Linda is a native Californian, a San Franciscan by birth. She grew up in the East Bay and moved back to SF after college. She also trained as a secondary ed teacher but followed my BFA in photography into a career as a corporate photographer and then a university photojournalist for Stanford. She retired at the end of the 2019 school year. She’s been keeping busy during a time of limited travel by volunteering with my local food bank, bicycling, reading and staying close to my local motorcycle friends.  

Her love for motorcycle travel began over 30 years ago when she first strapped a tent to a bike, beginning a journey that she hope to continue as long as possible.  

She’s explored the many types of riding that are so easy to access in the west and especially in Northern California. There are seriously fun tracks for track days, twisty mountain roads in the Bay Area and beyond, and the off-road opportunities in places like Death Valley or the Sierra Nevada that can satisfy the desire for dirt roads. The term Adventure Touring hadn’t really been used much when she bought her first G/S in 1998, a 1986 BMW R80 G/S that she still have and ride regularly. This bike is her gold standard for the kind of riding she likes to do.  

That motorcycle took her through many western states and a little bit of Canada on trips, including an excursion to Alaska. They traveled to Baja to celebrate her 50th birthday. She’s ridden motorcycles in the French/Swiss Alps and on a trip to southern Africa from Victoria Falls to Cape Town. This was her first Rally for Rangers and she was so excited to be joining R4R on the journey through Bhutan.