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Author: Tamela Rich

in News, Roadtripping

Hit The Road: A Woman’s Guide To Solo Motorcycle Touring

Hit the Road: A Woman's Guide to Solo Motorcycle Touring

I wrote Hit The Road, A Woman’s Guide To Solo Motorcycle Touring to help readers experience the joy that a solo road trip gives me. It includes practical tips that anyone can use—whether traveling alone or with others, and regardless of sex. Solo-wanderlust or solo-curious? Group riding is great, and so is solo! Yet, my research […]

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Tamela Rich

Posted on February 8, 2018

in Appalachia, Travel with Tamela

History, Music, Food, and Serenity at Kentucky’s Shaker Village

Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill goat

When you hear the word “Shaker” you likely think of 19th-century furniture. Fair enough. That said, Shaker innovations went far beyond furniture and crafts. They invented: The flat broom The circular saw blade The spring clothespin Chair tilter buttons The paper seed envelope. They also developed social reforms that provided equal status for people of […]

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Tamela Rich

Posted on September 24, 2017

in Italy by Motorcycle

I’m Headed to Tuscany, Corsica, and Sardinia by Motorcycle in 2018

Italian Motorcycle Tour: Tuscany, Corsica, Sardinia

In 365 days I’ll be on my second Italian motorcycle tour. From Rome, where we pick up our bikes, my group will head to the fabulous Podere la Strega in Siena. I catch myself thinking about Podere la Strega in unguarded moments and can’t wait to return. You know why if you’ve been there yourself! […]

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Tamela Rich

Posted on September 18, 2017

in Appalachia, Connect Deep

Henry Ford’s Kentucky Coal Camps: My Great-Aunt’s Memories

Stone coal miners at Eastern #8 Lamphouse 1944

I recently spent a week in Kentucky with my Great Aunt Buntin in the video above. She is the youngest and only surviving sibling of six, all of whom born in the 1920's and 30's in a Kentucky coal camp near the West Virginia state line.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on June 1, 2017

Four Mobile Apps for Finding Great Roadside Stops

Planning a great road trip might start considerations like a final destination on a specific arrival date, but why not add some roadside kitsch and history along the way? My philosophy is that the journey is an equally-important part of the vacation. #TravelSlow #ConnectDeep.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on May 20, 2017

in Italy by Motorcycle, Travel Slow

Lazio Italy by Motorcycle: Civita di Bagnoregio “the town that is dying”

Approach to Civita

Orvieto's morning air delights my soul, encouraging me not to think about the tour’s end in the afternoon. Instead I remind myself to wring joy and memories out of its last day.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on May 11, 2017

in Appalachia, Travel Slow

Appalachian Coal Heritage Tourism: Yes, This is Important

This week in my TV interview, I highlighted some "Coal Heritage Tourism Sites" in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky, where the mining industry provided not only income, also a way of life to its workers and extended communities.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on April 19, 2017

in Italy by Motorcycle, Travel Slow

Umbria by Motorcycle: Lake Corbara Towns

Giuseppe Garibaldi statue in Todi, Italy

Everyone in Italy parks scooters and motorbikes chockablock. No matter how much chrome or how many farkles a bike is adorned with, I never saw an incident of I'm-too-special-and-my-bike's-too-precious-to-share-a-parking-space behavior. If there is enough space to mount and dismount, that's sufficient; share the space.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on April 8, 2017

in Italy by Motorcycle, Travel Slow

Umbria Italy by Motorcycle: Orvieto’s Etruscans

Boar's head at Norcineria Dai Fratelli

The Umbria town of Orvieto sits atop a plateau of tufa rock—consolidated volcanic ash that we would call “tuff” in English. The rock was thrown from the large crater that is now Lake Bolsena, which we visited four days ago.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on April 1, 2017

in Italy by Motorcycle, Travel Slow

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: Crete Senesi and Pienza

Italy's Etruscan Chianina

There’s nothing like a few days in Italy to turn even a fast-food junkie into a foodie. Italians are proud of their culinary heritage and my tour guide, Enrico Grassi is a goodwill ambassador of all things cultural and gastronomical in the boot-shaped country.

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Tamela Rich

Posted on March 27, 2017