Motorcycle Misadventures

Hitting the Road: 7 Steps for Adventure Travel - Liz Jansen: author of Women, Motorcycles and the Road to Empowerment, helps conquer your fears

I'm thrilled to be the first stop on a virtual book tour for Liz Jansen, an author, speaker, coach and motorcycle aficionado.  Her book Women, Motorcycles and the Road to Empowerment resonates with stories of adventure and self-discovery.  She says that "The Road to Empowerment may lead around the block or around it world.  It always brings us back to who we are."

I agree! I've gotten to know Liz over the years via social media and phone conversations, and we finally met last year and became fast friends. We found that we shared many of the same experiences as motorcycle travelers timidly starting out, working through our fears and doing that thing we really wanted to do - get on a motorcycle and explore. If you are, similarly, trying to figure out whether you're brave enough to work through the fears that have stopped you - well, we're here to gently push you toward your dream. If you've done it, you'll recognize yourself in these 7 Steps for Adventure Travel, so wonderfully illustrated in her book, which is discounted for this tour -- 25% of signed books from her website and reduced ebook price to $6.99 for the tour from Amazon and other ebook retailers.

Now... here's Liz's 7 steps for getting past fear and hitting the road.

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Hitting the Road: 7 Steps for Adventure Travel

Excitement tinged with fear framed where I stood looking forward on August 1, 2003. Forty-nine, single, healthy, unbound by work commitments, I was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a two-month solo motorcycle odyssey across North America. 

Recognizing I had migrated into roles which no longer fit me, I had left a thirty-year relationship and a successful corporate career in the preceding eight months. I was footloose and fancy free. 

I had a new bike, been riding for more than thirty years and was confident in my skills. The opportunities ahead of me were endless. 

So why the fear?

The most valuable skill is to know how to build and fix things

Watch this excellent short video interview by Andrew David Watson with Adam Cramer of Liberty Vintage Motorcycles in Fishtown, Philadelphia. It's a great piece of art, and also comes with many compelling messages. One of them is the value of knowing how to use tools. Knowing how to fix and build things. I am reminded of this so many times every day at home and at work and while I'm traveling.

It's perhaps the most valuable skill -- knowing how to build and fix things. For example, yesterday I interviewed a young woman from New Zealand who is traveling the world on a 250cc motorcycle. Danielle Murdock is her name. She found a bike, modified it for travel, and learned how to fix it. She is fearless traveling alone through places like Russia, East Timor, Australia, Africa, India. She spends less time worrying about breakdowns and more time using her instincts to navigate her way through foreign cultures. She is competent, experimental, and joyful.

I learned how to fix things because my dad was raised on a farm and became an engineer, and my mom is an artist and craftswoman. We always had projects -- art, homebuilding, mechanical. Therefore, I am comfortable with just sitting down and figuring things out whether it's plumbing or carpentry or engines. I can kill a chicken, skin a rabbit, shoot a rifle, catch a fish, build a fire, identify some edible plants. It has made me fearless. Or less fearful, at least.

That's the value of learning how to build and fix things.

Don't Worry. I'm Here!

I met Rebecca Johns on Whidbey Island in Washington State a couple of months ago, where we were both attending a seminar on public speaking. I liked Rebecca on sight - first of all because she was unloading her mountain bike off the top of her car, which had Montana license plates, and then because of her fabulous, generous smile.

She was there because, as a personal coach, she finds herself asked to speak more and more often to groups to share her wisdom on personal and professional transformation. Her speeches were both moving and hilarious; one related a conversation with a client that went something like this.

    Rebecca: So, let's talk about what you want out of your sessions.
    Client: Well, I really don't know.

    Rebecca: Well, if you did know what you wanted, what might it be?
    Client: Well, I want to know what to do from now on.

    Rebecca: What would you like to do?
    Client: I don't know.

    Rebecca: Uh huh. So, if you did know, what might it look like?
    Client: Well, it might have something to do with travel.

    Rebecca: Good. So where would you travel?
    Client: I don't know. And anyway, my husband wouldn't let me go.

    Rebecca: Oh. But if he would let you, where would go?
    Client: Well, maybe somewhere in Africa.

    Rebecca: Wow, what's there for you?
    Client: Something with kids.

The other five of us at the seminar were in absolute stitches -- until we realized that so much of our life is like that. We know we want something but we can't articulate it. Maybe nobody asks us what that something might actually look like. Even more disturbing, maybe we don't even ask ourselves. Why? Maybe we're afraid of making the changes it takes to create that life.

Today when Rebecca and I were talking on the phone I realized that maybe as much as 90% of the fabulously wonderful things that have happened in my life happened because I managed to get over the fear it took to take the steps, to make the changes that allowed those things to happen.

For me, my first adventure was forced. As many of you know, I waited years for my husband to go on a motorcycle trip to Europe with me, and finally I became impatient enough that I went alone. (The American Borders story.) Of course my marriage was over when I returned.

Today, a friend of mine told me that her husband has asked for a divorce -- a journey she didn't want to take. She's one of the most adventurous women I know, but normally she envisions and creates her own journeys. I described the situation to Rebecca on the phone today, and she said, "Did you remind your friend that she's an adventurous woman? That she's there for herself?"

Hmmm. "There for herself?"

When she was in her twenties, Rebecca got divorced and then went to South America to travel around. She said, "Sometimes I'd get scared, then I'd remember, "Don't worry, I'm here!"

She cracks me up, but I'm going to tell that to myself more often: "Don't worry. I'm here!"

So here's to all of us who are there for ourselves. Or will be, now that our new mantra is -- let's say it out loud . . .

Don't worry. I'm here!

Thanks, Rebecca!

Rebecca Johns is a great personal coach, and she said it was okay to publish her contact info. She's based in Bigfork, Montana and does in-person and phone coaching. You can find out more by contacting her via email at rjohns@aboutmontana.net or phone her at 406-837-2029.

Uh Oh! I Dropped My Bike!: How to Get it Back Up Again

Women Riders Now has updated their article Oh No! I Dropped My Bike!: How to lift a downed motorcycle. The article gives you detailed, step-by-step instructions on picking up your bike -- watch a 118 pound, 5-foot 3-inch woman pick up a 2000 BMW GS 1150. A great confidence builder! I know that this technique, along with a little "wrenching" knowledge, will free a lot of trapped female souls. Fly away!

Photo: Carol Youorski, aka "Skert," of PinkRibbonRides.com. 

The Miss Adventuring Podcast has Launched

Tune in now to listen to the first show with Lisa Alpine, who makes her living as a travel writer and dance workshop leader.

It all began on her 18th birthday when she boarded a plane to Paris and started working her way around the world. Lisa describes how she created a career of travel writing and leading dance workshops, how she makes money, how inspiration and intuition guide her life, and the joys and challenges of family, love, and relationships in a career that has taken her off the beaten path. Most of all, get her tips for creating your own path and business from what you love to do, whatever that may be. Lisa is all about encouragement!

You'll also hear the multi-talented D. Brent Miller on the podcast. He's the Ohio-based publisher of Sojourn Chronicles, as well as an audio engineer and professional sidekick.

 What is the Miss Adventuring Podcast?
The Miss Adventuring podcast is a weekly MP3 audio program where you'll hear from guests who share tips for those of us who want to create our own fabulously misadventurous life. When you click "Listen Now" the program will either stream or download to your computer depending on how you've set your system to handle MP3 files (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Realplayer, QuickTime).

I hope you enjoy the show, and I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to comment on the format, the guest, or if you have questions or suggestions, or even want to send me your stories of how a misadventure changed your life for the better. Don't forget, subscribe to the Miss Adventuring mailing list if you haven't already.

Thanks for tuning in!

Carla King
Miss Adventuring

D. Brent Miller and Carla King: A Conversation on Sojourn Chronicles

Today D. Brent and I talked on his Sojourn Chronicles show "Conversations" about my 2007 and 1998 motorcycle trips to China and my upcoming book Under the Radar, plus my new Miss Adventuring Internet radio show to launch in January. Here are the links.

Sojourn Chronicles Conversations (December 2007, China and Miss Adventuring)

Sojourn Chronicles Conversations (April 2007, American Borders)

The Miss Adventuring Show (Coming January 3rd, 12:30 pm)

Northern China on a Sidecar Motorcycle

Tomorrow I set out for China with a huge duffel bag full of warm and rainproof motorcycling clothes for an October ride through the northeast of the country. I'll be landing in Beijing at 2:30 in the afternoon to be greeted by none other than Teresa Howes, the woman I stayed with a decade ago in Beijing, who has just coincidentally (are there any coincidences?) moved back to China and has offered her guest room and companionship for my ride. On Monday morning we'll go meet Jim Bryant who, a decade ago, lent me his Chang Jiang and who will this time lend me a new CJ sidecar bike with a clean, reliable BMW engine. He gave up the Subway Sandwich franchise business and is now in the motorcycle business full time. 

By the way, if you're serious about CJ's join the CJ750 Sidecar Community and prepare to  be informed. Jim is the go-to guy for everything about CJ's and also manages the Internet Sidecar Owners Klub, which is a great discussion group for all kinds of sidecar motorcycles, travel, technical, advice, etc.

On Monday, Teresa, Jim, and I (and maybe a few more) plan to head out toward Datong and turn inland toward Wu-Tai Shan, one of China's four sacred mountains, and other destinations, subject to change, as usual. I'll chronicle the trip in words and photos on this weblog. You can also sign up to get my newsletter.

It's hard to believe that it's been an entire 10 years since my first visit to China. In 1997 the group, led by Rich Dunagan (who now lives back in the USA), took me on a ride from Beijing to the Great Wall where we camped overnight under a full moon. I was hooked, and in Spring of 1998 I returned, intending to ride from Beijing to Burma . . . what a joke! The maps were wrong, the roads were bad, and I was slower than slow, stopping every hour or so to see this, taste that, go for a walk, get a tune up (or major repairs!). In four months I only made it to Xining back through Xi'an (terra cotta warriors) to Beijing. The China Road dispatches are still the most popular on my site. This trip I'll check out what's changed, what's the same, and finish a print book titled Flying Under the Radar about both trips to be published spring/summer 2008.

In the meantime, check this weblog the next few weeks for updates, or better yet, put http://carlaking.typepad.com in your RSS newsfeed reader (like Bloglines) and get automatic updates as soon as they're published. I look forward to your comments.

Carla

American Borders Motorcycle Travelogue available this week

I know I've been quiet lately but I have a good excuse...really! I finally finished the print version of the American Borders travelogue, and it's launching this month with a few events, starting with a reading in San Francisco, then a motorcycle show in Chicago, then the SF Writer's Conference, then a motorcycle show in Atlanta. My 2007 schedule is on the website. Below is the official press release, I hope you'll come say hi at one of the events, buy a book, or order the book online at http://www.MotorcycleMisadventures.com, or just click here.

The Fear Factor: Ted Simon decides to ride into Columbia

Ted Simon took a round-the-world motorcycle trip in 1973. Twenty seven years later, at 69 years of age, he began his second round-the-world motorcycle trip, documented on his website The Return of Jupiter's Travels. The author of two classic travel books Jupiter's Travels and Riding High, Simon finds himself constantly facing his fears, and he writes about it with honesty, humor, and self-compassion. This dispatch about Columbia is a moment that most travelers on a round-the-world trip can relate to. Here's his story.

The Fear Factor

When people hear about my trips the #1 most frequent question is, "Aren't you scared?"

"Well...yeah," I reply. "But it's the kind of fear that you get when you go away to college, or get married...or divorced, or interview for a new job. You know you have to do it, want to do it, and will be better for it."

The Fear Factor will be a discussion and a collection of stories of travelers who overcame their fear, whether it was a fear of going on the trip in the first place, or a fear of passing through a certain country, or a fear of getting back on a bike after a crash.

If you have a story that relates to travel and fear, share it in the Comments section below, or send me an email. I look forward to hearing about your experiences!