Road & Travel Magazine's Blog

Leasing or Buying a Motorcycle: Which is Right for You?

If you’re in the market for a new motorcycle, deciding how to pay for it can be difficult. It’s important to consider your goals and lifestyle before leasing or buying a motorcycle.

Buying a motorcycle
If you plan to keep your bike for several years and would like to customize it, then buying may be the right option for you.

Advantages of buying a motorcycle

• Full ownership – After paying off your motorcycle loan, you’ll no longer be responsible for monthly payments - just gas, insurance, license and registration fees, and repair and maintenance costs. Since the bike is yours, you can customize it or resell it as you wish.

• No mileage fees – There will be no limit on the amount of miles traveled per year. That means more road trips with your new bike.

Disadvantages of buying a motorcycle

• Higher upfront cost –You’ll be responsible for a down payment, license, registration and dealership fees, and taxes.

• Higher monthly payments - When buying a motorcycle, you’re paying for the entire cost of the bike, which means higher payments per month.

• Post-warranty repairs – Since most buyers keep their bike past its warranty expiration, you’ll have to pay for future repairs out-of-pocket. Find all tips here.

 

Find Fall Foliage in Lincoln's Boyhood Home of Indiana

by Carol Troesch, Spencer County Visitors Bureau

Southern Indiana is known for its rolling hills, endless outdoor recreation, and great family fun, but did you know that it’s also the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln? Because of the area’s mild autumn days and cool evenings, it also produces some of the most striking and vibrant autumn colors, which makes it a great fall destination!

The fall foliage season, when the changing palette of deciduous trees is full of blazing color, is a terrific time to visit places that can offer not only an amazing views, but also allow you to enjoy some relaxing family activities.

Here, you can enjoy the rich colors of fall as you visit the fertile ground of Lincoln’s childhood home at the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City. The memorial is located on the site where Lincoln lived with his family from age 7 to 21. The Visitor Center features two Memorial Halls, a museum with a variety of exhibits, and an orientation film. From the Memorial Center, it is a short walk up the Lincoln Boyhood Trail to the gravesite of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who died of milk sickness in 1818. FULL STORY

Take Time for Yourself with a Dude - At a Dude Ranch

A Directory to the Finest Dude Ranches for Women by Patti Schmidt

The Homestead Ranch
Matfield Green, Kansas
Prairie Women Adventures and Retreat
[read our story about The Homestead Ranch]

The Homestead Ranch is a 4,000-acre working cattle ranch in the Kansas Flint Hills. Wildlife is abundant and Native American arrowheads and tools still crop up in pastures and creekbeds after spring rains. Owner Jane Koger, a fourth-generation rancher, and her mostly women ranch crews have been handling things for 20 years. William Least Heat Moon wrote about Jane and the others in Chase County in his book PrairyErth, the American Library Association's Best Work of Nonfiction for 1991. The county is the geographical center of the U.S.

Programs: Prairie Women Adventures and Retreat offers several programs: two three-day Prairie Ecology programs, which focus on the ecology and use of native prairie plants and four horseback riding programs, for those who want "just a little more time with the horses"; one branding vacation, where guests will help inoculate, brand, and band (turn bull calves into steers) them; and one pasture-burning program each spring. Program manager Ginifer Maceau stressed that this ranch does things "the preferred Humane Society way; for example, we freeze brand rather than hot-iron brand." She believes women are a lot more comfortable with that.

Amenities: Guests reside in a modern bunkhouse: up to two in the one private bedroom; the other 10 guests sleep dormitory style in the bunkhouse, which is heated, air-conditioned, and includes a hot tub on the deck. All meals are provided; the afternoon I spoke with Maceau, they were having teriyaki beef kabobs, rice pilaf, salad, fresh bread and lemonade pie with strawberries.

For more information: contact Prairie Women Adventures and Retreat / The Homestead Ranch Guest Programs at (620) 753-3416.
Website: http://www.guestranches.com/homestead
Email: ginifer@wheatstate.com

Wilderness Trails Dude Ranch
Durango, Colo.
Women's Week

The San Juan Mountains and the Los Pinos Valley lend this 160-acre ranch beauty; it also shares a fence line with the Piedra Wilderness Study Area. The Roberts family-Gene, Jan, Randy, Lance, and Erika, who have owned it since 1970- are responsible for its designation in Gene Kilgore 's Ranch Vacations as "one of the finest ranch vacation experiences in the country." At times of the year other than Women's Week, especially in summer, families provide this ranch about 95 percent of its often repeat customers.

FULL ARTICLE

Free Pocket Ranger App Powered by ParksByNature Network

Have you thought about visiting a State Park? These parks are often within 50 miles from home, making it easy for visitors to come and go as they please.

ParksByNature Network is working with the Government to Save the Parks by marrying today’s technology that is often used to navigate through our days by bringing The Sanctioned and Approved Mobile Tour Guide to enhance your visit.

Pocket Ranger™ apps are offered in a “FREE” and “purchasable” Pro-Enhanced version formatted for Apple and Android devices.

These tour guides also translate into a universal mobile website for each participating state park system, making Pocket Ranger extremely accessible for everyone to use. With its innovative features, Pocket Ranger™ enhances a visitor’s experience before, during, and after an outing to a state park.  These guides deliver to users hundreds of maps, real-time location-based weather conditions, park overview, park history, calendar of events, reservations, photo sharing and social networking capability through today’s popular sites.

Did you ever lose child in a park? Well, the Friend/Family Finder feature can help reduce this problem. Users can sync their devices to locate and keep track of one another. Full story

Tips for Enjoying the Great Outdoors

How to Enjoy the Great Outdoors with the Right Preparations

by John Ricci
Founder & Chief Adventurer, Wandrian Adventures

Now that it’s summer time in North America and people have time off and children are out of school, it’s time to hit the great outdoors. The great outdoors can give you most of the comforts of home (Usually not a microwave or a DVR, but everything else is possible) and with some proper planning and a can do attitude; you will be at home in the wilderness and sharing stories around the fire. Here are a few tips everyone should consider as they plan their own Great Outdoors experience.

I live by the Mantra of Know before you go….Know that you can be comfortable in the outdoors with the right preparations…. … Know the rules, know the weather, Know what you have access to (water, provisions, firewood, bathrooms etc.) All of the above are crucial to your comfort as well as safety and will allow you greater enjoyment.

Whenever possible, carry out whatever you carry in and leave only footprints and take only pictures. We are lucky to have National Parks like The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Baxter State Park and others to enjoy. The more we take care of them and tread lightly, the better chance others will have that same experience in the future.

Lastly, be prepared for the unexpected – weather, accidents etc. know that accidents can occur and know that you are prepared to handle them if you came with a plan.  There are several other things you should account for depending on where you are going and for how long, but the above covers all adventures, everywhere. Full Story

How to Keep a Travel Journal

How to Keep a Travel Journal - Tips for Writing on the Road by Pam Bauer

Looking for fresh travel journal writing ideas? Read on for tips to get you started and ideas for creating a journal you will cherish.

Choose a journal. There are many journals available, from inexpensive spiral notepads to elegant hand-bound volumes. Make sure the journal that you choose is one that you like. This may not seem important – you may think that any journal will do. But travel, along with being exhilarating and fun, can also be intense and demanding, so you want a journal that pleases you, that you want to write in, that invites you to put pen to paper. And since you will carry your journal for the length of your trip, be sure the size is right for you. If you’re packing light and moving frequently, a small, lightweight journal is best. Similarly, if you write prolifically, be sure your journal has enough pages to last until the trip’s end.

Just do it. This may seem obvious, but it needs to be said: write in your journal. Sometimes a traveler with the best of intentions can get stuck at the start. All of those blank pages in a beautiful new journal may seem intimidating, or you think your handwriting is too messy, or your words aren’t good enough. Nonsense! A travel journal is not a scholarly work. It is a record of your experiences – written by you, for you. There are no rules, and no one is grading what you write. The best way to get going is to, well, get going. Dive in, start writing and you’ll find these barriers will disappear. [Full article]

The History of Route 66

 

Hit the Open Road on Route 66 by Ann Hattes

Route 66, known as the Mother Road, was a two-lane ribbon of highway extending 2,448 miles through small town America from the fresh water shores of Lake Michigan to the sunny beaches of the Pacific Ocean in California. Along the way it crossed eight states - Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

A national celebration of the route's 75^th anniversary took place in July in Albuquerque, New Mexico, though communities all along Route 66 are planning festivities throughout the year.

For those who made the westward trek beginning with the Dustbowl Migration in the 1930s, Route 66 represented opportunity.  Later with the hit song, "Get Your Kicks on Route 66," and the CBS TV's Route 66 Corvette duo from 1960 - 1964, it symbolized freedom.

But mostly Route 66 is a memory for millions of Americans who've hit the open road - crossed the Mississippi, the Great Plains, the Continental Divide - and helped to shape the Southwest.

[Discover full history here]

Adventure Tours for Women Travelers

Get Gutsy on These Exciting Adventure Tours for Women

Attention Women Travelers! Every have a hankering to go out and do something wild? Or have you wanted to go somewhere out of the ordinary, but just couldn’t find someone to share the experience? Well, chances are you’re not the only one. Women of adventure now have a plethora of choices for the closet thrill seeker inside you.

So, if your friends want to lounge around a posh hotel and get pampered, but you want something with more thrills & chills, check out these adventure groups and get whisked away to wherever the wind blows…

Adventures in Good Company

Say good-bye to the stress and clutter of daily life. Reconnect with what is truly essential. Spend a few days—or a few weeks—in the peace and splendor of some of the world’s most beautiful natural locations. Reinvigorate your mind…rejuvenate your body…nurture your spirit. And share the adventure with other active women as you laugh, support, and inspire each other to take on new challenges, both on your journey and in your life.

[Learn More]

Top 10 Beach Destinations in America

Family barbeques, picnics, festivals and beach parties are some of the ways Americans spend the summer. Enjoy the season in true summer fashion – at the beach.  Whether looking for a quiet seascape to catch up on a novel, or a bustling coastal town filled with events and entertainment, Cheapflights.com has the perfect shore spot for you.

• Hilton Head, South Carolina - Renowned for its East Coast vibe, Hilton Head offers quintessential beach activities for couples and families alike. Spend your days biking the 100 miles of cycling trails throughout the Atlantic island – breaking only to catch waves, soak up the sun and savor the area’s fabulous restaurants. For cheap grub, head to the Sea Shack and roll up your sleeves for affordable shrimp, crab and blackened fresh fish. At night, check out The Salty Dog Café. A $5 admission is required to get in the restaurant, situated on a resort plantation, but the nightly live music and souvenir T-shirt you’re bound to buy, make it well worth it.

• Hermosa Beach, California - The year-round beach destination pulls out all the stops every Memorial Day weekend for Fiesta Hermosa.  Hundreds of vendors set up shop along Hermosa Avenue, Pier Avenue and Pier Plaza in downtown Hermosa for three days of great food, drinks and live music. Kids can switch between amusement park rides and sand castles until 6 p.m. nightly as parents peruse local shops and the ever-popular beer garden. If you get to town by Friday, take part in the Samburu Project’s Walk for Water, an event that raises awareness and funds for clean water initiatives in Kenya.   [Read full story]

7 Common Travel Mistakes - How to Prepare

With 17 years experience in the travel business, Ellen Paderson has seen it all. Whether her clients are first-timers going on a Caribbean cruise or veteran world travelers headed for Australia, she has compiled a list of ‘7 Common Travel Mistakes’ from which all travelers can benefit.

(1) Take along your over-the-counter medications – Surprisingly they’re hard to find. If you do find them, they’re very expensive, especially on Caribbean islands. Bring your Dr. and insurance contact info list of prescriptions and RX numbers, Carry meds with you.

(2) Check your Passport expiration – It cannot expire within 6 months of your return travel date.
 
(3) Expired passport? Take your confirmed itinerary to the immigration office. They will issue a passport that day if your travel starts within 10 days.

(4) Check your flight schedule the night before you’re scheduled to travel to make sure flights haven’t been changed or cancelled.

(5) Leave enough time between connections -- You need at least 90 minutes to go through Customs, pick up luggage and recheck before going on the next leg of your flight. Note that leaving the U.S., you don’t need to go through Customs, but you do on the way back, re-entering the country.

(6) Notify your bank if you’ll be using a credit or ATM card outside the US. If the bank is not notified, the ATM will keep your card, and your credit card will be declined.
 
(7) Take comfortable shoes. To quote world travel expert Rick Steves, “Footloose and fancy-free is not so easy if you have the wrong shoes. Now is the time to start breaking in what you plan to wear on your next trip.” Take more than one pair of tested footwear in case one gets wet, torn or lost, or isn’t as comfy as you thought. Do you need hiking boots, walking shoes, or sandals?

[Read full story]