Midwest Motorcycle Rides

Arkansas Highway 16 | Favorite Ride

For motorcyclists, Arkansas Highway 16 is one of the top highways in the Ozarks that has the added virtue of being one of the...

Wolf River Run in Wisconsin | Favorite Ride

The WisconsinHighways.org website’s State Trunk Highways section says: “One of the noticeable idiosyncrasies is the meandering nature of some of Wisconsin’s state highways. Just...

Minnesota Lakes Loop | Favorite Ride

Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, is ranked 12th among U.S. states in terms of land area but 9th in terms of water within...

Great Lakes Getaway: Touring Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan

I arrive in Duluth, Minnesota, in the middle of the night, welcomed by a cleansing wind blowing off Lake Superior, the largest of the...

Favorite Ride: Des Moines River Loop

There are some great roads in central Iowa around the town of Boone, which is about 45 miles north of Des Moines. This ride...

Riding Ohio’s Triple Nickel

No more than 10 miles from where I learned to ride a motorcycle is one of our country’s finest set of twists and turns....

Favorite Ride: Wisconsin’s Waumandee Valley River Roads

Buffalo County, Wisconsin, is a hidden gem for motorcyclists. Located in the northwest part of the state, its southern border is the Mississippi River,...

Arkansas Odyssey: Circling the Northwest Quarter of The Natural State

I love the Ozarks. I really should have been born in them. Instead, after riding in the Ozarks 15 years ago, I fell so...

Connecting Small Towns in Northeast Iowa

Iowa is not known as a motorcycling destination, but rather a through state. Motorcyclists travel mostly on the four-lane roads thinking that’s all there...

Stage Route to Deadwood: Tracing a Historic Route to the Black Hills

Cheyenne’s population of 60,000 more than doubles during its 10-day Frontier Days rodeo, which took place a week after I arrived. As it happened,...

Big Water: Exploring Southern Indiana’s Chunk of the Ohio River Valley

Despite being a lifelong Hoosier, I hadn’t spent much time riding in the southern part of Indiana. This year would be different -- I...

Iron Range Ramble: Riding Minnesota’s Arrowhead Region

"It’s not the destination, it’s the journey," says the motorcycling adage. That’s true! Most highlights of motorcycling are experienced during the ride. I choose...

Bluestem Pastures: Exploring the Flint Hills of Kansas

A couple of years ago I did an east-to-west and back ride across north central Kansas. One of the highlights was the Flint Hills,...

Laing’s Journey: A Six-Weeks Perambulation on Two Wheels

Hamilton Mack Laing's way was rutted. Clay mud lined with the tracks made by car and wagon wheels had dried, hindering the passage of his...

Chasing Black Hills Gold: Great Roads in South Dakota

"I hear the voice of the mystic mountains/Callin' me back home/So take me back to the Black Hills" -Doris Day Doris Day is one of...

Favorite Ride: Minnesota’s Otter Trail Scenic Byway

Thinking of Minnesota roadways, superlatives do not normally come to mind. Riding Minnesota’s Otter Trail Scenic Byway can change that. The route includes many...

Show-Me the Way: Riding Missouri’s Great River Road

If the title of “Great River Road National Scenic Byway Along the Mississippi River” evokes images of riding next to one of the mightiest...

Back Home Again In Indiana: Motorcycle Touring in the Hoosier State

I was born in Indiana, so I am, by definition, a Hoosier. I didn’t learn to ride there, but I spent 10 years in...

Great American Scenic Byways Tour