Join Danny Thompson on the Highway 62 Podcast as he chats with George Gutenberg, the mastermind behind Moto Tour Adventures and Desert Motorcycle Rentals. Nestled between 29 Palms and Joshua Tree, George shares his journey from architectural photographer to motorcycle enthusiast, offering guided tours on electric mopeds through the stunning landscapes of Joshua Tree. Discover the thrill of two-wheel adventures, the unique experience of riding in nature, and how George's passion for motorcycles became a thriving business. Whether you're a local or a tourist, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to explore the open road. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about the freedom and mindfulness that comes with riding.

https://motoadventuretours.com/contact-us

Danny Thompson (00:01.422) All right, George Gutenberg, thanks so much for joining me here on the Highway 62 Podcast. How are you today?

George Gutenberg (00:07.89) I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Danny Thompson (00:09.87) Oh, my pleasure. And you are the owner. We're kind of talking about two businesses here along Highway 62. You're kind of right between 29 and Joshua Tree. You have Moto Tour Adventures and Desert Motorcycle Rentals. And, you know, I apologize to any of the listeners if we end up geeking out too much on this stuff because this is totally right up my alley motorcycles and bicycles. So.

George Gutenberg (00:27.352) All right.

Danny Thompson (00:37.574) We'll have to try to like limit ourselves from getting you know to down the rabbit hole of that stuff. But you know we'll talk about both of your businesses and all that good stuff. But you know first why you just tell us a little bit about yourself and you know how you came to be.

George Gutenberg (00:37.782) Yeah.

George Gutenberg (00:54.168) Well, that's a long story given how old I've gotten. But having said that, yeah, I've been a motorcycle rider my entire life, essentially, and always been a big part of me. It's the only way I know how to turn my head off is get onto a wheels and focus on what I'm doing. But yeah, so we started out as being a motorcycle rental company about, I guess, six years ago now, down in the valley in Palm Desert.

and we got him to start doing some guided tours as well and then I came across these electric mopeds.

about a year and a half ago or something like that, that are two-wheel drive. So they have a motor on each wheel. So they're really suitable for going off-highway, off-pavements. So we decided, know what, maybe we'll incorporate some of that into doing rentals or guided tours. So that's how we kind of came about and decided to get up on Highway 62. So we're a little closer to the park entrance and all that stuff. So that is what we're doing now. We're doing guided tours up in Joshua Tree in the park using the electric mopeds.

Danny Thompson (02:01.101) Cool.

George Gutenberg (02:01.529) big part of our business. Now that was really the focus when we came up to Joshua Tree itself.

Danny Thompson (02:05.131) Yeah, are you from the area? What's your background prior to this?

George Gutenberg (02:10.823) Well, I'm actually an architectural photographer by trade. So I retired from that a few years ago and decided, well, retirement is not for me. Never swung a golf club in my life, so I'm not about to start doing it now, right? So I wanted to do something that I kind of enjoyed, which obviously is them motorcycles. I had too many of them anyways, so I decided to get into the rental business and all that stuff.

Danny Thompson (02:14.166) Okay.

Danny Thompson (02:33.043) There's you can't have too many motorcycles. That's just not you always want another one.

George Gutenberg (02:35.649) Well, I know that's kind of been my, yeah, that's what I've always kind of hid behind also. I don't know that it's really working that well,

Danny Thompson (02:45.121) What's the, what is the first motorcycle you ever had?

George Gutenberg (02:50.999) 1971 Harley-Davidson. Yeah.

Danny Thompson (02:53.615) wow, okay.

Did you start, were you riding dirt bikes as a kid or anything like that?

George Gutenberg (03:00.651) I rode that dirt mopeds when I was a kid.

Danny Thompson (03:03.597) And it was at again out. Are you from kind of the Southern California? OK. Gotcha. All right. Where in Sweden? Gotcha. OK, gotcha. I've played I play in a band. I've played a festival in Gothenburg. I'm not sure. I'm sure I'm saying it wrong, but yeah, loved it. Love Sweden.

George Gutenberg (03:09.463) No, from Sweden originally. Yeah. But I've been here a very long time, so... Stockholm area. Yeah, yeah.

George Gutenberg (03:28.363) huh. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. boy, is there ever. I'm very happy to be in sunshine and palm trees. The whole overcast and the six months of not seeing the sun doesn't work for me very well.

Danny Thompson (03:33.069) Okay, awesome. Quite a difference in weather between Sweden and the high desert.

Danny Thompson (03:41.842) Right.

Yeah, that's always my struggle as well when I, you know, I tend to end up somehow get lucky and I visit, you know, when I was in Gothenburg, like it was a beautiful summer day, you know, and you always think about it that way. And then I go, okay, I know, you know, I've been to the UK and I've been to Europe when it's in the winter time and the sun's going down at three in the afternoon and I can't do it. You know? Yeah. So,

George Gutenberg (03:58.092) Uh-huh.

George Gutenberg (04:03.507) yeah.

George Gutenberg (04:07.276) Yep.

I hear you. I feel the same way.

Danny Thompson (04:14.605) Tell us a little bit about the guided motorcycle tours that you were doing prior to the electric bikes.

George Gutenberg (04:19.105) Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we don't necessarily do long distance type of stuff, although, you know, if we do a custom tour for somebody that kind of dictates how long they want to be out, etc. But we have given ones that we do like, you know, going up to, you know, go and do the whole Joshua tree loop, for example, was really popular when we're operating out of Palm Desert. Same thing going up Highway 74, obviously up to Idlewild, etc. Everybody loved that. Who doesn't like Highway 74, right?

Danny Thompson (04:32.684) Yeah.

Danny Thompson (04:47.923) Okay, yeah, that's beautiful ride. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

George Gutenberg (04:52.215) And also we did a lot of Anza Marego that way out also through the Salton Sea, cetera, going around the whole big loop there. So, and there were people that wanted to go to Temecula. There's all kinds of places that people want to kind of go see, depending on where they're from. You know, a lot of people that we had have never been out on the West Coast. So they wanted to do all kinds of different things. So, but yeah, that's how it kind of started out getting in the guided tour thing. The guide that

Danny Thompson (05:08.897) Yeah.

Danny Thompson (05:18.753) Are those, do you stay, are they mostly on road tours or do you do like off road into the Mojave Desert type stuff or?

George Gutenberg (05:22.357) Yeah, yes. Well, we do some of that. However, seems our experience has been a lot of people that are off-road riders that are not from California have no idea what sand is and how deep it is and how difficult it is to ride in.

Danny Thompson (05:36.641) Yeah. Yeah. I was, that's exactly what I was thinking.

George Gutenberg (05:44.471) Yeah, so we've had quite a few people that said, oh yeah, yeah, I can write in anything. And it turns out that's not necessarily the case. So they struggle a little bit. But yeah, we do some dual sports towards all of those things.

Danny Thompson (05:51.094) Yeah. Gotcha. When I, when I moved out to this area, I, you know, I grew up in Chicago and I was living in Orange County for about 20 years. and then moved out here about four or five years ago. And when I first got out here, I just had my, my Triumph Tiger. And, know, that was my primary bike, but I quickly realized like, okay, I can't, I, I cannot ride, you know, I know there are guys that can ride the adventure bikes in the sand.

George Gutenberg (06:12.139) Yeah.

Danny Thompson (06:19.241) I can't do it very well, so I bought myself a little KLX 300. And I've thought about that.

George Gutenberg (06:23.383) Uh huh. A lot easier.

Danny Thompson (06:26.581) yeah, you know, put some really aggressive tires on there and I just, you know, just forced myself to just get out there and just kind of watched a bunch of videos and just started learning and, you know, getting better and better and better to now where I'm actually pretty darn comfortable in the sand. which, you know, certainly makes your ride so much more enjoyable, but you know, I'd thought about that with, you know, I had even thought about, you know,

guiding some tours in the Mojave and stuff like that. Because I see so many adventure riding bikes, you know, coming down 62 when I'm at Starbucks or getting gas. And I think, man, you know, those guys are all kitted up. But I know that most of them are not going off the street on those bikes, you know. But then I always come back to this. What you just said, which is even if you provided them a smaller, you know, bike to do the ride on, most of most people, they're just going to struggle so much in that sand that it's.

George Gutenberg (06:54.135) Mm-hmm.

George Gutenberg (06:59.958) yes. yeah.

Danny Thompson (07:21.751) probably not going to be very enjoyable for them and you know, potentially too many crashes and you know, and things like that. So...

Moto Adventure Tours With George Gutenburg