Tuesday, May 24, 2022

ADVENTURE MOTORCYCLE and MOTORCYLE ADVENTURES - Research Spring and Summer 2022

 

Europe thru Russia to the USA – Plan is Out!

In April, # 9 halted his adventure plans to start an overland motorcycle journey in June from Heidelberg, Germany to Latvia, and then across Russia and onward to the USA.  His adventure motorcycle for the rally leg, his often used 1986 BMW K100RT, has been gifted for another use.

 
The # 9 adventurer said of the plan hatched three years earlier, “It’s a fool’s journey in 2022 given the political environment, no visa possibility and high cost of shipping or flying the motorcycle out of Vladivostok to Los Angeles. Some of the big wallet guys with mega dollars can’t buy passage for their vehicle out of Vladivostok, let alone for themselves, even using their private jets. They can't even enter Russia.”

 

ALCAN 5000 – In!

Entrant # 69 has been prepping his BMW for the 2022 Alcan 5000 August 23 – September 1. www.alcan5000.com/ has details. Photo below is the BMW preparation in progress. The rally leg will take # 69 as far west as Telegraph Creek in British Colombia.


In 1939 Slim Williams and John Logan dragged, pushed, pulled and rode a BSA motorcycle down the telegraph trail to Telegraph Creek, and then on to Hazelton, BC. It was the first motorcycle adventure from Alaska to the Lower 48, to prove a road could be made the connect Alaska with the Lower 48.  What # 69 will find in Telegraph Creek in August, 2022 will be far different from the village in 1939, but he is guaranteed to have a riding adventure as most of the road from the Stewart-Cassiar Highway to Telegraph Creek is gravel and dirt, a challenge for a heavy BMW with a full load of luggage. Motorcycle preparation is a key element for # 69’s success and that of his BMW 1992 R100 GS “Bumble Bee” model as there are no BMW parts depots of shops on this leg of his adventure.

 

“Looking For America Adventure- A Go!

A long loop through the heartland of America in June is mapped, booked and a confirmed for # 9. Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota are on the route. Arrival in Duluth for the globally famous Ride To Work Day celebration at Aerostich Designs, the rally sponsor and headquarters, is the northern most target. The Looking For America Adventure tour is a book promotional tour combined with a research project.  The book being promoted, ADVENTURE MOTORCYCLIST: FRAZIER SHRUGGED, went live as a digital publication in May – Amazon also offers it as a print copy. 

Some of the research for the book was conducted during Livermore imposed down times spent after stewarding and guiding Richard Livermore to his preferred five-star secure hotels, B & Bs, and motels during Livermore’s self-terminated attempt to circle the globe using # 9 as his paid guide. Frazier said of his current research, “Back when Livermore and I were on the road, like in South America, he would often not attempt to speak Spanish, opting for American slang and idioms when speaking with the locals. An example and a Livermore favorite was “Okey dokey” instead of saying “Si.” I may have mistakenly thought his farm boy language came from Kansas, and several times said to him, "Yo, we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," to cajole him to try some Spanish or Americanisms the locals could understand or translate. In June I am traveling to Kansas (the physical center of the Lower 48 of the United States of America) to see if they teach school age children to use that particular American idiom, or another favorite used by Livermore as a substitute for "Si," that being "You betcha." It should be fun research and maybe I will find Dorothy and Toto, if they have returned from the imaginary Land of Oz."

[Saul Bishop posted, from the road May, 2022]