Idyll: An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque episode or scene.

         A description in verse of a picturesque or rustic life.

Such is my dictionary's description of the word. The word fit.

I always feel that journeys start when you first leave the home and head out to wherever; this time the journey seemed to start months before we even headed to the airport.

After a long winter of waiting we were getting ready to head to Italy, riding with Rob Beach and Beach's Motorcycle Adventures.

Still weeks away we were surprised when a big box appeared at Backroads Central containing two very snazzy duffel bags, emblazoned, not only with the Beach's logo, but personalized with our names as well.

How cool. Along with the luggage came books, maps, suggestions, hints - just about everything a rider about to set off on a tour could need or want.

Beach's Motorcycle Adventures has been around since 1972 and with their strong reputation for excellence, we know of many riders who will only tour with Beach's and we wanted to find out why.

With the flight to Europe still a month or so away we felt like we were already on tour as we poured over the books and maps. This was going to be more than excellent.

The beginning of May found us on an Air France A-330, to Paris, and then a connecting flight to Florence, Italy where the tour would begin a few days later.

We typically do this to enjoy some time in a new city and to explore what is to be found. In the case of Florence that is a lot.

In addition to a number of fellow Americans on this Italian Idyll Tour, we were once again joined by our friend Chris Knight, from London, whom we first rode with down to Tierra Del Fuego a year back.