OBJECTIVE:

Provide a forum for discussion of motorcycle touring, to include articles about motorcycle touring and camping, experiences one has when motorcycle touring, "lessons learned" and other things to read when not out riding!

BRIT TOUR 2001:
I spent the last two weeks of August, 2001 and the first week of September touring parts of the United Kingdom, including two weeks riding around England, Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland on a motorcycle. Check out the story - the text summary is at http://www.oocities.org/docrws You can follow links from that story to see pictures and more summaries of the trip, such things as touring London, pictures of riding conditions, towns and museums, and other sights. Hope you enjoy it.

OZ TOUR 1999:

I spent the last two weeks of November, 1999 touring parts of Australia, including 9 days riding around New South Wales and Victoria on a motorcycle. Check out the story - I had to open a new geocities website just to hold it (7.5Mb worth of files). The text summary is at www.oocities.org/paladinbiker/index.html#top You can follow links from that story to see pictures and more summaries of the trip, such things as touring Sydney, pictures of riding conditions, towns and pubs, and other sights. Hope you enjoy it.

MOTORCYCLE TOURING ARTICLES:

• !NEW! H.A. Hawkins and Touring Texas in the '30s - story and photos about Gypsy touring in the Texas panhandle before World War II by his daughter, who also drives Harleys.

• Bike's Home Page is Dennis Margeson's site. It has several articles (revised monthly) about touring, especially in the American Southwest. Worth a read once a month, especially over the winter months if you're up in the snow country!

• !NEW! Paco's Stories is Paco Rabell's site. It has several good touring articles about going to Alaska and other stuff. Some good stuff and worth a visit if you plan any long rides.

• Black Hills Motorcycle Classic is an article I wrote in 1995 about the rally in Sturgis, SD. I added some links to web sites which can help you enjoy the Sturgis experience (whether you go or not!).

• Komfortable Kamping by Cathy Seckman, taken from Mar/Apr '99 Winding Roads Motorcycle Times, a 'zine in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Right Coast. Cathy tells about her experiences in learning about camping. Don't wanna reinvent the wheel? READ HER ARTICLE!

• Mapping Web Sites by Doc Smith, April, 1998, is a quick review of Web Sites that can be used to make maps or get rudimentary travel/trip plans, whether you're driving across town or across the country.

• Trip Planning Software, also by me, April 1998, is a quick review of some computer software which helps you plan fairly detailed trip plans or itineraries, including directions, places to stay, places to eat, things to see, what roads are under construction ...

• The Saddlesore 1000 by "Dakota Deb", one woman's "thunder run" from Cheesconsin to Montana in a 24-hour 1000+ mile butt-tamer (and on a small Harley, loaded with camping gear!!!). You go, girl!!

• The Paris to Dakar Rally, 1998", by Bob Higdon - from the grand old scribbler himself! This is about a race (cars, trucks, bikes - but only the bikes are covered here) from Paris, France, down to Spain, over to Africa, across the friggin' Sahara desert (well, a bit of it) to Dakar, in Senegal, on the west coast of Africa. Eighteen HELLACIOUS days of snow, mud, sand, whew, you name it, the riders had it! Must read!!!

• "Motorcycle Camping", Doc Smith, Winding Road Motorcycle Times, July/Aug 1993, an early article of mine on m/c camping.

• "1999 Iron Butt Rally", Bob Higdon, unpublished manuscript, Sep 99, another of Bob's outstanding efforts, this covers the 1999 Iron Butt rally. This is a very good accounting of the '99 rally.

• "1997 Iron Butt Rally", Bob Higdon, unpublished manuscript, Sep 1997, an outstanding report of the events of the 1997 "Iron Butt" Rally, a motorcycle rally in which 78 riders went from Illinois to Maine, Florida, California, Washington State, then back to Illinois in 10 days, picking up points by visiting checkpoints. Truly fine writing and the story makes a "ripping good yarn". Contact Higdon for rights to use this outstanding piece of moto-journalism. Check out the Iron Butt page for more details about this elite facet of motorcycle touring.

• "Motorcycle Camping Guide", Bill John's, from Wet Leather, Another excellent article on m/c camping.

• Daytona: Bikes and Babes - NOT ON MY SITE so there may be some delays getting this page, but here's a review, with photos, of street scenes at Daytona Beach, 1998.

LESSONS LEARNED, TOURING TIPS:

• Montana explained - see the latest memo from the great state of Montana, explaining what you'll see and experience when your touring takes you there. Close the window to return to this page. Provided by good friend Debi G of Pennsylvania. Thankee, Debi!
• Moose's Ride Around the U.S." - NOT ON MY SITE so I don't know how long he's going to have it available, but Moose, one of God's Frozen People (Canadian/Canadien in his case) took a 3 month ride around the perimeter of the U.S. in 1998. He has a trip diary and some truly outstanding photos - mostly scenery, some of his red GL 1500. Good site, check it out!

• "The Comfort Laden Campout" How-to guide to camping light and comfortably, submitted by Michael "Cyberrider" Baribeau

• Sydney, Australia has cameras mounted to photograph miscreants. Read this text file for a description of the locations of the cameras. After reading the article, use your browser's "back" arrow to return to this page.

• Do you have enough "money for European touring"? Here are some useful thoughts on how to handle your dough in Europe.

• Gotta real need to "ride the mountains of Europe"? How about a healthy dish of info, advice, and facts about European mountain riding, passes and weather, for the high ground in a number of European countries.

• Are you still feeding that fantasy that someday soon you will "take your Hawg to Europe"? Here are some useful tips and info for you. No advice on how to handle all the Europeans who'll want a ride on your cool bike . . .

• Here's some more general information to help you plan to "tour Europe"? Check out this bit of advice from a touring rider in Europe, or check out some of the web sites on my links page.

• So you say you wanna "tour Mexico"? Here's a bit of info, advice, phone numbers and other advice, or go to Bob's World for more help.

RIDERS' STUFF:

If you people don't send me any, I'll post my own!

• Well, few people have sent me stuff to post, so in response to great demand (well, one person's begging), I've added a page with motorcycle-related humor.

• Here are some sound effects which you might enjoy. I've included instructions on how to connect them to "events" in your Windows 95 computer (assuming you have a speaker on your system).

• Here's a poem you might find interesting. It was written in 1849 but seems to capture the spirit of motorcycle touring. It's called "El Dorado" and was written by Edgar Allen Poe. Some may remember a western (movie) with John Wayne and James Caan of the same title, that also used the poem.

• Here's one rider's experiences touring Nevada.

• Same rider, touring Idaho (No, you da ho')

• And another - Ruidoso, New Mexico & the Golden Aspen Rally

LESSONS LEARNED: