Whether considering an ocean-to-ocean cross-country journey, a vacation ride through the Canadian Rockies, a full-length tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway, or an ambitious Four-Corners ride, Motorcycle Journeys Through North America provides the "big-idea" guidance every rider needs to plan fun-filled motorcycle tours throughout the continental United States and Canada. Emphasis is placed on the very best roads, with expert advice on: When to go Which routes to select Areas to avoid Must-see attractions along the way Places to stay and eat You'll also find plenty of first-hand stories and hard-earned lessons from expert touring riders. The only question that will remain is, What are you waiting for?
Every red-blooded motorcyclist dreams of making the Big Trip--this updated fifth edition shows them how. Choosing a bike, deciding on a destination, bike preparation, documentation and shipping, trans-continental route outlines across Africa, Asia and Latin America, and back-country riding in SW USA, NW Canada and Australia. Plus--first hand accounts of biking adventures worldwide.
This colourful guide lists all the road routes in Alaska with recommended dirt road excursions past mines, mountains and streams. The book includes ideal itineraries, the most interesting side roads, and great places to sleep, eat, and get off your bike to sightsee.
This comprehensive new guidebook to Colorado contains colorful in-depth descriptions of 172 different rides that can be combined in a variety of ways to create the best trips for all riding styles and interests. Each ride is mapped individually, and the individual rides each have their own more detailed maps, along with route descriptions, photos, local points of interest, and historical background information. Regional maps show how the rides can be combined to form journeys from half a day to several days in length, on paved roads or into the back country, or both. Color photos for each ride introduce the incredible variety of terrain, and historical photos placed next to present day shots show how much (or how little) has changed in the intervening years.
This all-new fourth edition of the most popular motorcycle touring guide to New England offers more suggested routes than ever, along with fully updated listings of motorcycle-friendly lodgings and great out-of-the-way restaurants. Motojournalist Ken Aiken leads two-wheeled travelers through twisty mountain passes and beautiful valley backroads to scenic, intriguing destinations in six key regions: the rugged Maine coast, the high notches of New Hampshire's White Mountains, the lush gaps of the Green Mountains of Vermont, the Lake Champlain region between upstate New York and Vermont, the rolling Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, and the coastal delights of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Aiken covers well-known motorcycle-touring roads like Vermont's Route 100, the Mohawk Trail, and the Kancamagus Highway, but his inclusion of little known regional roads frequented by local riders sets this guide apart from others. Altogether, Aiken has carefully plotted 28 trips for motorcyclists, most of them taking one day to complete. Multi-day tours can easily be created by linking adjacent trips. Each trip includes a detailed map and specific route directions. The trips are designed to accommodate various riding styles and audiences, from sightseeing two-up travelers to sport riders bending the curves. Vermont: the Marble Belt, Green Mountain Gaps, the Piedmont, the Northeast Kingdom, Lake Champlain New Hampshire: the Bronson Hills, Seacoast region, Lake Winnipesaukee, the White Mountains, Coos County Maine: Mid-coast, Mount Desert Island, Down East, the Great North Woods, Rangeley Lakes Massachusetts: the Berkshires, Mohawk Trail, Central region Connecticut: Litchfield Hills, Eastern Connecticut Rhode Island: the Gilded Age of Newport
Bill Murphy's recommended routes take the motorcycle rider through Michigan's rural countryside and small towns on roads William Least-Heat Moon famously called "blue highways," with only occasional expressway stretches (if the road meets his aesthetic standards or if it is the most convenient to take in an important site) and jaunts into urban areas (for important tourist attractions, usually historical or motor-related). Murphy's enthusiasm for his mode of travel is irresistible. More than just a book about motorcycle riding in Michigan--and it is that, as nothing before it has been--this is a book about enjoying life's simple pleasures.
Riding America's Backroads collects a fine assortment of the excellent writing and photography regularly featured in the pages of RoadRUNNER Motorcycle Touring & Travel magazine.
William Murphy covers the ground, high and low, top to bottom, in this ambitious guide for the adventurous motorcyclist. Ohio, located in the heart of the nation, is also the heart of the nation's history and Bill points out hundreds of historic sites, museums, and monuments all on the backroads. Bill purposely devised tours that take the rider down these history-filled roads that started out as trails, such as the Sandusky Trail, the Bullskin Trace, Hull's Trace, and more. Each Chapter has a theme such as Following the Water, which includes routes titled: The Great River Road, Lake Erie Tour, The Lake Erie Scenic Byway, and Cuyahoga Valley Canals Murphy explains his enthusiasm and philosophy for wandering: ?I suppose there is a bit of a Kerouac-like romanticism and searching for the meaning of life in most motorcyclists. As was the case with Jack Kerouac in his essay, ?On The Road, ? motorcyclists today also seek and enjoy the adventure that being on the road brings. Whether a teenager on a crotch rocket or septuagenarians on full dressers, every biker finds adventure by being on the road while at the same time satisfying a hard-to-explain need to explore beyond familiar horizons, be they physical or mental.? Maps, mileage charts, and an appendix filled with emergency phone numbers, major hotel and motel phone numbers, motorcycle repair shops and dealers, and a few pages of fun local rides, makes this compendium indispensable for the back road tourist, either on two wheels or four.