While perusing the newly released books at our local library I came upon Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce. Any book with a picture of a motorcycle on the cover gets my attention. This one recounts Lois’s story of riding from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, in the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America.
Pryce has a lot of good stories to tell. I connected right from the start with her painfully familiar description of how the day-to-day workplace can feel if you would rather be riding.
I smiled at her experiences with other riders giving sage advice concerning the suitability of making the trip on a small, underpowered Yamaha XT225 Serow. I suppose holding the book in my hands refutes those judgments. Pryce does point out one leg of the trip that her little motorcycle wasn’t up to but I seem to remember that involved riding at 14000 feet or something. She took the low road instead.
Making this trip largely by herself and without a formal support or backup systems seems remarkably courageous to me. I can’t see myself doing it. I’m really glad she has the writing and storytelling talent to allow me to share the trip vicariously.
If you are interested in more information about the trip, book, bike, whatever, check out her Web site — Lois on the Loose.
D. Brent Miller, author of the Sojourn Chronicles blog recently interviewed me for a podcast, which is now available HERE.
Brent is planning to produce a regular podcast and you will find one with Carla King who like Lois Pryce had her own riding adventure. She made a solo-circumnavigation of the United States on a Russian sidecar motorcycle.
If you have a minute check out Brent’s site and the podcasts.
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It was good to hear your voice. I laughed when you were asked how long it takes to write or produce an entry for your blog. Knowing that you write by hand your entries and transcribe later to the computer, my thoughts turned to those images of your journal open beside a steaming coffee cup and some tasty treat…like a monster-sized cookie. Sorta’ like the size of the cookie determine the length of time it take to write the entry. And obviously some of your entries are two big cookies long…
Pitchertaker
So you’ve had to add a moderation layer to deal with the spam now?
Welcome to the club.
I’m getting over 500 spam-attempts per day now.
Okay now, about reading other moto-writing: I must admit that I used to be a voracious reader of anything related to motorbikes.
But since I started getting my own stuff published, first in magazines and now in my blog, I have found a certain reluctance to read other people’s experiences, especially if it is about something I hope to do myself one day.
Does that make sense? I don’t want my fresh perception of new experiences corrupted by expectations derived from reading someone else’s material.
Maybe when I give up blogging, I will go back to the book shelves. Until then, I will just visit a few of my favorite blogs every day.
Ride well,
=gc=
Pitchertaker: Lately I have had to resort to more than a cookie to finish. My weight reflects the amount of writing I do….
gary: I was fooling around with settings and turned it on to see how it worked. Forgot to turn it off.
I never thought about the possibility of corrupting experience. I certainly have been a steady consumer and viewer of images and photo books. I have always found influence and inspiration in that area. Not being a writer I am not sure how the books affect me. I suppose I assume if I have a voice it will continue regardless of exposure.
I’ll have to think about that for awhile.
hi steve- thanks for reaching out…meeting marc hessle at a uni mart took me right back to state college. i’d really like to reach marc, but as you know he is not on the net….do you have his address? also, can i have a direct email for yourself? i’m at tim@timothyarchibald.com
talk soon-
TA