Live From the The Himalayas and an Interview with Jeremy Kroeker, ADV Author

Buy Jeremy Kroeker's books here. 

Original music by Jeremy Kroeker and Austin Vince, thank you for the tunes! 

Chapters

• 1:24 Live from Leh, India
• 9:31 The Chris's Interviews, live
• 22:13 Jeremy Kroeker Interview

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Alright, listeners. We're a bit sorry for the delay. Maybe we're not that sorry at all. We are at the world's highest medieval pass at Um Ninh La. And we're actually in the parking area right now, which is 19,024 feet. It's really hard to think straight at this altitude. We've been here for about six or seven minutes. We should be here only a total of 15. And we apologize that the podcast will be late, but we are in a hovel and we really don't have internet except for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. And it's hard to and get things rolling in that short a period of time. So we're also going to do a little oxygen sensor.

SPEAKER_01: 0:41

Yeah, we did our oxygen sensors. He is at 71% SpO2, and I'm at 80%. So it just goes to show you're not thinking straight. And I also wanted to mention in this podcast, we're playing two original songs by Jeremy. And I'm sorry we forgot to mention it. But on that note, let's roll with the intro.

SPEAKER_06: 0:59

Welcome to the ADV Cannonball Podcast. where we discuss all things on two wheels, the adventure bike cannonball, and other motorcycle-related nonsense.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26

Season three, episode 16. Welcome to Adventure Cannonball Podcast. I'm your host, Taylor Lawson, and I'm joined by global traveler and my good friend, Aaron Pufall. Yeah, buddy. Thanks for having me. Where are you sitting today? I'm

SPEAKER_01: 1:38

sitting right across from you, Muppet.

SPEAKER_02: 1:41

Yeah, okay. Good point. Right. So we are having a lay day in lay, and we are sitting just outside the Druk Hotel. And yeah, today's our lay day. It's our chance to acclimate to the 3,500 meters. Or 9,000. 11,500 feet. 11,500 feet.

SPEAKER_01: 2:00

Yeah. So. First things first, my friend. We're forgetting our tradition. Yeah. First things first. We do not have an IPA. However, we have something called the legendary Godfuck. It is just the beer, but it's all we got. But cheers.

SPEAKER_02: 2:14

There's to it, my friend. I did just want to say, you know, there's a bit more to this. You know, it's a tall boy, right? And it is the legendary premium strong beer. Just to be politically accurate here. Get it all in there. It is strong. It feels like a good 8%. Nice. We have got an action-packed show for you today. First, you'll hear from our Vashi, our fixer on this trip. Then we'll bring in two riders who are on this trip with us, Chris Watson and Chris Jobe. And we'll get their respective takes on the different sections of different passes that we've had in these last two days. And then we'll wrap with an intro of another great interview conducted by Aaron, this time with adventure rider and author Jeremy Kroger. Before we jump in, I'd like to answer a few listener questions. What type of bike? We are on a rented fleet of one-year-old Royal Enfield Himalayan 450s. These are the ones, if you're watching the series, this is the last one that Itchy Boots did a run around this part of the world actually with. And fairly new in the sense that mine had 10,000 kilometers or 6,200 miles on it when I picked it up. Question number two was, how readily is fuel available? And the answer to that is pretty available. Obviously, there's no fuel stops on the passes, but these bikes These bikes don't run. They don't burn that much fuel, we've learned. So when we get back down at the little towns, it's easy to get fuel. And what we do at the end of each day is the first person in opens the fuel pump and then we all roll through and just keep filling the bikes. That leads into the third question of how much are we actually burning? And we're actually burning about seven liters or about just under two gallons a day. And the last question is what kind of distances are we riding? And we're doing about 101 130 to 155 miles or 208 to 250 kilometers per day and it's really not it's just like we talk about in the cannonball rally it's really not about how many miles that you're riding it's about how long you're in the saddle so the first day we were in the saddle we did get breaks but from from the time we kicked out to the time we actually stopped it was about a nine hour day and then day number two again we're only two days into this nine days of riding day number two was is about the same, maybe a half an hour long. So to get more questions answered, keep sending those questions in, and we'll do a deep dive on the whole experience here, including these other days. We'll talk more about that in the next episode. And with that, I'd like to roll a clip that we asked Urvashi, who is our fixer on this, and we asked her some questions at lunch earlier today.

UNKNOWN: 4:52

Music

SPEAKER_02: 5:03

I am sitting here at the Tibetan kitchen, also known locally as the Tibetan kitchen in Leh, having lunch with our fixer, Urvashi. Welcome to the podcast, Urvashi.

SPEAKER_00: 5:13

Hello.

SPEAKER_02: 5:15

So what I'd like to ask you is what has been the most interesting part or unexpected part of being a fixer for this particular group in Leh, considering that we are, for the most part, Westerners coming into India?

SPEAKER_00: 5:26

The most interesting part of this group is that I got to be with them and it was an impromptu thing. It was unexpected. So yeah, that's been the most interesting part. And I've got a bunch of lovely guys, young guys that I'm hanging out with. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 5:45

I think that she was being generous and kind when she said young, but so we'll take it. So has there been anything interesting that you've had to tell people when you book a restaurant? Is there any information you have to give in advance when we show up?

SPEAKER_00: 5:59

So given that you guys are not used to the spice levels, that the Indians go by, we've had to explain to them literally how much is your spice tolerance and the kind of food that they should be cooking and the kind of spices that they should be using.

SPEAKER_02: 6:15

And how have they responded to that request?

SPEAKER_00: 6:18

I think so far it's been okay.

SPEAKER_02: 6:20

I'd say from our perspective, it's been excellent. Yesterday was quite a lot of spice. And then yesterday was quite a nice little bit of a bland lunch, which was just a good day to give our bodies a bit of a moment to rest from the amazing spicy food that we've been having so far. In follow-up to that question, has there been anybody, you know, right now we're sitting at 3,600 or 3,800 meters and acute mountain sickness, also known as AMS, is something that we've had to deal with. Have you had any particular situations that you've had to deal with regarding AMS?

SPEAKER_00: 6:54

Yeah, one of the photographers from the crew, he experienced it since last night and we had to take him to the hospital he had to get two shots because he was throwing up a lot and his oxygen levels were quite low so yeah we had to take him to the hospital to get that fixed

SPEAKER_02: 7:14

yeah it's important to know thanks for that it's it's important to know that it's really you need to take care of your body you need to take it seriously and drinking a lot of water is one of the things you need to do potentially not smoking also a good thing and yeah generally taking care of yourself and drinking a lot of water and trying to keep your stress levels low and taking time to acclimate, which is actually one of the things that we're doing here in Leh. We're taking a day here to do what?

SPEAKER_00: 7:40

We've taken a day here, a rest day, so that our bodies get acclimatized to the high altitude. And it's important to do that so that our bodies get used to the oxygen levels here because we don't really stay. In general, we are at much lower altitudes. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 8:02

Yeah. fantastic thanks very much for your comments I appreciate that adventure endurance

SPEAKER_05: 8:08

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SPEAKER_02: 9:06

And we are back. So one of the things that Urbashi talked about was AMS, acute mountain sickness. And later today, we will check in with the photographer. Later in this week, we'll check with him. But we did just see him taking a rooftop picture of us. So we're guessing that he's okay because he seemed to be smiling. Maybe this gave him a couple of really good shots and he's flying. But either way, he seems to be back in the saddle. And with that, I would like to introduce our guests. We've got Chris Watson and Chris Job, Chris and Chris, welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for asking

SPEAKER_07: 9:40

me. Yeah, guys, really great to be here. Nice to be

SPEAKER_02: 9:43

here. So for full transparency, so Aaron and I are on comms. We had Vijay. Earlier, V-Day with Vijay was the episode I did with him. He had to leave, unfortunately. But so it was Vijay and Aaron and me, and we were all on comms. And whenever we'd say, we're talking about where people were positioned in the riding, we'd say, who's in front of you? You go, Chris. And I'd say, who's Chris? So to be clear and for full transparency, Chris Watson, we refer to you as UK Chris, and Chris Jobe, we refer to you as Sweden Chris. And with that, Aaron, I'll hand it over to you.

SPEAKER_01: 10:15

Yeah. UK Chris, thanks for being here. On our first day, the riding began with pure chaos. We were in the city, there was mayhem, there was horns, we were lane filtering, and then all of a sudden we were climbing up through what could only be described as the white powder mountain roads loaded with massive trucks and switchbacks. So in all honesty, was this what you were expecting, or did to catch you off guard and how did you fare?

SPEAKER_08: 10:38

Well, where do you start? Yeah, it was chaos from the hotel. I think everybody was a little bit apprehensive, not sure what everybody was going to be like and how we were going to react once we got on the streets, even whether they're driving on the right side of the road. Yeah, I was glad to get out of Stringer and understanding the road system. Luckily, I drive on that side of the road anyhow, so that was an easy one for me. It was a bit of disorganized chaos as we weren't sure which way, how much speed, how long we were going to go, what we were going to do. But anyhow, it settled out and we started up into the mountains, which was a little bit refreshing, I believe. Once we started up the mountains, you were thinking, well, yeah, this is why I've come here. You know, the scenery, the light, everything was pretty good. Really enjoyed that section until you start getting this roads that aren't roads they're not there there's just powder there's shit there's trucks emitting this black screen that you can't see through then somebody decides to overtake and you've got to follow and there's a car coming the other way at the same time you're thinking holy shit what we're going to do but you know somehow we kind of managed it there was one interesting one I think the bike in front of me I think Aaron just passed me and then this bike went in front of a car and the car hit him not one of our guys I have to say are local but we all shot through after that and we kind of calmed down and got it together so as we went further up the passes yeah the first break I think when we got I can't remember whether it was coffee or whatever but we were all smiling buzzing high-fiving because it was certainly a great start to the day and the day only got better tighter roads more dangerous situations people being Crazy, that's all I can say. There was a few cats lives lost. by more than one person, you know? But what an experience. Did it come to my expectations of the journey on day one? Yeah, it did. You know, and I've done a couple of rides before in my time. And yeah, the nerves still went from my guts and I had a fucking great day. Excuse my language, sorry. But it was spot on. A really, really good day.

SPEAKER_01: 13:06

Yeah, thanks for that candid description. I couldn't have described it better. And on day two, we were hit with an unexpected surprise. Well, for me anyways. We hit an amazing strip of blacktop. It was winding. It was well over 10,000 feet. The motorcycles were struggling, and I was not expecting that. And the blacktop was interrupted with missing sections and boulders and all kinds of detritus all over the place. Chris, Swedish Chris, what was your impression of day two?

SPEAKER_07: 13:37

So day two started out a bit chaotic in the town. actually you know we ended up going the wrong way immediately like we took a wrong turn and then you know the whole group had to do a 180 turn which was a bit interesting with about 200 people around them so you know but we got it done and then we got out of town we started to climb out with Cargill and immediately the twist started you know and the group after day one had already like gelled with each other and everything really good riding you know it is I would say quite an advanced level ride because there are a lot of twisties in there. When you're going around the corners as well, you need to watch out for a lot of sand, fallen rocks. There could be a truck coming around the corner on your side of the road. The corners of them stick out quite far, so you do need to be really careful when you're going around the corners. But there is a technique to it. After the first day, you begin to get used to how the locals think and how it all works and how it works with the horns as well. The horns are everything here, right? There's a whole language with the horns. So a little beep-beep means that I'm here when it gets a bit more intense it means like okay I'm really here like you're getting in my way and then when it's full on it's like okay I'm in danger now so yeah there's a whole language there for sure but when we got up into the mountains we started to do the twisties there and you know there's different levels of riders in the group that they're all pretty pretty good riders but we started to separate a bit but we don't go too fast so that you know someone ends up going off the edge of a cliff or something like that but we're not slow either you know there's really good pace and then those advanced riders that really want you know to go around the corners really you know these twisties really quickly and do have a really good time as well and that's where I come from you know I'm used to riding sports bikes on the road so there's something for everybody here whether it's off-road we haven't done that yet that will be in the next few days but on road as well if you really like that sort of thing there was some of the best roads I've ever rode on going up that hill there I mean the amount of hairpin bends that we did. We probably did like, I don't know, 100, 150 really cool bends. And yeah, you can really get a good adrenaline rush. As you get higher, you can start to feel the effects of the altitude. But for me, it wasn't too bad. And for the rest of the group, we haven't had any major problems, really, the riders. So yeah, overall, it was an awesome ride. I mean, definitely the best riding I've done in my lifetime, for sure. And I come from the motorbike industry. When I was a lot younger, I've ridden a lot of bikes. I've ridden quite a lot in the UK but actually these bikes were perfect to go around the Himalayas with because you don't need too much power but it's really fun to work the gearbox and get the bike moving you know and think about okay I'm going into this corner I need to look ahead to see exactly like what cars are coming what you need to be aware of when you go around the corner and also what gear you need to be in and how how much leaned over you need to be to get around the corner at a good speed and keep the pace up and it was it was really really fun

SPEAKER_01: 16:40

yeah thanks for that and choosing the gears and being in the right gears can be poorly illustrated in the videos that I posted on social media because I'm not used to a 450 and I'm not used to oxygen starved engine and it was a nightmare but we got it done and it was flat out all the time just to get moving and I think your shifting and your gear selection was probably a lot smoother than mine was

SPEAKER_07: 17:03

yeah I mean we found out I found out pretty quickly like second gear was the key right if you went rounded and you were trying to climb up a hill around a hairpin in third gear with a single-cylinder 450, there was times when it would stutter a bit, and that would really throw your balance off. So second gear, high revs, good control, and then you can really burn it out of the corner nicely. It was great fun.

SPEAKER_01: 17:26

Yeah, thanks for that. And we're outside of the hotel having a couple of beers, and you can hear the motorbikes coming back from the repair shop. And with that, I'm going to hand it back to the boss of the show, Taylor.

SPEAKER_02: 17:36

Gentlemen, thank you very much. I do appreciate that. closed the road section I want to say that we came around one of the things that was most memorable for me riding yesterday we came around we were on what was seemed to be freshly laid beautiful blacktop and then we were on a dirt road single lane traffic backed up both directions there was dust everywhere and if you look down you can recognize that three meters below where we were about ten feet below where we actually were on this new dirt road was probably the old road and if you looked up the hill there was this massive washout. And if you look down the hill, you realize that there was the rest of the road gone. So this amazing two-lane ribbon was gone.

SPEAKER_01: 18:18

Yeah. Tune in next week or the next episode, and we'll have a deep dive into all of this.

SPEAKER_02: 18:22

Yeah. So we'll close that section. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being part of this and sharing your input. That was really nice to hear that. Thank you so much. As promised at the top, we would have an interview with Jeremy. And it's extremely relevant to this particular segment of what we're doing in this particular trip, because his book does Lost to Darkness is about riding in a Muslim country, and indeed, that is what we are doing. And with that, let's roll the

SPEAKER_03: 18:58

interview. I got a garbage job. I'm a garbage man. I've been driving this truck so long it's all I can stand. In my head a song, on my face a frown I'm getting kinda sick and tired of cleaning up this town When the office checked in, to ask how we are One day I told them how I felt, they sent me to HR Now when they ask, to avoid the strife I smile and I say I'm having the best day my life. The best day of my life. This job is alright. If you let me never go home and keep working all night. Tell the office no. Don't you have any fears? It's only because I'm happy that you see my tears. A promotion came up. I put my hat in the ring. I was the only I'm the only one who applied who knew a garbage thing Ten years on this job I sweat and I bleed They took the greenest hat on the crew And they made them team lead Now that cut in two My brain like a knife But when they check on me I'm having the best day of my life The best day of my life This job is alright If they let me I'd never go home I'd keep working all night In Sisyphean jobs Depression is rife But not over here I'm having the best day of my life guitar solo If I could see myself when I was young, I'd say try to worry less and try to have more fun. Forgive yourself. Avoid my ex-wife. And at work, always say I'm having the best day of my life. The best day of my life. This job is not

SPEAKER_06: 21:45

right. If they let me, I'd never go home and keep working all night. I tell the office, no.

SPEAKER_03: 21:52

Don't you have any fears? It's only because I'm happy that you see my tears. It's just a fee and jobs Depression is right But now I'm right here Having the best day of my life

SPEAKER_01: 22:24

Jeremy Craker, welcome to the podcast. Oh, thanks for having me. I know you're in Alberta, Canada today, but did you grow up in Alberta?

SPEAKER_03: 22:31

Well, I grew up in Manitoba for the first eight years and then Saskatchewan for the, you know, the remainder of my formative years. And then I'm in Alberta now, but I've only been in Alberta since about 1999 and I'm 52 now.

SPEAKER_01: 22:46

And I just finished reading your book Through Dust and Darkness. And that is a motorcycle journey from Alberta all the way in to the Middle East, but you start off the book by describing your childhood and you mentioned your family were Mennonites, but I don't know what a Mennonite is. Perhaps you can tell us what a Mennonite is.

SPEAKER_03: 23:04

Well, yeah, I'm not a religious scholar or an expert in this, but a Mennonite is basically one of the Anabaptist. It's of the Anabaptist theology and it was founded by Menno Simons, I think in the 1500s. He was excommunicated by the Catholic Church and went on to form a new Protestant kind of branch of theology. And anybody who subscribes to that theology is a Mennonite. But it is a little bit like, I hesitate to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. It's a little bit like being Jewish in that you can be Jewish without being religious. So same, same with the Mennonites. If you attend a Mennonite church and you subscribe to their theology, you are a Mennonite. But if you're born like to a long heritage of Mennonite people, then you can be a Mennonite, even though you may be an atheist.

SPEAKER_01: 24:00

Through dust and darkness is quite a motorcycle journey. What was your introduction to motorcycles?

SPEAKER_03: 24:05

I was trying to think about this. I don't entirely know, but I must have been between the ages of 10 and 13, somewhere in there. So 10, 11, 12, 13. My dad bought me a little Suzuki DS80. It was a two-stroke, yellow and blue, and I just ripped all all over the Saskatchewan prairies on that thing.

SPEAKER_01: 24:26

That's fantastic. And it sounds like the appropriate motorcycle for a kid to learn how to ride.

SPEAKER_03: 24:30

Yeah, he got me the appropriate bike. Although when he bought it, he did ask the dealer, like, how big of a kid can ride this thing? And he said, Well, you know, your son's about the right size. And he's like, Yeah, but how big of a kid can ride it? And he goes, Oh, yeah, I guess you could ride it too. So my dad did rip around with his knees up like against his chest on that little dirt bike too. So and, and I have a younger brother. So all three of us were, you know, making use of that machine. Although I wrote it the most by far.

SPEAKER_01: 24:59

I bet your father never thought that buying a little motorcycle to rip around the farm would turn into a journey such as this and turn into a fantastic book that you wrote. But before you left on this journey, I remember reading something about some volunteer work you did in Bosnia. Maybe you can tell us about that.

SPEAKER_03: 25:15

Oh, yeah, that was in 1995, the winter. So it was December, January. So I can't remember if it was like late 95 or early 96 my dates are a little bit wrong but it was just after the Balkan War had kind of you know died down to a murmur there was still some well there was a heavy UN presence in the country in Croatia and I went there to volunteer at this kind of refugee center it was kind of a refugee getaway camp if you can imagine that so it was in a beautiful part of Croatia and they would take people people that had been in parts of the Balkans that had been absolutely devastated and they would take them out of that rubble and out of that ruin and they would take them to the center for basically a little reprieve and they could have like child care taken care of they could have proper meals and you know a little bit of reprieve the sad part is that it wasn't a permit Center so after a certain period of time they would go back to their homes or what was left of them. So I wasn't exactly rebuilding homes, but I did a little bit of construction work in Mostar. And, you know, it was just a city of ruins and rubble when I was there.

SPEAKER_01: 26:36

Surely your efforts made an impact on the people you were there to help. And all of these life experiences help us prepare for big motorcycle trips. How old were you when you left on this Middle Eastern trip?

SPEAKER_03: 26:50

I think I set off, well, it was 2007 and I'm 52 now. So again, I guess it was 34, something like that. And I was gone for a year, so I guess I must have turned the age of 35 somewhere, somewhere in the Middle

SPEAKER_01: 27:03

East. And when you finally left on this motorcycle trip, you chose a KLR 650, the donkey tractor of motorcycles. How did you come to the conclusion that this was the right weapon of choice?

SPEAKER_03: 27:16

Oh, well, this all stems from a conversation that I had with a friend of mine in 1995. We were in Austria. I spent all summer there. at a kind of a mountaineering school and we were learning to climb and rappel and cave and all that kind of stuff and then this friend of mine he suggested that when we got back to Canada we should buy KLR 650 motorcycles and ride to Argentina and you know I was what was at the time 22 something like this and I thought that sounds great except I can't afford that but it does sound like a great idea and from that one conversation I now got over the thought that I needed to buy a KLR 650 in order to ride around the world and you know 1995 I remember this was kind of before the internet or very early days like I don't think I had an email address at that time yet no I didn't so I couldn't do any research like what is the proper motorcycle to take around the world my friend said a KLR 650 and I went okay and so I've just been purchasing KLR 650s ever since and I finally did take the KLR to Panama and back. And that was my trip in 2003 that became my first book, Motorcycle Therapy.

SPEAKER_01: 28:32

I think we've all had a friend talk us into buying a KLR and we're all better off for it. In fact, my friend Brian talked me into getting a KLR once. I had a first generation and it was fantastic. We did the backcountry discovery route, I think the Washington route, and it was the perfect machine for that. They're pretty much indestructible.

SPEAKER_03: 28:51

Yeah, you almost can't destroy them But, you know, you can I've done it, but it takes a lot of

SPEAKER_01: 28:57

effort. And they're great value for money, that's for sure. And your trip starts in Canada, but you shipped your motorcycle over to Germany. How did you come to the conclusion that starting in Germany was the right move for you?

SPEAKER_03: 29:10

Well, again, I'm not much for research, to be honest. So I poked around a little bit and I tried to find a shipping company that would take a KLR from Calgary. You know, I didn't want to have to drive to Vancouver first or I didn't want to have to go from Florida. Those are two kind of common shipping points. So that limited my options. And I found this one company. I forget the name of it now, but I don't think it matters because they no longer exist. Anyway, they shipped right from Calgary, right to Frankfurt, Germany. And it only cost me fourteen hundred Canadian dollars with the motorcycle and myself to go one way. So I actually flew on the same plane as my bike and the process could not have been smoother. It was so good.

SPEAKER_01: 29:54

I recently had the same experience. I flew my GSA from Great Britain to Vancouver. And we use a company called Moto Freight. And that bike was shipped on the same airplane that I was on. And the Canadians had no issue with a foreign plated bike because the bike is registered in the state of Washington. And I just went over to the customs area. I didn't have to pay any duties or fees. I uncrated my motorcycle. And I was off. It was a fantastic experience.

SPEAKER_03: 30:26

Yeah. I mean, I'm hoping that, uh, so my partner and I are now planning on another big trip. We, we, I don't know if we talk about this later or whatnot, but we did, uh, spend a year traveling from Calgary to, uh, Argentina and back, uh, just a couple of years ago. And then on the way back, we got stuck because of COVID and that was a whole big ordeal. But next we're hoping to, to, uh, ship to Europe and, uh, do another adventure, you know, next summer.

SPEAKER_01: 30:50

I'm also shipping my bike back to Europe after our in October. I'm shipping at Seafreight out of LA and it's heading over to London Heathrow again with Kathy at Motofreight. And it's going to cost very little. I think it's less than$2,000, especially now with the higher prices, it's still very affordable. And I'll probably just leave it there for a couple of years. But speaking of Europe and speaking of your book, your opening paragraph of your actual journey starts in Istanbul. And I think the mindset of is that our Middle Eastern or our far-flung journeys based out of Europe starts in Istanbul. But you said that in your mind, your journey didn't really start until Syria. And why is that?

SPEAKER_03: 31:39

Well, there again, I had been trying to get to Iran and the greater Middle East, and I had been to the Middle East before. I was there in 2001, like right after the terror attacks of 9-11. was there and so I had seen Egypt and a few other neighboring countries and I'd seen like what they you know what the busy crazy markets were and when I was in Turkey it still did feel like it had one foot in Europe and one foot in the Middle East and you know the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul it's it's awesome it's something to behold but it lacked a certain grit a certain authenticity you know it was definitely very friendly to tourists whereas in some of these more far-flung destinations in the Middle East, there's nothing for tourists and they stare at you and look at you weird and you get some more authentic experience, I think, in those situations. So I guess that's why I really felt like the Middle East started when I got to Syria.

SPEAKER_01: 32:42

And specifically for those reasons, that's why Turkey and Istanbul and even Morocco are sometimes seen as the gateway into the Middle East. And you really get a sense of of crossing over into a special place. And when you left Turkey and you crossed the Bosporus, you had fantastic travel advice. Did you ever get a ticket for jumping the toll gate?

SPEAKER_03: 33:06

No, no. Yeah, the owner of the hostel, he was like, all right. So I was getting directions how to get from point A to point B, leaving the city. He's like, all right, are you ever coming back to Istanbul again? And I'm like, like, I mean, ever, he said. I'm like, I don't think so. I was like, okay, then take the far left lane or whatever it was, the specific lane that he suggested and just keep going and don't stop. And I didn't realize what these directions meant, but what he was advising me to do was blow through all the toll booths and all these alarm bells went off and flashing lights and sirens, but nobody chased me. So I just kept rolling, but you know, but then I did end up back in Istanbul. So, uh, you know, I could have been ticketed, I suppose, but I never was.

SPEAKER_01: 33:52

Nothing worse. And always looking in your mirror in case the cops are following you and you're always wondering if they're going to catch you. Yeah, right. One of the great reasons for traveling on a motorcycle is I find people want to interact with you a little bit more for some reason. And I remember a character from your book. He was a Japanese reporter. He gave you some really great travel advice. Do you remember what that was?

SPEAKER_03: 34:16

Yeah, I think he said, you know, he was looking at me and my friend that I just met at the hostel and we were she was hitchhiking around and taking public transit and i was on my motorcycle and uh he looked at us and he kind of sighed you know this heavy sigh and he was like you can only have two of three things money status or freedom and then he said you two have freedom and he said it very wistfully and like he did not he was just a businessman he was a hard-charging journalist he had money he had status um but you know he paid the price for it and we had our freedom but i didn't didn't have money or status either so I maybe I don't know I got the bad end of that deal well one out of two ain't bad yeah I guess you could have a maximum of two things I had at the time one thing

SPEAKER_01: 35:05

yeah and speaking of money we all need money to go on an adventure like this and in this book you describe how you travel and you travel quite frugally and sometimes quite rough I remember one scene where you camp next to your motorcycle under a tarp on the side of the road are you still traveling that in that same fashion or have you L elevated your travel experience a little bit?

SPEAKER_03: 35:25

Well, a little, you know, a little of both. I still do travel very frugally. And with my partner now, Elle West, we travel together and she is she makes me look like a spoiled prince. So she is willing and able to cut costs and she will do so under all circumstances. So I'm generally the one saying, you know, there's two of us. If we got a cheap hotel room tonight, it would be kind of the same. as if we got a camp spot. And sometimes I can convince her, but sometimes we still sleep under a tarp next to our motorcycles.

SPEAKER_01: 36:02

Wow, that's a little shocking. In this house, it's the complete opposite. My wife is not roughing it and I'm inclined not to rough it anymore. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_03: 36:09

Oh, no. Well, so another example, this isn't really to save money, but we were caught in a wicked windstorm in Argentina, me and Elle. This was in 2019 on our way south and the wind was brutal and we were on loose like round river rock roads. And Elle crashed her bike and then she crashed it again. And then I picked it up and I crashed it. And so she was like, you know what? I'm done. Let's sleep here. So in the middle of this wind, and it's hard to exaggerate the intensity of this wind in Patagonia. I set up the tent right there and we used the motorcycles themselves to anchor the corners down, like with the kickstands and rocks and things. And we just collapsed at the side of the road and kind of slept until, you know, four o'clock in the morning. And I think we were awakened by silence, like the wind stopped or at least settled down. And that's when we were able to like pack up our things as fast as we could and and hit the road again before we had to encounter that wind on that road. So that was Elle's suggestion to not to be frugal, but that was her saying it's camping time.

SPEAKER_01: 37:19

Those winds in that area are quite famous and they are relentless That's for sure. In your book, you said that, and I love the quote, you said that life is fairly pointless, so why not go on a fairly pointless journey? Do you still hold that opinion?

SPEAKER_03: 37:33

Well, I can't remember that part that I wrote that, but I'll take your word for it. You were a fresh pair of eyes on it. I am just reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So yes, that is, and I've read it before, but that is definitely reinforcing the opinion that life is pointless. So you may as well do the occasional pointless thing.

SPEAKER_01: 37:51

The most anticlimactic conclusion to a book ever, and I'm not going to ruin it for you.

SPEAKER_03: 37:57

Oh, no, I've read the book before. I'm just going through it again. It felt like it was the right time.

SPEAKER_01: 38:01

And speaking of great books, you mentioned Zen and the art in your book. And did you apply any lessons from Robert's book to your journey?

SPEAKER_03: 38:12

Well, you know what, I read that book, and I've read it twice now. And I still can't say that I really understand it. A lot of it is Eastern philosophy and things like this. But Robert person he keeps coming back to this idea of quality and if something's worth doing you know it's worth doing well uh so that's a lesson that i aspire to even though i still cut corners and um you know i was a ice road truck driver this winter and one of the drivers he said the lazy man works the hardest so i remember that as much as i remember zan and the art of motorcycle maintenance so sometimes it's worth taking a step back and uh you know being thoughtful more than in a hurry or a rush to fix something.

SPEAKER_01: 38:56

Being deliberate and patient and thoughtful on the side of a highway or in the middle of the desert when you're trying to fix your motorcycle can sometimes be a little trying. But yeah, that's definitely fantastic advice. And I know you had a lot of trouble fixing tires. Have you gotten better at this skill set?

SPEAKER_03: 39:14

Well, they would almost have to, wouldn't they? You've read the book. So yeah, I'm definitely not a great mechanic. But yes, the the skills have improved. Me and Elle got a bunch of practice with that because I think I had five flat tires, mostly in Peru in 2019 on our way South. And, um, you know, I made a video about that and just struggling at the roadside, uh, with a ridiculous tire. I won't mention the brand name, but, um, they're notoriously stiff to, you know, pull off and put on. And we had one of those on the back of my KLR. And, um, yeah, if we could just not get that thing on, it was ridiculous but i now have a brand new toolkit um this company out of austria saw my website or saw my my youtube channel uh they're called royale moto and they sent me this toolkit for the honda crf 300 which is the bike that i have now and in it they've got all the things that i need to fix the you know the tire with much greater efficiency i think i'm gonna do some practicing before i hit the road um you know the next time

SPEAKER_01: 40:20

yeah that's some great advice i think all of us uh should do a bit of practicing. Unfortunately, there's never enough time, is there? And flat tires never seem to happen in the most convenient of locations, do they?

SPEAKER_03: 40:30

No, they sure don't. Yeah. At the edge of actually at the edge of Quito, I had another flat tire. And finally, we pulled over to this gas station. We couldn't find accommodation for the night. So, you know, I actually took my wheel off, but I've used my last tube. And when I pulled out the inner tube, it was like slashed. There was no way you could patch So I actually sent Elle into Quito, you know, with my wheel and she left to find a repair shop. Only then did I kind of really think that that was not a good idea because we had no way of communicating with each other. We didn't have cell phones that worked in that country yet. And if something happened to her, like she got into an accident or something, I would be stranded at that gas station for an indeterminate amount of time. But, you know, it worked out. She got back with the tire and we put it back and it was all good but that was a risk that was a foolhardy risk

SPEAKER_01: 41:27

hindsight is always 2020 but the more people i talk to on this podcast the more i feel comfortable coming to the conclusion especially for motorcyclists that the world generally is a pretty good place and the good stories far outweigh the bad stories in fact i very rarely hear a bad story

SPEAKER_03: 41:46

yeah well i mean here's hoping but you know things work out until they don't um but generally speaking things will be you know, things will be fine.

SPEAKER_01: 41:54

Speaking of personal safety, I think in one of your chapters, you were in Lebanon.

SPEAKER_03: 42:00

Beirut in Lebanon.

SPEAKER_01: 42:01

For an election and people were talking about fleeing the country and there was a, you know, sense of doom and gloom. This is in stark contrast to an election, let's say in Canada or the US. What was your chief takeaway from that experience?

SPEAKER_03: 42:16

Well, several takeaways. One, we have it good here in Canada. And, you know, we've got, you know, fair and reasonable election system. And it's peaceful. And that's what I appreciate about this country. One of the many things I appreciate about Canada and other parts of the world are not so blessed. Now, the electoral system in Lebanon is bananas because of the way that the colonialists kind of left it when they made their exit. So it's not majority rules. There's within the branches of government and one of the leaders had recently been assassinated and Hezbollah was blocking the election of the next leader from that you know community and it was just crazy and there was a lot of people fleeing Lebanon because they had seen Civil War you know in the 80s it was um it was a horrible place to be and I think a lot of them were thinking that we were heading right back for that and me and my fellow travelers we were seeing this and we were witnessing like the tension and the heightened sense of danger. But we were almost just kind of observing it like we were watching it through the lens of a camera or something. It didn't feel real to us, but it sure felt real to some of the local population.

SPEAKER_01: 43:38

I think your analysis of that was great in your book. And you had another really powerful experience in a refugee camp called Shatila. And I encourage everyone to read that in your book. And unfortunately, history is simply repeating itself over and over again in the region. And we will leave that conversation for people that are smarter than me anyways. But on a lighter note, you had a fantastic local experience, something, an experience that I definitely wouldn't have dove into. But you went to the local men's bathhouse and this was a fascinating experience.

SPEAKER_03: 44:13

Well, yeah, I didn't know what I was getting into. I just went to this bathhouse because it was listed, I think, in one of the guidebooks as something you have to experience. And I was like, oh, okay, I'll experience what I have to experience. And I thought it was going to be kind of like a day spa for men. You know, it's segregated. In fact, some of them don't even allow women in at all. And I think this may have been one of those ones. Or maybe they have a special day or two for women and not men. I can't remember the details. But yeah, you go in and you surrender your clothing and you surrender a little bit of money. And you're given this thin towel and these like wooden shoes that, you know do their best to slip slide your masculinity right up from underneath you and you're ushered into these marble floors where you can't see anything really there's steam everywhere and men lying around some of them scrubbing each other down I didn't see any like inappropriate touching but it was definitely very affectionate and one of the rules in fact was that you had to keep your towel on at all times but those towels don't leave anything to the imagination so I can't imagine why and yeah you just go from one room to another and you try to observe like the customs what people are doing there's stations and one of the stations is a massage and so I went in and laid down and it was unlike any massage you ever had before including like cracking my neck and cracking my back and like slapping me around and stuff like this and then after the massage yeah then they sent me to this room I don't even know how to describe it it was a small small room with a bear-like man you know covered in hair and a big burly dude and he didn't speak much English and I didn't speak much Arabic but I was made to understand that I was supposed to lie down on the marble floor which was hot because it was a steam room anyway and he just proceeded to scrub the living daylights out of me with this abrasive I don't know what it was it felt like a scotch-brite pad and he let me tell you I don't want to go into too detail here to like scare the listener but there was not a nook or cranny in my body that was not scrubbed raw by this man

SPEAKER_01: 46:31

I will take a pass a hard pass on the burly abrasive man and I will I will skip the recommendation I

SPEAKER_03: 46:38

recommend it I recommend it you should definitely go yeah

SPEAKER_01: 46:42

you're one of your goals in the book was to go to Iran and everyone thinks of Canada as almost you know Switzerland but there was some for fraught diplomacy between Canada and Iran at the time. How did you finally get your visa to complete your journey into Iran?

SPEAKER_03: 47:01

Well, OK, so actually Canada and Iran have a very fraught history. And it's actually even when I went, it was more difficult for a Canadian to get in than it was for an American. You know, it stems from some political situation with a Canadian Iranian citizen back in the day. She went to even prison for taking photographs and she was brutally murdered there. And the Canadian government said, you don't do that to one of our citizens. And the Iranians went, what citizen? You know, she's ours. And also she died by accident and all this kind of stuff. So yeah, Canadian and Iranian political relationships have been very difficult to say the least. Zahra Kazemi. There it is. I believe it's Zahra Kazemi. So how did I get my visa? I used a service. So first I said, before I even went, I tried directly to go through the Iranian embassy, which was still functioning in Ottawa. So I sent my passport there and it stayed there for weeks and weeks and weeks. And my departure date was coming. And I contacted the Canadian consulate and they said, well, we can get your passport back for you, but that means you definitely won't get a visa. And so I said, okay, do that. They got my passport back for me. And then I hired a visa service and they gave me all kinds of assurances that you yes, your visa will be in and you can pick it up in Istanbul and blah, blah, blah. And to make a long story short, that didn't happen. So I ended up abandoning the idea of going to Iran and just started motorcycling around the rest of the Middle East. And then finally they said, oh yeah, your visa's here. But I had already left the area. So I was now in Syria. No, I was in Lebanon when I got that email. And then it was a long, difficult journey to get back to Iran because it was now winter and the mountain mountains were all choked with snow. So, you know, it's a long story. I don't know how much more you want me to get into it, but

SPEAKER_01: 48:58

it was a hassle. It was so much of a hassle that I think you left your motorcycle somewhere and you flew into Iran to complete your journey. And then when you were there, you did something quite brazen. You basically snuck into a really famous mosque. Well, yeah, I mean, I

SPEAKER_03: 49:15

was invited in. I won't quite say that I snuck in, at I was in Mashhad. That's it. It's one of the holy cities in Iran. And one of the reasons people go there is to visit the holy shrine of Imam Reza. And so I was there, but I understood that I was not allowed to go in because you must be a Muslim. So, okay, you can walk around it and you can kind of see it from the outside. And it is grand. It's beautiful. It's ornate. It's awe-inspiring, but you can't go inside. So I was in an internet cafe. Remember, this was 2007. and um you know writing some emails and things like this and this man approached me he was dressed all in black he looked like a devout muslim he didn't uh yeah he looked like a devout muslim and he said why are you here and i said i'm sightseeing and he's like have you seen the shrine yet i'm like well i can't go and he's like oh you must i'm like well i can't he's like you can if you come with me i went oh okay so we agreed to meet the next day and uh he i'm going to say snuck me in, but I was wearing, you know, it was winter. I was wearing a black toque and I was wearing all black and I had a big beard at the time. Like I do now, I guess too, but sometimes I don't have a beard. Anyway, I did then. And, uh, he walked with me into the holiest shrine in all of Iran. And it was awe inspiring to see these worshipers there just, um, you know, circumambulating the shrine and touching it and every surface that could be touched like about you know as high as a man can reach and i say men because they were only men allowed it was all polished smooth from people touching the wood and the metal and everything and they would pass money to each other which they would insert into the shrine and it was awe-inspiring like i grew up in a very fundamental religious home and i was kind of trying to re-examine that from a different vantage point so that's why i was going to iran And there I found people also very fundamentally religious, but very sincere. And that's kind of when my idea of religion began to break down. And I started a journey to extricate myself from that. And I'm happy that I did. But that kind of started there.

SPEAKER_01: 51:41

And you were quite honest about your self-examination. And you made some great observations while you were there. And one of them was that it's funny how you will often simply become the religion in the place that you live or you're born or you're most social in. Yeah. And is that still your opinion today?

SPEAKER_03: 52:00

Oh, yeah, 100%. Like, you know, Canada and the US, right, they're more diverse than some countries are. But like, if you're born in Egypt, there's no way that you're not going to be a Muslim, you could be a Coptic Christian, or you could be a few of the other outliers that they have there, but you're going to be a Muslim. Same if you're born in Saudi Arabia, or, you know, you You could be a Hindu if you're born in this country or Buddhist if you're born here. Some of them are almost monolithic in their religious ideology. Like again, Canada and the US maybe are exceptions, but you're more likely to be a Christian if you're born in the West than you are if you're born, say, in, you know, well, if you're born in Israel, you'll either be Jewish or you'll be Muslim or if you're, you know, you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01: 52:48

It's an obvious fact that is often conveniently overlooked when people dive into a religious discussion. But while you were there in the Middle East, you were shocked by the amount of mosques that you saw. And it can't be helped. You can't avoid the discussion, especially when traveling through what we will call the old world of the Middle East. I did some research. There are 82,000 mosques in Turkey alone, and there are 3.6 million mosques on the planet by best estimate. And in the US, there are 360,000 houses of worship in the US alone and millions of Christian churches on the planet. Were you taken aback by the amount of mosques that you saw during your travel? No, not really. I kind

SPEAKER_03: 53:42

of knew what I was getting into. And I think I say in the book too, that like riding through the Middle East without discussing religion is like sailing around the world without talking about the ocean. it's just it permeates everything like even to speak arabic you have to use religious language like it's it's steeped in religion and um yes a lot of these mosques uh that you mentioned you don't really see them they're just little doorways and you wouldn't even know that there's a mosque behind there um but the ones that are grand and uh elaborate you know from the ottoman empire or earlier they're just gorgeous and uh there is something

SPEAKER_01: 54:19

beautiful about the culture i have a lived for a couple of years in the Middle East and in all the modern cities, it is quite secular and it is quite contemporary and forward facing. At the end of your book, it kind of just ends. And I think readers would like to know. Oh, yeah. What happened to your journey after the book ended?

SPEAKER_03: 54:38

Yeah. So, I mean, I guess spoiler alert. So if you're going to read Through Dust and Darkness and you don't want to be, you know, have the ending ruined for you, stop listening now or just come back to it later. But yeah, the journey ends. as I'm leaving Syria on my way into Egypt. And that's kind of where the journey, the story kind of naturally terminated there. But after that, I went into Egypt, tooled around there for a little bit. And then I went into Libya and then Tunisia. And from Tunisia, I took a ferry to Marseille in France. And then from France, made my way through the snow into England. And then from there, shipped the motorcycle back to Toronto. So I arrived in Toronto, Canada in March. I think it was March or April. Anyway, it was way too early to be riding a motorcycle across Canada, but I did. I landed in Toronto and rode through like bad snowy roads all the way back to Canmore, Alberta.

SPEAKER_01: 55:41

Wow. That's quite the cold journey home. Maybe a bit apropos to have to brave a Canadian snowfall to get home on your KLR. That's pretty awesome. Having accomplished this big journey and clearly you've had many others. Do you have any advice for people who are considering a journey such as this?

SPEAKER_03: 55:58

Actually, it's funny you ask. I'm working on an e-book. I think it's tentatively titled Ride Slow, Have Fun, Advice for Adventure Motorcycle Beginners. And I'm just about ready to push publish on it, so I don't know when this podcast comes out. But it's a little e-book that's kind of full of general advice. If you want specific advice, you've got to contact Chris Scott or find his book, Adventure Motorcycling Handbook. He wrote basically the Bible about this, and I'm just writing a little supplemental thoughts from my own head. Anyway, so what would I say? You know, you got to do some planning. You got to do some research. But also you can get trapped in over planning. And I've seen that happen to a lot of people where they just don't know when to stop the planning because you'll never quite be ready. So I'm not advocating for people to just go willy nilly into some foreign culture without doing any research. But I'm also saying, you know, try not to overdo it. You'll never be ready. You'll never imagine every scenario that you'll encounter. You'll just have to like deal with it when you're on the road.

SPEAKER_01: 57:07

If folks are interested season three, I think episode 10, there's a great example of someone that I've called the accidental adventurer. And this is a great, you know, young German lady. She didn't know anything about motorcycle mechanics. She didn't even know how to fix a tire. And she is halfway around the world starting her journey in Morocco. You know, can you offer some advice of where to start, where not to start a journey like that?

SPEAKER_03: 57:32

Yeah, there's a few, there's a few countries you don't want to select as your first adventure. Like I would say, don't, don't go to Somalia as your first adventure or, you know, the Democratic Republic of Congo. So avoid some hot spots and use some prudence. But yeah, if you're if you're just going on your first adventure and you're picking some reasonable destinations, you should be fine.

SPEAKER_01: 57:54

I think my comments from earlier in the show serve as great advice for people that are taking their first adventure. If you're based out of Europe, probably Istanbul is a great gateway. Morocco is a great gateway into some adventure travel. And if you're in North America, obviously Mexico and the Baja are fantastic places to get started. And it's not too extreme, that's for sure. And then by the end of those countries, you will know if adventure travel is for you. And surely it is. Talking about the Middle East and finishing that up. Have you been back since the completion of your book?

SPEAKER_03: 58:23

Yeah, I have. So I mentioned that I was there earlier, more than once, actually, in 2001 was the first time. And then I did that trip that became Through Dust and Darkness. And then I went back in 2012. And I was working as a free journalist mostly writing articles for the Toronto Star based out of Syria so yeah it was in the very early stages of Syria's civil war in fact when I was there no official news agency that I know of had yet called it a civil war but I was there with a few other freelancers and we were all kind of looking around at each other and we're like who's gonna write it like who's gonna say it's a civil war cuz that's what it is but you know I didn't have that kind of gravitas I was just writing kind of color pieces man on the street like what i was seeing who i was talking to sort of pieces kind of like uh charlie wilson's war that sort of thing um no not charlie wilson's war ernie piles war there it is so yeah i was back in 2012 and uh basically there's another long story there i did get detained by syrian officials and held for the better part of a day while they interrogated me non-violently but it was still intense and they called in like people to cross reference what I was saying, including my landlord and things like that. And eventually I had to end up fleeing the country. So I went to Lebanon and still kept working for a little while and then running out of money. I went across Libya again in 2012 so that I went while Gaddafi was still alive in 2008. And then I went after he had been killed in 2012 and ended up again in Tunisia and then basically back home from there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:07

Frequent listeners will know that I'm a big fan of Anthony Bourdain. And one of his most popular episodes is when he returned to Libya and he returned just after Gaddafi was killed. And it was a really special time. It was a time of celebration, but it was also a time of change. What were your observations when you went back?

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:28

Well, it was a celebratory time. So Gaddafi had just been killed and they didn't then realize that they were still ahead at like in for some very tough times and some more civil war to come. Um, so it was very celebratory. People did feel free. They were talking, um, about politics and about their future, uh, all while they were shooting AK 47s in the air and like doing burnouts with their cars and stuff because they didn't feel very free. Um, contrast that with CERT, which was Gaddafi's hometown. And we stayed in this hotel, me and, um, me and two other journalists, uh, who were driving across country in a car and yeah the hotel had no windows it was it had been on fire at one point but it was the only place to stay there were armed militia men in the lobby and they reluctantly let us stay uh but it was very subdued and it was not a hopeful environment in that community because i think they realized that um they can claim that they were you know with the rebels all along but everybody knew that if you were from cert you were aligned with gaddafi and um yeah it ended up that just weeks after we left CERT and got out of Libya, then rebel forces came into that community and did a wholesale cleanup of, you know, of whoever was fighting age. So there was a slaughter there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:51

This being 2025, fingers are crossed that Syria doesn't repeat the history of Libya and they can find some freedom without any more bloodshed.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:01

Well, yeah, I mean, I think Syria, again, is headed for a long, difficult recovery. But I do look forward forward to the day when someone can go there and travel safely again, because it was one of my favorite countries that I've ever been to. And that was like, of course, in 2008. I

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:17

believe anyone who has been to Syria during its golden age and anyone who lives there would like to see them return to that fantastic time. Perhaps you can share some of your other work with us.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:30

Sure. It starts with motorcycle therapy. That's my first book. It's basically me and my buddy we both got dumped by our girlfriends at the same time and we were melodramatic in our 20s so we just bought motorcycles and hit the road and on that trip it turns out that I didn't get along with him very well either so that's when I realized oh okay my girlfriend dumped me and I don't get along with this guy maybe I'm the problem so that's the central theme of that book and then Through Dust and Darkness that's my second book that's the one that we've been discussing mostly through the Middle East and North Africa and then I wrote two collection Well, I didn't write them all. I'm the editor and contributor to Motorcycle Messengers and Motorcycle Messengers 2. So Motorcycle Messengers is a collection of short stories from myself and other people that came out in 2015. And then Motorcycle Messengers 2 came out in 2019, which was horrible timing. The plan was it was going to come out, then Elle and I were going to ride to Argentina and back, and then I was going to hit the motorcycle show circuit and sell all of these thousands of books. But, you know, on the way back from Argentina, of course, all the borders closed. We got stuck in Uruguay for five months and we had to have this crazy misadventure on our way home. And then all of the motorcycle shows were like null and void and discontinued for the next several years. So now I still have I still have thousands of copies of Motorcycle Messengers 2 in my storage unit. And then more recently, I just put together a collection. So on this trip to South America, I was writing articles for Mark Richardson, actually. He was the editor of an online motorcycle magazine that no longer exists. And I was writing monthly dispatches for him. So I just kind of compiled those, tidied them up a little bit. And you can buy those online right now. And then there's that advice book that I referenced, which is tentatively called Ride Slow, Have Fun, Advice for Adventure Motorcycle Beginners. And that will be an e-book form, but it's not out yet.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:36

And in addition to your writing, I was doing some research and I ran across your YouTube music channel. Perhaps you can share that journey with us.

SPEAKER_03: 1:04:44

Yeah, that's a funny story, too. So, I mean, my dad passed away. This isn't the funny part, but my dad passed away, I don't know, 11 years ago, and he left behind two acoustic guitars. So they came to me and I didn't know how to play, but I knew that, like, I just didn't feel right selling them. So I learned to play the guitar and I've been doing that for 10 years or so. And along the way, I ended up writing five original songs that I then brought to a studio in Calgary. And at the time, I was working as a garbage man for the town of Canmore. And that meant that I was secure in my job and I had some money, some disposable income. I don't have kids. So I spent a fair bit of money having these songs produced and properly recorded with studio musicians and the whole bit. And then one of the songs... was about being a garbage man because i was a garbage man at the time so i wrote a song about that and then i made a music video about that and then i published that music video on youtube on my second youtube channel called jeremy craker music and as soon as i published that music video i got fired from my job as a garbage man so uh yeah i've got an original ep it's called the best day of my life by jeremy craker you can stream it wherever you stream music or you can find the music videos for that EP on my second YouTube channel, Jeremy Craker Music.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:13

And if we haven't played some of your music during this podcast, I will most definitely put the links down in the show notes for everyone. And do you have any plans for the immediate future? Any travel plans? Okay, well,

SPEAKER_03: 1:06:24

L West, my partner and I, we're off to England later this month, very actually coming up very quickly. And we're going to be at the Overland event in Oxford, England. That's the last weekend of August. And from there, were flying to Portugal because some friends of ours found out that we were going to Europe this summer and they went, oh, we've got two motorcycles in Portugal but we want them to be in Bulgaria. And we went, oh, okay, we'll do that. So we've been assigned this trip to relocate these motorcycles from Portugal to Bulgaria this summer. So that's the most immediate trip. And then next year we're hoping to take a year off and travel ship our two Honda CRF 300 rallies to Europe and then spend the summer traveling in Europe and then on into Africa and details to be determined because we're not sure like what's you know where we're going yet but that's the general ballpark plan

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:26

and you plan on publishing this on your YouTube channel

SPEAKER_03: 1:07:29

oh yeah my YouTube channel is kind of what I've spent most of my time with recently like I do write still I'm still writing but I'm also editing and making videos. And that's on just my name, Jeremy Craker. It's a hard name to spell, but once you learn how to spell it, you'll never forget it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:46

And it rhymes with Baker. That's how I remember it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 1:07:49

Yeah. It's like it rhymes with breaker, but it's spelled K-R-O-E-K-E-R. So they're all on my YouTube channel. Oh, one more thing. I should mention the obvious one. If you can't find my books online anywhere else, you can always find them on my website, which is MotorcycleTherapy.com or JeremyCraker.com. And there you can find all All of my books. And I'm desperately trying to clear out thousands of copies of Motorcycle Messengers 2 just before we leave on our trip. Got to be done.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:16

And yet another pandemic motorcycle story. And I wanted to mention that I was talking to Mark Richardson just yesterday, in fact, and he mentioned you were at a motorcycle show with him and you were selling books three to one over him.

SPEAKER_03: 1:08:29

Well, well, maybe my books, the motorcycle therapy is the one that I had at the time, and it was a very thin book. So it's very a accessible. And so maybe some of the people who attended that motorcycle show weren't big readers. Let's put it that way. But Mark's book is amazing. Like you got it. He's a great writer. I like him a lot. Absolutely. And

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:50

thank you so much for coming to the podcast and sharing your stories. And please keep in touch when you drop your next work. Oh, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_03: 1:09:14

When I was young I shot a hole in the sky With a pellet gun Out in the fields An abandoned well It was cold down inside And dark as hell It was cold down inside from in that well

SPEAKER_04: 1:09:53

I

SPEAKER_03: 1:09:53

just knew that I'd see stars in the sky though the sky was blue but from the edge and looking down just bullet holes in the sky the world was brown I just knew Loads of sound of a train hauling wheat and westward bound. Just some grain and a runaway. I hopped that train and I wrote a song that I don't play.

UNKNOWN: 1:11:57

I hopped that train

SPEAKER_04: 1:12:02

One deep breath and I'm gone Yeah this place is just a place for moving on One deep breath and I'm gone Yeah this place is just a place for moving on

SPEAKER_06: 1:12:33

Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast. Please give us a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform. That really helps us with the algorithm gods. All hail the algorithm gods. You can buy us a coffee on buymecoffee.com slash ADV Cannonball. Or directly help save this sinking ship for the price of a pint at patreon.com slash ADV Cannonball. Follow us on all the socials with the handle at ADV Cannonball. If you'd like to send us a question or Or if you are a musical artist and want your royalty-free music played on our podcast, or if you'd like to contact us for advertising opportunities, email us at podcast at advcanonball.com. Thanks for listening, and remember, don't be an ADV weenie. Keep your right hand cranked and your feet on the pegs.

UNKNOWN: 1:13:29

Weenie.