I have been blogging about my road trips since 1996, before they were called blogs - but I started my camping, hiking and road trips in various parts of the USA several years earlier. When I started writing these essays, they were emails to friends. Even when I started sharing these on the web, I was writing them more for myself than others, for when I was old and wanted to remember my oh-so-exciting young life... but when I moved to Germany and started publishing online much more via my web site, complete strangers started responding to my travelogues. I've continued to share my travelogues, not to say, Look what I'm doing! but, rather, to try to inspire women to say, Hey, maybe I could travel to... and also to help people who might be traveling to the same areas.
I realize that the stuff from the 1990s is terribly dated and, at times, painfully naive - actually, stuff from just 10 years ago can also be terribly dated - but I hope the old stuff is still worth reading, even if just to show how everyone who travels actually isn't perfect, with super model good looks and Hemingway eloquence and everything going well at all times.
Guatemala, January 2024. More than 1000 kilometers on rented bikes, seeing Antigua, Lake Atitlan (Panajachel, San Pedro de Lago, San Juan de Lago), Q'Umarkaj (Mayan ruins), Santa Cruz del Quiche, Zaculeu (Mayan ruins), Lanquin, Nebaj and Coban and Semuc Champey, Pachalum, Mixco Viejo San Martin Jilotepeque (Mayan ruins) and the Pacific Coast village of Monterrico.
North American Road & Camping Trips
Guatemala,
January 2024. More than 1000 kilometers on rented
bikes, seeing Antigua, Lake Atitlan (Panajachel, San Pedro
de Lago, San Juan de Lago), Q'Umarkaj (Mayan ruins), Santa
Cruz del Quiche, Zaculeu (Mayan ruins), Lanquin, Nebaj and
Coban and Semuc Champey, Pachalum, Mixco Viejo San Martin
Jilotepeque (Mayan ruins) and the Pacific Coast village of
Monterrico.
Vancouver
Island
& parts of British Columbia & Washington State
2500 miles / 4000 kilometers and our third motorcycle
adventure focused on Canada, camping almost the entire time.
Another fantastic trip oh-so-near our home. September
2023.
Belize by motorcycle (& a visit to Tikal in Guatemala sans bikes). February 2023. About 1000 kilometers (7600 miles). Riding the infamous dirt road to the ancient Mayan site of Caracol, also visiting Xunantunich and Cahal Pec, popping over to Tikal (in Guatemala) sans bikes, snorkeling, zip lining, and enjoying the diverse landscapes, cultures and food of, mostly, Belize.
Visiting historic towns & eating biscuits & gravy: September 2022. 16 days & almost 3000 miles / 4828 kilometers by our motorcycles in Washington state, Idaho, Montana & Oregon. Camping most of the time. An amazing, beautiful trip that was far better than we ever dreamed so close to home!
Trask River County Campground, Tillamook County, Oregon, in March 2022. This was a weekend car camping and hiking trip with our dog, and the maiden voyage of the custom square drop camper built by coyotetrips.
Blackberry Campground, along the Alsea River in Siuslaw National Forest, Oregon: June 2021. A weekend motorcycle trip in a beautiful forest close enough to the coast to visit but far enough away to feel isolated from it. Photos with descriptions rather than a travelogue. Fun forest service road ride!
Our Motorcycle Adventure in Baja, Calfornia, Mexico: 19 days, 3,706 miles/5964 km. March 2020. Missing the madness of COVID19 (& then driving right back into it).
Motorcycle Tour of Northern California & Southwestern Oregon: 11 days, 10 nights, 2095 miles, September 2019. Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, McArthur Burney Falls State Park, Salmon River Road between Somes Bar and Cecilville, California, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California state road 36, Empire Mine State Historic Park and Grass Valley, Downieville, Modoc National Forest, Bear Camp Coastal Route in Josephine County, Oregon & my first water crossing!
Oregon Volcanic Rock Huggers Motorcycle Ride: 4 days, 3 nights, 580 miles, July 2019. Deschutes National Forest, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Big Obsidion Flow, McKay Butte Fire, Fort Rock
Long Weekend Trip to
Brooks Memorial State Park in Washington state &
Cottonwood Canyon State Park in Oregon
September 2018. Three nights of hiking and tent camping and
travel by car in two state parks off-the-beaten path, less
than a day's drive from Portland, Oregon. This was a trip
with Lucinda the dog.
Mostly Nevada motorcycle tour
July 2018. 13 days, 2657 miles / 4276 kilometers in Nevada,
Southeast Oregon & a Wee Bit of California: staying at
the historic hotel in French Glen, Oregon, riding around
Steens Mountain, riding most of US Highway 50 in Nevada (the
"loneliest road in the USA"), visiting Eureka, Ely, Rachel
and Tonopah Nevada and taking the Extraterrestrial Highway.
Camp
Wilkerson, Columbia County, Oregon.
June 2018. Beautiful, forested, remote campground with a
great day of hiking, less than a day's drive from Portland,
Oregon. This was a tent camping /car trip with Lucinda the
dog.
Washington state
motorcycle tour
August 2017, 1489 miles / 2382 km: a smokey, hot, scenic,
abbreviated trip through Gifford Pinchot National Forest,
Mount Rainier National Park, the imitation Bavarian village
of Levenworth, Olympic National Forest and Olympic National
Park.
Mostly Idaho motorcycle tour
September 2016: 3825 miles/4520 km, mostly in Idaho, some in
Eastern Oregon, and a little bit in Montana and Washington.
Included at least 120 miles of gravel. Hells Canyon, Silver
City, Idaho, Bruneau Dunes State Park, City of Rocks
National Reserve, Sawtooth Scenic Byway, Salmon River Scenic
Byway, Historic Custer, Idaho, Ft. Missoula, Montana,
historic Wallace, Idaho, Lake Coeur d'Alene, White Pine
Scenic Byway, Hell's Canyon Overlook, Oregon, Joseph,
Painted Hills, and Little Crater Lake in Mt. Hood National
Forest.
16 days via motorcycle from Oregon
to Hyder, Alaska, the Yukon & the Alaska Highway,
through British Columbia
September 205. 3700 miles / 5954 kilometres, August &
September 2015. Includes bears, glaciers, very remote
places, horrible winds and badly-behaved truckers.
Utah motorcycle tour (with some of Nevada & Oregon): Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley, Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, and camping in a cow pasture in a desert of Nevada and at Farewell Bend Oregon State Park. And my first motorcycle wreck. 2989 miles / 4810.329 kilometres. Also see all of our 2014 Motorcycle Travel.
Why nothing in 2013? Because we bought a house. But we did take lots of day trips on our motorcycle.
Lava Beds National Monument, Lassen National Monument, Emmets Pass, Devil's Postpile (California), the Alvord Dessert (Oregon), and everything in between. Motorcycle tour. September 2012. 2446 miles / 3914 km miles.
SoundRider!
Motorcycle Rally in the Gorge in Washington &
Oregon (the Columbia Gorge)
August 2012. Includes Maryhill loops road (zowie). So glad
the wind wasn't bad.
Gifford Pinchot
National Forest / Southern Washington State: Motorcycle
Quest for Gravel
A long weekend motorcycle tour and camping trip in July 2012
in one of our favorite places.
Eastern Oregon Trip: a
long weekend motorcycle adventure
May 2012. With conspiracy theories, a cult, the Google
Streetview car, screech owls & so much more...
Yellowstone, Western Montana, Wyoming motorcycle adventure. Including US Highway 12 through Lolo Pass, Nevada City (Montana), Craters of the Moon, Bruneau Dunes State Park, and John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The trip ended at the legendary Burning Moto Man 2011, in Westfir, Oregon. 2680 miles.
Oh Canada (and more). It was nothing short of epic: British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, Jasper, Banff and Kootenay National Parks for the first time, Glacier National Park, Swan Lake National Park, Garnet ghost town in Montana, and so much more, all via motorcycle. 2,535 miles / 4,056 km. And it wasn't our only trip in 2010. We went back to Jasper and Banff in 2015. But this was my first trip to Canada. Yes, after more than 30 other countries, I finally visited Canada.
The Lost Highway motorcycle tour (my first trip on my own motorcycle): Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Ferndale, California, the notorious Mattole Road from there to Petrolia, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Avenue of the Giants, Bigfoot Scenic Byway and my first (and thus far only) Horizons Unlimited rally. About 1000 miles. 2010.
Road trip from Kentucky to
Oregon
August 2009. We moved to Kentucky from Germany, and as the
summer ended, spent two weeks traveling to places I'd never
been, including Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota, driving
a 2009 Honda Fit and pulling a U Haul trailer and tent
camping the entire way!
Recommendations for your trip to San Francisco -- and beyond! At least these were my recs in 2004...
(the seven year gap in years here is because I was living in Germany and, for six months, in Afghanistan - scroll down for those years)
Trippy Texas: My First Camping Trip in West Texas, 1997. By myself. With my dogs.
Ms Cravens Goes to Washington, December 1996. A trip to Washington, DC.
Journey to Start Over in Austin, Texas, October 1996. I traveled from Oakland, California, me and the dogs, camping along the way.
A road trip from California to the Carolinas and back again, May 1996.
A shame I didn't write about my road trips from Kentucky to New England and back, a trip I did three times by myself and once with Buster the dog between Fall 1988 and Fall 1990, and my road trip to move to California from Kentucky in October 1990, with Buster and my Mom. Though those were pretty much to get from point A to point B, with no real sight-seeing in between.
Asia, Africa, Australia, Central & South America
Havana, Cuba, February 2016
Mexico City & Puebla, Mexico, July 2011
Austrialia, March 2010 (photos only)
Afghanistan, March - August 2007
Jordan, Brought to You By Pepsi, January 2006
Jayne returns to Egypt, April 2003
My first trip to Egypt, May 30 - June 3, 2002
Travels in Europe
Also see my essays from living and traveling in Germany, Feb. 2001 - April 2009
Barcelona, Catalunya / Spain, November 2014
Warsaw, Poland, November 2014
Ukraine (Kyiv, Chornobyl, Korosten), January 2014
Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium, January 2012
Budapest, Hungary, January 2011
Belgrade, Serbia, December 2009
Rome, Italy, January 2009
Eastern Europe three week trip (pillion on a motorcycle): Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia. Amazing. 2008.
Surfing in Munich, August 2008
London Revisited, November 2007
Northern France (pillion on a motorcycle): ancient sites, Roman sites, medieval sites, World War I sites, World War II sites... Bayeaux Tapestry. Mont St-Michel, Carnac, so much more. Amazing food, amazing sites. Good camping. Two weeks. September 2007.
Scotland Stone Hugger Tour (pillion on a motorcycle): Leaving from a port in Belgium, arriving in Hull, England. Highlights: Hadrian's Wall, Braemar, the main Orkney Island, Kilmartin, Ballmoral, Loch Ness, the small stone circle near Tarland... more than I can summarize here. Two weeks. September 2006.
Cave Canem - A visit to Naples, May 2006
Along for the Ride - the motorcycle season begins, April 2006
Oui Oui in Paris, March 2006
Bruges, Belgium (pillion on a motorcycle): Long weekend. 2005. This was more of a boring ride on a motorcycle to get some place, followed by an amazing time walking around Bruges (great beer!). September 2005.
Madrid Revisited, and Toledo Visited, April 2005
Norway & Sweden (pillion on a motorcycle): Kristiansand, fjords, sea life, mountains, glaciers, a rock slide, a crazy ferry ride and primitive rock art. Two weeks. My first motorcycle trip! July 2004.
Komm gib mir deine Hand - a Trip to Hamburg (April 2004
A trip to England to study and play, February 2004
Prague, July 2003
Schadenfreude - a return to Berlin, May 2003
Jayne returns to Spain, August 2002
Berlin, Easter 2002
Voy a España, Christmas 2001
IRELAND, August 2001
England, December 1987/January1988 (my second trip ever abroad - I didn't write anything about my walking across the border and shopping a bit one afternoon in 1987).
Quick Links
Some of my favorite photos from my travels. Very hard to pick favorites.
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