Four Mobile Apps for Finding Great Roadside Stops

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.

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

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

Appalachian Coal Heritage Tourism: Yes, This is Important

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.

Umbria by Motorcycle: Lake Corbara Towns

Umbria by Motorcycle: Lake Corbara Towns
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.

Umbria Italy by Motorcycle: Orvieto’s Etruscans

Umbria Italy by Motorcycle: Orvieto’s Etruscans
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.

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: Crete Senesi and Pienza

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: Crete Senesi and Pienza
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.

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: Siena

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: Siena
Awake once more at dawn in my 400-year-old room, I’m eager to get into Siena. The shimmering city on three hills that has been enticing us from the infinity pool at Podere la Strega is now on our agenda.

Italy by Motorcycle: Negotiating with a Greve in Chianti Shopkeeper

Italy by Motorcycle: Negotiating with a Greve in Chianti Shopkeeper
After leaving San Gimignano we head to Greve in Chianti, the birthplace of Giovanni da Verrazzano. He is famous for being the first  European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and Newfoundland, and for discovering the New York Bay in 1524. This discovery is why the bridge spanning the Narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island bears his name.

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: San Gimignano

Tuscany Italy by Motorcycle: San Gimignano
I awake on the third day of my tour in a 17th-century country house and it occurs to me that human beings have been conceived, born, lived, and died in this very room for over 400 years. The walls are freshly-painted plaster, their yellow hue the perfect shade for the faint early morning light.

Appalachian Music Trails: Destinations in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Appalachian Music Trails: Destinations in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Music is an easy way to celebrate Appalachian culture.