Nat Geo Traveler

[MichaelG]

I am a subscriber to the National Geographic Traveler magazine, and one of the issues I am just catching up on....the August/September 2013 issue, came to the house while I was on the road last year, and due to the lightning strike, I never got around to reading it, until now.

Interesting article that is highlighted on the cover, and then covered in detail starting on page 58 inside, is the License to Thrill....Jaw-dropping, hair-raising, even gravity-defying. These 10 drives (rides) bring out all the cliche's.

There are two things I find quite interesting about the 10 drives (rides) that are listed as being the Jaw-dropping, hair-raising, even gravity-defying routes that were chosen by Nat Geo......# 1 being that two of the ten are within a few miles of me, one being in Northern Oregon, and the other being in Southern Alberta, CA. The second thing I find to be interesting about these top 10 listed routes....is that I have actually ridden a motorcycle on six (6) of these then routes.

A of some kind means I have ridden on this road:

Blue Ridge Parkway....Virginia to North Carolina
North Yungas Road...the old Death Road...Bolivia
Guoliang Tunnel Road....China
Grossglocker High Alpine Road...Austria
Milford Road./..Highway 94...New Zealand
Historic Columbia River Highway...Oregon
Transfagarasan Road...Romania
Trans-Andean Highway...Chile-Argentina...
Icefields Parkway...Banff/Jasper...Canadian Rockies...
Atlas Mountain Road...Morocco

I have done South American several times, and this same day last year, I was down in Bolivia and Chile, watching the Dakar Rally. Rode down there on my 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere'.

I would encourage all riders to find this Nat Geo Traveler issue in the electronic version, read all about those ten roads, and put a few of them on your own personal bucket-list of roads to ride. It would appear that I have four of them left to go, and they just happen to be on three separate continents.

[4DI2D]

Hwy 30 Astoria to The Dalles, YUP!

June brings a trip East from Lewiston, Id to LoLo, Mt, and really looking forward to it.

[Big Jay]

I guess I didn't know I lived close to and use such a prestigious Highway. That's kinda cool.

[imported_scottydi]

I will be doing the Chile side of this ride in February. Will be in the area for work with a weekend to kill. Will be renting a bike for the trip.

Scott

[MichaelG]

I will be doing the Chile side of this ride in February. Will be in the area for work with a weekend to kill. Will be renting a bike for the trip.

Scott

Scott, are you flying down for work, and then renting the bike down there to ride around ? The Chilean side of the Trans-Andean is pretty nice. It opens up once you cross over to the Argentina side. I rode down last January, all the way from the US, with an adventure riding buddy of mine...he on my old '05 R12GS, and me on my '12 Super Tenere'. Rode all the way there, and all the way back. Yes, there is a back road to get from Panama to Columbia.

[imported_scottydi]

I will be flying in to Santiago, renting a bike for a three day weekend. I have reserved a Kawasaki KLR650E. There will be a total of 5 of us, 4 of which I have ridden with before. I wish I had the time to ride down, but work just wont allow that....yet.

Scott

[BubbaJePH]

I've only been on a small portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is beautiful. One day, I hope to ride it down to the "Dragon". Want to earn the decal. Most of my riding is to work and back. At least once a month, I get to ride with my Sons Of Confederate Veterans camp to battlefields, graveyards or other historical places in Virginia & North Carolina.

[ghostrider]

I'll be riding the icefield parkway this summer in June. I'll be hitting Whistler, Banff and Jasper. Been to Banff a long time ago but never up the parkway to Jasper. Looking forward to it a lot.

[MichaelG]

I'll be riding the icefield parkway this summer in June. I'll be hitting Whistler, Banff and Jasper. Been to Banff a long time ago but never up the parkway to Jasper. Looking forward to it a lot.

Kevin, you will love that road. I have ridden a lot of places on this planet, and when people ask me what is my favorite place to ride, I always answer that it is the Canadian Rockies, around Banff and Jasper. I like cooler weather, big mountains, trees, and very little traffic.

[ghostrider]

[QUOTE=Miles;19744]Kevin, you will love that road. I have ridden a lot of places on this planet, and when people ask me what is my favorite place to ride, I always answer that it is the Canadian Rockies, around Banff and Jasper. I like cooler weather, big mountains, trees, and very little traffic.

[/QUOTE

Thanks Miles, I'm really looking forward to it. To me it's the "ultimate ride" because i like all those things too.

I got a taste if it seeing Banff back in the 80's on my 79 Honda CB750 and I knew I'd go back one day. I was in Whistler two years ago and loved it! I rode east from there just on a day trip, and I didn't want to turn around. This time I'm not going to, Haha