So, what do y'all consider "touring"?

[CopperSpyder]

For me it's leaving the driveway!! :2thumbs: :yes: :doorag:

 

[pegasus1300]

I've been reading thru these trying to define what "touring" is for me, because I never really thought about it. In over 50 years of riding I have gone thru different stages of what I consider touring. I think I am at a stage now where anything that isn't riding to work or an errand is touring. As an example my friend and I left Spring City yesterday and decided to ride to Salina to a little old style drive in for lunch. We know US 89 very well, it is the main street of Sanpete and Sevier Counties, yet since it is Spring here in rural Utah it looks different almost every day. We have been to this drive in many times. The staff are always the current crop of junior and senior girls from the local high school so they are always changing. They are always full of life, excited, and friendly. We are not just a couple of old men to them but exotic strangers on motorcycles, so they talk to us besides just take out orders. Since this is a true drive in there are no inside tables, but some outside tables under some trees. There is an older lady at the only other table so we ask her if she will share with us. She graciously agrees and we sit and eat while she waits for her husband to bring back their food. And visit. We find out they are from Minnesota and are on the way back home after being "Snowbirds" in Arizona. They are staying the night in Provo so we give them some pointers on things to do there and places to eat. They have a beautiful Red Ford F150 FX4 with some beautiful gold graphics on it Turns out her sister is a graphic designer and designed and made them for her. Since her husband is from Holland they have a cactus on one side and a windmill on the other. They leave and Ken and I decide we need ice cream. When we get back to the table the crowd at the other table has left and now there is a single old man. He turns out to be a local rancher who just sold his ranch, but kept a small portion of it - 2000 acres. I figure if a "small portion" is 2000 that ranch must have been huge. He tells us about setting up a bank in Moscow for the Russians several years ago and became friends with all the higher ups. He was telling us how lucky he was to still be alive and how grateful he was for being back in the USA. Turns out his wife was a music professor at the local college and knew my grandson who studied music there.
The point of this too long post is that a tour is what you make it. From 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm we had a wonderful tour only 40 min from home. In 3 weeks I will be leaving on a longer tour to the Pacific Northwest. I hope I have as much adventure then as I did yesterday. Every ride can be a tour.

 

[Briorick]

Just curious to hear how different folks define it. Doesn't have to be exact, just general terms.

The word "Touring", as I define it, means I'm going on a Road Trip. And, when on my "Road Trips", I take in "Sight-Seeing" along the way.

I am just too simple for my own good! :thumbup:

 

[Stubby]

I almost always carry a small bag in the frunk. Has a pair of socks, t-shirt, underwear,
toothbrush, 2 days of meds, an insulin pen and needles. Good for an unexpected overnight.

 

[Steve W.]

For me it is multiday, even if its work related as long as I can do it on the back roads. If there are Interstates involved, except for short distances, it's just boring.

I have seen it mentioned on some other forums:
Four lanes are for making time.
Two lanes are for making memories. :thumbup:

I knew a guy that was SERIOUSLY into Iron Butt rides on his Goldwing. His basic traveling philosophy was that he only ate at places that had someone's name in the place's name (Flo's Diner, Mac's Place, etc.) and if the motel had 3-digit room numbers, it was too big.

.

 

[Jesster72]

Touring for us has been defined as "vacation rides." We did a waterfall tour of Ohio (believe it or not), that was touring, Lake Michigan Loop, East Tennessee, Kentucky, Niagara Falls, etc, etc, etc. If it is our vacation for the year, to us we are touring. One or two overnights for us are not tours, but thats just how we roll em. Being that I have touring bikes for the last 15 years, maybe every ride is a tour?? I kind of like the sound of that.

 

[easysuper]

To me it means a several day ride to several destination points. My wife and I both have RTLs and I pull a pop up tent trailer and she pulls a cargo trailer. In 2019 we rode Hwy. 20 from Newport Oregon to Boston and returned to Oregon and much longer route consisting of 11,000 miles, 66 days, 26 states, to me that’s a long tour. The last couple years we have only managed to stay out several weeks at a time, this summer we are planning a ride to Fairbanks Alaska and back. We belong to a group of riders that have 30 checkpoints in the Pacific Northwest each year that we ride to and document.

 

[Northofthesix]

If I have any luggage other than raingear or work clothes I have to change into, it is touring.

 

[bikerbillone]

Oh yeah, easysuper, I'd say that was touring, I mean real touring. Congrats on getting that experience.

 

[chris56]

We search for a target where we can stay for some days - most of the luggage we leave there and make daily trips with a list of POIs .. there are a lot of them here in Austria/Italy..
Around 2.000 miles in ten days ..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUY2H3oj4f8&t=320s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFcE0g2jWfg

 

[Little Blue]

Simply Touring ??

:dontknow:....I enjoy my Spyder Time with lots of overnight times. Some one or two days and others two or more weeks.

What ever you decide and enjoy. So Happy Touring to you. Life is to short to worry about every little thing.
Ryde today and tomorrow and remember to Enjoy.
Have some fun. .......:thumbup: