. Whenever Uwe and I had thought about the northwestern-most country in South America, we immediately imagined drug cartels, chaos, and danger. We could only visualize the dark side of a country whose people have lived through many years of terror. But traveling there,...
Peru to Ecuador: In the Footsteps of the Incas
The cobalt blue waters of Lake Titicaca are dotted with fishermen in their reed boats. At an altitude of 12,628 feet, the air is crystal clear. White clouds hang low over the red and brown hills of the Altiplano, reflected in the mirror-like surface of the lake. Irrigated maize and potato fields line the shore. Low, mud-brick houses with glinting tin...
