At 7pm I listened to Jordan and Sandra Hasselmann describe their journey from Calgary to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is the southern-most city in the world and the destination of many people wanting to travel South America. Jordan was quite interesting to listen to because he was very upbeat about all of their trip, even though like everyone else, there were breakdowns and other things that threatened the success of the journey. They actually started in Newfoundland and went through the US which they enjoyed. When they got to the Mexican border the US Border officials tried to talk them out of going to Mexico due to the dangers involved. They went anyways and had no issues at all. While they had a tent for camping, much of their Latin America lodging was in hotels. Most of them insisted on having them store their motorcycles inside the hotel - in foyers, restaurants, etc. It was pretty funny all of the pictures they had of where their bikes were kept. Every other sentence had the word "beautiful" in it - food, people, land, etc. - it was all beautiful. They kept their upbeat attitude even though they were robbed at one point too. They both rode BMW Dakar 650s and had two breakdowns and one flat. One funny story involved them getting out of a bribe that a policeman tried to force them into paying. Jordan kept his positive attitude, stuck to his story, and eventually the policeman gave up. The trip took them 14 months and they quit their jobs to do it. This was another common theme in many of the presentations. No employer is going to allow a year-long leave of absence, so people just save and quit then take off on their trip.
8pm - Daan Stehouwer and Mirjam van Immerzeel, Two Africa Twins through Africa. This was another story of a trip through Africa. The two are from the Netherlands and like others, they were faced with the cultural differences as they went from country to country heading south toward South Africa. But like everyone else, they were impressed by the friendly and giving nature of nearly everyone they encountered in their travels.
9pm - Debbie Hewson: North to South - Alaska to Pategonia. Originally from Australia, Debbie's trip took her from Prudhoe Bay to the end of South America. I didn't stay for the whole presentation as I was getting pretty sleepy. But her experience was a bit different than others. She wasn't quite as prepared physically for the journey and had some tough times along the way, but she stuck with it and had help from the HU and ADV Rider communities.
Listening to them and the others, I found myself struck by the memories these people were creating. They commit to leaving civilization as they know it, quitting jobs if necessary, and traveling for months or years at a time, seeing the world from the back of a motorcycle. The common reason that these people can do this is they are in one of three categories: 1) young with no responsibilities, 2) divorced with no responsibilities, or 3) retired and ready to enjoy that period of their lives. This is not a position I think I will find myself in. I'm no longer young except in my head, Vicki and I will be together forever, and even when I retire (if ever!) Vicki has no interest in seeing the world from a motorcycle seat. So my adventures will be more limited, but I will make them happen somehow.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
