The 2021 BMW R 18 Classic’s Big Boxer engine has a loping rhythm and produces plenty of low-end torque. Photos by Kevin Wing.

The hills are green! Time to up the saddlebags on the BMW R 18 Classic and hit the road.

California has two seasons – green and brown. Green is short, typically lasting only a couple months after winter rains. Come springtime, the rain stops, and the grass and wildflowers enjoy a brief moment of glory before they wither and lose their color. Brown is dry, dusty, and interminable, usually lasting from spring until after the new year. Brown is also the season of wildfires, which have become more intense and widespread in recent years.

Winding along Santa Rosa Creek Road, a delightfully neglected backroad on California’s Central Coast, on the 2021 BMW R 18 Classic.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the American West’s megadrought – now in its 22nd year – is the driest in 1,200 years. The last time it was this dry was in the early Middle Ages, only a few hundred years after the fall of the Roman Empire. Here in California, the only appreciable amount of precipitation within the past year fell in December, after which the spigot simply turned off. Warm, dry conditions in January and February encouraged green shoots of grass to emerge and wildflowers to bloom earlier than usual.

After eight or nine months of brown, it’s uplifting to see hillsides and fields carpeted with bright green veget...