About Ball O' String Custom Adventure Tours

Quoted from an article:

If you're going to ride the Northwestern U.S., I'd recommend a troop like this one:

A Captain, (Jungle, George of the), veteran of a hundred campaigns, who knows the roads and passes, and who, as an added bonus, can fix anything that breaks. The Captain's wife, Willie, who has ten stories for every evening on the road and who knows fine inns like George knows motorcycles...

Specializing in twisty roads, beautiful scenery, fine inns and great food; Ball O' String combines the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation.

Ball O' String was born out of our love of motorcycles. After 38 years of touring the Western US and gathering information about the best motorcycle roads and unique and interesting lodging, we want to share our experience by putting together a perfect vacation for you. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, a novice or expert rider, or a sports car enthusiast, we'd love to take you touring!

Ball O' String also has extensive experience in travel through the 50 united states (including Alaska ) and much of Canada, Italy and Spain. Your guides have information about the best roads for travel and lodging to fit your wants and desires. We want to share our experience with you by putting together a perfect customized vacation tour for you. Always avid travelers we jump on our bike at every opportunity. We look forward to an adventure to some yet undiscovered treasure or well-known destination.

Please join us as we continue our travels throughout magnificent scenery, with chances of viewing an abundance of wildlife along the way to quaint towns, unique lodging and of course...great food!

TESTIMONIALS

June 2000 Trip to Italy : The two most exciting weeks of my life!!! The first trip I had ever been on that I didn’t have to plan everything.

The locations picked for hotels were awesome. Couldn’t believe how close we were to major sites & still very reasonable prices; I have eaten all over the western world & had the best meal of my life in a tiny Piedmont village; All the places picked to eat were incredible. The scenery was breathtaking. Nancy Parker – Scottsdale , AZ

May, 2001 David Newman: May I thank you both again for everything you did for me it was a fantastic trip and I will remember it for the rest of my life as a great adventure. The pair of you were super friendly and extremely considerate in all you did and made for a great end to the trip.

October 2001: Outlaw history is just an eagle's cry away on Willie Fuhrman’s “Ball O String “ tour to the Flaming Gorge area. One can easily sense the spiritual presence of Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and their predecessors – the Shoshone, the Ute, and the Crow tribes on this ride. In the early 1800’s white trappers started rendezvousing here and later the cattlemen were followed by the outlaws into the canyons.

As I road pillion I imagined the scenarios of these adventurous people. Anyone who came to this gorgeous and extreme environment had to be tough. Time keeps slipping back & forth here, the “real” Old West is alive and well. You will not see Pizza Hut, Super 8 or McDonalds out here, but you will find a delightful little café in the middle of nowhere that serves home-made pie & has a nice collection of beadwork for sale by the proprietress. As we warmed up at the truck stop in Vernal, I chatted with a young cattleman in mud splattered chaps. I asked him what the weather was like in the 10,000-foot high country. “Cold and wet”. To us that was a challenge. Willie had supplied us with electric vests I felt like a baby wrapped in a bunting. I was totally comfortable as we sped past the enormous Blue Mountain with its green/blue & pink strata. My adrenaline rose higher and higher as we ascended the 10 hairpin curves to a high alpine terrain 1800 feel above the Green River . By that time, large moist snowflakes started falling; I was naturally high as a kite and I stayed that way for three days. The forest was transformed into a silent mystical magical kingdom with no traffic in sight (and we were going to camp). Oh well. We saw a tiny sign “Lodge >>>”. We got the last cabin, along with a well stocked wood stove and a hot “bunkhouse” shower. Most wonderfully, many happy people were enjoying fresh trout dinners & fine wine in the lodge and we got a table in front of a blazing fireplace. I felt like I was in heaven!

As I looked down into one of the world’s most scenic canyons I was reminded of the famous movie scene of Butch and Sundance jumping into the rapids of the Green River to escape the Pinkerton railroad detectives.

Our descent took us into verdant, least traveled passes in “real ranch” country. My mind was over whelmed by the fantastic fall foliage, the challenging curves and the excitement of being greeted by a huge Black Angus bull and his herd in the middle of the road. As I mentioned the Old West is alive and well here. We followed Jungle on an extremely exciting tour of Colorado National Monument . At the end of this day we were rewarded with a fabulous dinner in Grand Junction ; I chose Portabello mushrooms covered in crab Sherry Béarnaise Sauce. Our motto on these tours seems to be “We live to eat” and comfort is the highest priority.

As we raced home along the Colorado River , I was grateful to the herons, the geese, and the hawks, egrets and eagles for being there for me. What a way to bird watch.

I fell into a trance-state as we rushed along the Glenwood Canyon rapids. The energy of the water rose to greet us & just riding through this engineering marvel was a transcendental experience. I was extremely grateful for a hot tub and hot dinner at the end of the trip and the camaraderie to plan the next one.

With four decades of research in the art of touring roads of the Rockies , Willie & Jungle Fuhrman assure you of five star service in guiding any Western trip. They also have several years of international motorcycle touring experience. Willie’s concierge-like skills and Jungle’s life-long experience of professional master mechanic in the Vail Valley take away any anxiety on a road trip. Fine western meals and custom designed days are Willie’s specialty with her Ball O’ String motorcycle tours. Sleeping next to an alpine river, sharing a rustic cabin or an elegant lodge are choices based on the customer’s whim or whether Willie is ready to dish out excitement! Willie’s high level of energy and love of adventure must have been inherited from her grandfather in Montana who (it is rumored) consorted with some of the more famous notorious characters of the day. But she tempers her exuberance with mature, sober-minded riding experience and compassion for all levels of riders, including myself, a nervous survivor of Mexican motorcycle road trauma. She had state of the art versatility on her sport bike and we experienced top level comfort and power in the mountains on our Honda Valkyrie.

Our trip started out as an impulsive desire to sit in some “Cowboy Hot Springs” in Saratoga , Wyo.

We never made it.

We are happily planning our next road trip with Fuhrman’s Ball O’ String Custom Tours. Of course for us this will entail back roads, little traffic, fine food and hot springs. Nancy Sinclair – Meadow Grove , NE

April 2006: Thanks to you two we had a marvelous adventure. Your advice, routes, concern, bikes, all made for a perfect trip. Even that rain & snow you arranged for the first day really made us appreciate seven perfect days that followed. Jim & Joan Reinhart – Hartford , CT