Motorcycle Travel Stories, Living Life and Growing Older .
Remember when I told you that I had three reasons for riding my new Husky 350 dirt bike in Moab? Well, today I accomplished reason number three on Hell’s Revenge trail; scaring the holy shit out of me. Mr.Bruce aka Maddog on his Black cow Kawasaki decided to take me on our last day on […]
Read More Moab Motorcycle Ride Final DispatchJules (Samuel Jackson): Mmm-mmmm. That was a tasty burger. Vincent (John Travolta) ever have a Big Kahuna Burger? Ralph (aka Trawlercat): Mmmmmmmm. That was a very tasty elk burger; after having just eaten at Milts hamburgers in Moab. Bruce, have you ever seen a really really large ant hill? Of course I have I was […]
Read More Moab Motorcycle Ride Dispatch Day 5And just like that someone yelled out around 0900-1000 this morning, let’s suit up boys; while three other major events are now happening nearby. Welcome to the Mckinney bootcamp condo of trail riders. This morning after day four it feels like my body has been subjected to a dirt bike bootcamp; four days in; I’m […]
Read More Moab Motorcycle Dispatch Day 4“I learn by going where I have to go.” —Theodore Roethke This is the first update about a small group of dirt bike riders who came together in April of 2023, for a week of riding in and around Moab, Utah; on trails with names like Fins and Things; Chicken Wings, Five Miles of Hell, […]
Read More Dispatch 1 – Moab, Utah Dirt Bike Motorcycle RideFor some men, nothing is written unless they write it themselves. —SHERIF ALI ON T.E. LAWRENCE IN LAWRENCE OF ARABIA Welcome to the first daily dispatch of stories as our group starts out on an adventure ride to Alaska. This story is far from the first one written about an adventure to our last American […]
Read More Road to Alaska Dispatch 1“If you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” —Muhammad Ali The roads we were on yesterday getting to our eco resort was one of the most scenic or boring roads at the same time this side of the Guatemala border. Picture a two lane highway winding through the jungle with […]
Read More Dispatch from Chiapas Day 11Today is our first down day since we arrived in Santa Fe, Mexico City by motorcycle. We are now at an elevation of 8500’ and staying in a high end AC Hotel by Marriott, a five star hotel with a crappy restaurant. The hotel beds, linen, heated pool and other amenities make this an excellent […]
Read More Dispatch from Chiapas Day 5Welcome to Mazatlan and our second day of riding. We’re now in the land of coconut trees, beautiful beaches and warm sunny weather. We are safe, our bellies are finally full and our seat butts are now firming back up after a four hundred mile ride day. Our daytime temperature is a comfortable 82 degrees […]
Read More Dispatch from Chiapas Day 2Webster describes the word “dispatch”, as in to send off or away with speed, as one would a messenger or an email; or an official report, usually sent in haste. That’s it. I’ll title each day’s ride report as dispatches from each final days destination. Each day’s ride story can reflect some of what we […]
Read More Dispatches from Chiapas Motorcycle Ride Day 1“When you’re a good person, life has a way of placing good people along your path.” – Anonymous Me If you don’t yet realize, this motorcycle riding adventure in Costa Rica is not a vacation for me; rather it’s part of my retirement lifestyle plan. When you’re retired you should change your mindset to my […]
Read More Final Dispatch from Costa Rica Motorcycle RideMy motorcycle start switch gave out today. That’s the single button needed to start my enduro motorcycle. I can only blame myself and an uphill orange clay wet and muddy 30 degree technical section of the trail that bucked me off like a bull does to a rodeo riding cowboy. Welcome to the final day […]
Read More Costa Rica Motorcycle Ride Day 4/5Welcome to the first in a series of stories about our motorcycle journey to Alaska. I can’t wait to get started on this adventure which is one of the reasons why this first dispatch and the next one are months apart. I am the honorary Alaska Motorcycle groups chronicler with no competition for the title […]
Read More The Road to Alaska Dispatch Day 0In Costa Rica or at least in Dos Rios Guanacaste howler monkeys instead of roosters are your wake up call. If your builder screws up without doing a proper ecological survey you may suddenly end up at the corner of Dos Rios and monkey highway. A monkey highway may be your wake up call from […]
Read More Costa Rica Motorcycle Ride Day 5With my brown eyes carefully concealed behind dark sunglasses after a red eye flight to Costa Rica from LAX on Delta flight 1974; I now stared out of the airplane window as the pilot finally declared that we have arrived at our destination of San Jose, Costa Rica. We just knocked out 2,878 miles of […]
Read More Costa Rica Motorcycle Ride Day 2/3/4The tight, sweeping mountain roads in Vermont really do make this place a motorcyclist’s ride dream. There’s endless miles and miles of rolling mountainous, green and lush countryside that is full of trees, as you ride by creeks, lakes and rivers, with the occasional roadside wild turkeys, moose crossing signs and unfortunately for me, a […]
Read More MotoVermont Day 8“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – M Oliver Today is a gorgeous Thursday morning in Creel and we are in a new time Zone; it’s cold outside and my BMW GSA 1250 is running great. We stayed last night and we are staying in […]
Read More Creel to Barrancas Del Cobre Motorcycle Ride Day 5 – Part IUp ahead on the Sonora 3 highway I suddenly see up ahead on the road two guys and no car or truck anywhere around, slowing down quickly from nearly 100 mph I see one frantically waving at me to stop. A quick look over and I now see a rifle and a handheld radio in […]
Read More Copper Canyon Day 2: Part 2Today we are in Batopilas on a Sunday morning. We woke up at 0530 a.m. to go on a hike to a nearby silver mine before the day got too hot. Today will be a See, Touch, Smell, Taste day. All senses will be on overdrive. The hike started up an arroyo canyon towards the […]
Read More Batopilas to El Fuerte Motorcycle Ride Day 7It’s 0530 in the morning on October 19, 2022, and we’re in Sahuaripa, Sonora, Mexico. The air temperature is now 63 degrees but later it will be in the 90’s. I’m going to miss that warm weather because by the time we arrive in Creel, about six hours from now, a cold is moving in […]
Read More Sahuaripa to Creel Motorcycle Ride Part I- Day 4“If you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.” —Muhammad Ali Today is the last day of our 9 day MotoVermont ride. Ben and Jerry’s was certainly not part of our planned itinerary but, the “must visit pickings” after riding through five states are now few. No trip to Vermont would […]
Read More MotoVermont Ride Final Day 9/24/22Today after riding over an eight hour day through Vermont and New Hampshire roads I’m now spent. My culminating or saturation point of riding is reached, much as it was for Gump when he declared; I had run for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours. For those of you still interested in […]
Read More MotoVermont Day 7“The thing about passion is, you don’t summon it, either you have it or you don’t” – Anonymous By today, (day 6) we wake up naturally, no alarm clock needed, our bodies, mind and soul has now fully adapted to the task at hand, we are a well oiled riding machine adapted to the ride […]
Read More MotoVermont Day 6We stay at our current lodging (Bethel Village Inn) for the next two days; and earlier we rode through three states, east coast states are smaller. After arriving, John and I walked to the town’s memorial center, every town seems to have one. “Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever […]
Read More MotoMaine Day 5And on our final morning in Vermont we drive the courtesy Grey Ghost lodge VW to Sticky Fingers bakery for Hazelnut coffee and homemade cinnamon buns. The surprisingly warm weather threw us all for a curve. By the time we reached New Hampshire it was 78 degrees. The Harley and other bikes were all out […]
Read More MotoVermont, MotoNew Hampshire, MotoMaine Ride Day 4Our day one officially starts at MotoVermont HQ if/when we get picked up from our Best Western lodging. The other two John/Kip have not yet heard from our contact at MotoVermont. Maybe we were scammed and the guy is now on his way to Nigeria with our moto $$. My plan B now is now […]
Read More MotoVermont Motorcycle Ride Day 1Yesterday we rode a 300 mile day on our rental MotoVermont motorcycles. We rode our first 300 miles through some amazing and colorful Vermont and New York countryside. What I am really enjoying is literally watching the fall season unfold before my very eyes and the beautiful farm and homestead houses that are scattered about […]
Read More Motorcycle Ride in Vermont Hit By A Deer – Day 2The “San Felipe” is my 2022 Yamaha FXHO watercraft purchased and named for a future adventure of a lifetime; a ride from San Felipe, Baja, down to Cabo San Lucas where the Sea of Cortez finally meets the Pacific Ocean. But not just yet. As I pen these words a storm named Kay has formed […]
Read More San Felipe to Cabo Voyages on a Yamaha FXHO WaverunnerEvery road we travel has a certain amount of history on it. Vermont up until now is one of those fifty US states that has stayed totally hidden away from me. Did you know that Vermont is home to more than 100 covered bridges, dating back to the 1820’s. So why did those bridges need […]
Read More MotoVermont Motorcycle Ride Day 0Years from now my older self will want to know that on these dates and times my younger self died today pushing a KTM 690 motorcycle up a steep incline at over 5,000 feet of elevation; just a mere mile from the gas pumps, in the town of Kinnear, Wyoming, population of 44. Even the […]
Read More Wyoming Back Country Discovery Motorcycle Ride Days 1-4If you are over 50 years old then maybe you may remember that when you were a kid there were millions and millions of bright, beautiful and colorful stars up in the night sky. You could look up and see them. Well let me remind you that those same stars are probably still there! Only […]
Read More Wyoming BDR PART IIIt’s amazing what one can learn from a picture taken from a smartphone. One of the first things I did this morning was to walk outside to see how our garden held up after a week away from home. I snapped a few photos to take inside, to enjoy with a morning cup of coffee […]
Read More My Garden Dispatch #3There’s an area on the East Cape of Cabo known as Cabo Pulmo, and it’s an underwater park, approximately two hours away from San Jose del Cabo. Today I was feeling myself more land than underwater adventure so, my personal concierge Patti books me with Baja Ride Adventures for a six hour off road ride […]
Read More Baja Ride dispatch #2And just how do you reflect back on a trip to make it memorable? There’s the digital album option that I use today. There’s the story writing blog that I also use. Here’s a few pictures that made the cut!
Read More My Favorite Pictures – Moab, Utah
Trawlercat Blog Dispatches 