Cross Country Motorcycle Riding
Cross country motorcycle riding is an incredibly exhilarating
feeling. The pungent smell of pines tingle your nose as the
highway glides past beneath your feet. Trees line either side of
the road flash by like a dark picket fence topped with green.
Sunlight dances through the treetops drenching the gray-black
highway in irregular shapes and patterns. The mountain air is
fresh and clean as it pours into your lungs and tugs at your
jacket and pants.
Much of the hypnotic engine roar trails behind you like a jet
vapor trail. Few things can match the joy of the open road while
riding a well-tuned bike. The afternoon is made even better with
the knowing that the trip has only begun. Days and miles of
highway lay yet ahead.
If you enjoy the outdoors, motorcycle travel is a great way to
see the country. You can soak up the fresh air and sunshine as
you drive down the highway. You have a much greater sense of
being a part of your surroundings while riding a motorcycle. You
feel you can almost reach out and touch the beauty of roadside
flowers, trees and wildlife.
There is also a special feeling of freedom and exhilaration that
comes from racing down the highway with the power of the engine
roaring between your legs and the wind in your face. That
feeling cannot be matched with any other form of travel.
Motorcycle travel is more than just the scenery and the sense of
freedom. It is also the people you meet along the way. Bike
riders are part of a select community of people. They invariably
wave to one another when they meet along the highway. At rest
stops and restaurants bikers go out of their way to meet and
greet one another. As strangers they recognize they are members
of this unique society. They exchange information about the
highway ahead, weather conditions, and motorcycle maintenance
tips. If a rider breaks down or gets into some travel-related
difficulty, another motorcycle rider is almost sure to come
along and offer help.
There are certain precautions that should be taken when
motorcycle touring, however.