Passes & Canyons Blog

Imagine if you had a large network of contacts all around the country, so you could travel on your motorcycle and have a place to stay the night pretty much everywhere you went.

Well, you can. I don’t know why I only just learned about this but that’s exactly what the Motorcycle Travel Network (MTN) is all about.Through a membership in the MTN you have the ability to locate people where you’re headed and arrange to stay at their homes, rather than getting a motel. You also can provide accommodations for other motorcycle travelers and receive a small compensation for putting them up at your own home.

Of course, the best part of this has to be that you get to meet and make friends with other people who share your interests. I’m very interested in learning more about this, and when I do I’ll pass along what I’ve learned.

The way it works is that you pay $30 a year to join for one year, or $45 for two years, or $90 for five years. Then when you stay at someone’s home you pay them a gratuity of $15 for one person per day, or $20 for two people per day.

Here’s a bit of what the MTN has to say on its site.

The goal of MTN is for motorcycle enthusiasts to share their knowledge, experiences and stories with each other in a warm friendly and comfortable environment, namely, in a member’s home. We want to help insure that as you travel you will be staying with people that share your enthusiasm for motorcycles and travel. When you stay with MTN hosts you will be staying with local experts on where to ride, where to eat, sites to see or where to get mechanical service. Likewise you will be staying with someone who is interested in hearing about your riding adventures, and sharing their own.

They seem to have this thing pretty well worked out; check the site for a lot of info on how it all works. And if you have any experience with this network I’d love to have your comments. Thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth. — Steve McQueen

Are you a camper? Is sleeping on the ground in a tent something you like to do? I know that for a lot of people the answer is no. Heck, even for the guys I’ve gone camping with for 30 years the answer lately is no.

That’s really too bad because motorcycle camping is a great, and incredibly inexpensive way to do some terrific traveling. It also allows you to be more flexible in your trip. With hotels and motels you usually need to have a reservation, which locks you in.

In the earlier days of the OFMC we didn’t plan. Before we left we picked a direction to head and we took off. Then we would just go until we decided to stop. Or we’d go in this direction until we decided to go in that direction. Two things made this possible: there were only three of us and we all carried tents, sleeping bags, and foam pads or air mattresses. On more than one occasion that gear was a life saver when we rolled into some town late at night and found no room at the inn. There’s always some place to set up your tent.

And it’s not like you need a lot of gear. We never carried things like stoves or cooking implements. We would just eat in town before riding on to the camping site we chose, or, if close enough, we would set up camp and ride back in for dinner. Then in the morning we’d get up in a pretty quick manner, load up, and head into town for that cup of coffee we all had foremost in our minds.

Some people do carry more than we did. I know some folks on the big rigs have room for cooking gear. And then there are people like Rider magazine’s Clement Salvadori who likes to travel alone and pull off somewhere in the wild and drink wine with his campfire dinner. Clem really knows how to do motorcycle camping.

If you’re even remotely interested in camping on your bike you really ought to give it a whirl. I’ve made a point on the website to help anyone so inclined to find good motorcycle-accessible campgrounds. There are a lot of campgrounds in Colorado that are not motorcycle-accessible and they’re not included. If I’ve included it you can be assured that a campground is accessible on two wheels. There’s no better way to really experience Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.

We had a family gathering recently at a beautiful spot and I figured if you’re coming to Colorado on vacation you might want to know about this place. Or you may live in Colorado as we do and you’re interested in a new getaway spot. The place is Columbine.

So where the heck is Columbine? Near Steamboat Springs is the short answer. More specifically, you take Elk River Road (County Road 129) north from the west end of Steamboat and wind through some gorgeous country up through Clark to the Hahn’s Peak area. It’s good pavement all the way to the little town of Columbine, where the pavement ends. If you keep going you’ll come out at Savery, WY.

There’s not much at Columbine, which is a good thing. What there is is a little store and a bunch of cabins and you can rent one or all of the cabins depending on the size of your group. They range from primitive, with toilets over there to modern with kitchens, bathrooms, and everything else. Except televisions, which is a good thing, too. Here’s their website so you can check the place out.

There’s a lot to do around Columbine. Two state parks are just minutes away, Steamboat Lake State Park and Pearl Lake State Park, and you can hike to the top of Hahn’s Peak. Or you can ride 30 minutes in and hit Steamboat Springs for dinner and whatever else you fancy. Just be on the look-out for deer as you make the evening ride back to Columbine.

For what it’s worth, this is a totally unsolicited, unpaid recommendation. We liked the place and I think you will, too.