In late 2010, during a Skype video call between Canada and
Australia, a concept was created. An idea to quit our jobs, to sell up
our junk, and abandon the safety, security and predictability of our
middle class lives in the ever-comfortable Western world. Not just
another so-called life experience, but an epic adventure of large
enough propotions that few people have the abilty, means and drive to
take on.
It went a little bit like this:
We began to read blogs about motorbike travel. We began to talk to motorbike friends who we’d previously shunned, partly due to their haircuts, and partly due to their cock-eyed grins. We began to watch youtube videos of african americans doing endless wheelies through Brooklyn www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DVn60cAuoM
And the more we looked into it, the more we wanted to do it. Alas we had some problems to overcome: Between the two of us we had no (legal) street motorbiking experience. We had no bikes. We had no licences. We knew nothing about Central or South America. And we certainly could not speak Spanish or Portugese.
But what we did have was 18 months to prepare – Matt had a work contract to complete and Atley had recently spent his life savings replacing his front teeth after a bicycle accident so needed to save up big time.
And after a few months and a few more beers the plan formed was basically this: To leave in the Summer of 2012 on Kawasaki KLR650s. To leave from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada where Matt lived. And to ride South. For a year. Chasing Summer as best we could.
Something like this:
Shwing!
It went a little bit like this:
Matt: Dude I’m sick of this scene. Working is la-ame.And so began the planning. We assessed, we figured, we drank beer. We emailed, we skyped, we drank more beer. We told everyone we could that we were going on this trip so that it would become utterly impossible to actually back out of it, without being physically attacked by our mortally disappointed elderly relatives. And the plans flowed freely like chest hair from Atley’s t-shirt neckline.
Atley: Fully. I want outie 5000, like now!
Matt: Wanna ride motorbikes from Canada to the bottom of South America?
Atley: Yep.
Matt: Ok.
We began to read blogs about motorbike travel. We began to talk to motorbike friends who we’d previously shunned, partly due to their haircuts, and partly due to their cock-eyed grins. We began to watch youtube videos of african americans doing endless wheelies through Brooklyn www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DVn60cAuoM
And the more we looked into it, the more we wanted to do it. Alas we had some problems to overcome: Between the two of us we had no (legal) street motorbiking experience. We had no bikes. We had no licences. We knew nothing about Central or South America. And we certainly could not speak Spanish or Portugese.
But what we did have was 18 months to prepare – Matt had a work contract to complete and Atley had recently spent his life savings replacing his front teeth after a bicycle accident so needed to save up big time.
And after a few months and a few more beers the plan formed was basically this: To leave in the Summer of 2012 on Kawasaki KLR650s. To leave from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada where Matt lived. And to ride South. For a year. Chasing Summer as best we could.
Something like this:
Shwing!
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