At 4pm the second part of the Martin's discussion started and this was to be a group talk about what works for people and what didn't. All of us had things to say about this and there was another group of good ideas for people to take away.
After dinner, Annette Birkmann from Denmark talked about her journey from non-motorcycling lawyer to living and traveling by motorcycle in South America. She did her talk without pictures and I first thought that this might not turn out so well, but it was a really great talk. The main thing that she discovered about herself was that she needed to "shorten the gap between what is happening and how you would like it to be." Living in the moment allows you to better handle life's adventures and not get hung up on how things aren't fair and it didn't turn out the way you thought it was. 
She was very entertaining and she has some very good points about handling life.
At 8pm Ekke and Audrey Kok, from Canada, share their jouney from Canada to Germany, through Russian, Khazakstan and Mongolia into China and eventually to Japan. They had ton of pictures and lots of funny stories to tell. Since they had all of the details on their website, I sat back and listened instead of taking notes. It was a great and long jouney for them.
The last presentation of the weekend was Bob Thode and his Amazing Africa trip. A self-described "wandering old fart" Bob and his wife Martha took a trip through Africa and then Bob went back for more by himself. It was another trip of awesome pictures, cultural experiences, and "interesting" roads.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
The meetings were over and it was time to return home. It rained Friday and Saturday, but Sunday dawned clear and sunny. I got out of town about 7:15am and reversed my route, but decided to take the Balfour Ferry over to the east side of the lake for the return trip, turn west at Creston to get back to Nelway and then continue on home from there. The ride was pretty and I got warmer the more I rode south.
I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this weekend. Having the chance to talk with people who really have done this round the world thing and learn from them was a great opportunity. The fact that all of them are "just folks" as the saying goes, willing to talk to anybody, made it all the more enjoyable. These are the types of people I wanted to meet and hear from and I got exactly what I wanted. I will make this a yearly event and will probably have company coming with me next year.
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.
