By: Gregg Hall
Are you an adventurer? Do you have the spirit of a wanderer? If so, then the hottest new trend in vacation travel, a motorcycle vacation, may be just the ticket for you. Whatever countryside you enjoy, and whatever bike you ride, a motorcycle vacation promises great fun and entertainment.
Imagine a history buff that uses a motorcycle to explore old Civil War battlefields. Wilson's Creek in southwest Missouri, Pea Ridge in Northwest Arkansas, and the site of the battle of West Port near the Plaza in modern day Kansas City are all easily accessible by bike. Or, if exploring the west is more your thing, take a trek out west, starting in Sedalia, the scene of the first recorded cattle drive in history. Then on your bike trace the other cattle towns of the old west like Wichita, Parsons and Dodge City in Kansas. Then keep heading west to Colorado the mile high state and visit Estes Park. Go a little south and visit Colorado Springs, park your bike for a day and take a tour of the Air Force Academy and look at the grounds of Cheyenne Mountain, home of Norad.
Still yearning for more western adventure, then you can ride your motorcycle to New Mexico and visit Lincoln County where Billy the Kid and his Regulators raised a ruckus in the 1880's. New Mexico has great camping in the mountains near Cloudcroft, so be sure to take the opportunity to visit and if you feel up to it, sleep under the stars, with your trusty motorcycle near you, like a cowboy's horse.
While in New Mexico the Apache reservation at Riodosa offers a chance to try your luck at slot machines and the wheel of fortune. Then a visit to a great Mexican restaurant and on to the town of Roswell, site of the 1947 UFO crash that some people say made history. When you get to Roswell you can either take your bike to a campground, or park it at a nice reasonably priced motor hotel so that you can spend some time in the UFO Museum and Research Center on Main Street. While there you can visit with some witnesses to the crash and hear some fascinating stories, and take a side trip out to the ranch outside of town where debris was found, and some say small alien bodies were recovered. When you've seen all the UFO sites you feel like seeing, you can visit the Robert Goddard Museum next door to the Town's convention center. Goddard is the father of modern rocket science. He performed many of his experiments in the desert near Roswell and the museum is great fun. When you get done in Roswell, then hop on the bike and go to Albuquerque near Holloman Air Force Base, and then on down to White Sands rocket test ground. New Mexico is full of interesting sites. If you head up north, be sure to his Santa Fe and appreciate the Native American arts and crafts on display.
Next stop on your bike tour should be Las Vegas, Nevada. The most exciting town on earth is just a hop, skip and bike ride away. Here's a chance to really gamble, or if you don't like to bet, then just stop in at one of the casinos to try a very low priced, delicious buffet. It seems like all the casinos have great buffets and try to outdo each other. You'll enjoy them all. Remember too that this is a town made for entertainment. Try one of the shows on the strip, or a comedy club or magic act.
Now, after visiting Las Vegas, it may be time to go on to the one place that no motorcycle vacation can be complete without visiting, Sturgis. The town of Sturgis, North Dakota is legendary among those who ride motorcycles, and the town people know how to make a biker welcome. Stop in for a root beer and buy a T-shirt as a souvenir of your trip. You'll be glad you did, and you'll remember your motorcycle vacation for years to come. Hop on your biike, be it hog or Honda, and enjoy the ride.
