Motorcycle Misadventures

Miss Adventuring talks with Ted Simon

In 1974 Ted Simon set out on a round-the-word motorcycle journey, and his account of the four-year odyssey, Jupiter's Travels, has long been "the" classic motorcycle travel tale. His new book, Dreaming of Jupiter, is the story of how he did it all again at age 69. The delightful Dreaming of Jupiter is the tale of that adventure. How did Ted become a writer? A motorcyclist? How have life's interruptions determined his path? Listen to a conversation on life, travel, love, and writing with Ted and Carla on the Miss Adventuring podcast.

Ride! Podcast Guest is Motorcycling Dr. "Doc Flash"

Adrian Blake's guest tomorrow (Wednesday at 8:30 pm EST) on his Ride! podcast is ‘Doc flash’ aka the Motorcycling Doctor, who I met by chance in a gas station in Marin. (See blog entry.) For years flash gordon, m.d., has dispensed practical medical advice, along with a good dose of humor, through his 'Medical Motorcycling' column in Motorcycle Consumer News. His book is a great read and, more than that, an essential reference guide for motorcyclists to absorb before we fall off our bikes. How to treat road rash? How to pop your shoulder back into its socket in an emergency? How to keep your teeth viable while you're on your way to the hospital? The doc's got all the techniques to make all those moments you never want to experience a better experience. Ride! will talk to the doc with the superhero name about Blood, Sweat & 2nd Gear: More Medicine for Motorcyclists, a collection of those columns. (Order the book, here.) Ride! is an Internet radio podcast hosted by Adrian Blake, a longtime motorcycle columnist, that will air tomorrow at 8:30 pm. EST.  Check it out live and participate, or hear it on the archive at your convenience. Here's where to go.

From NC to the Canadian Border: Backroads Mag

Backroads magazine has an online version as well as a print monthly. They say they are "Available in select shops from North Carolina to the Canadian border, each month Backroads gives riders places to go and things to see. Then we give you superb roads to ride with our own Rip & Ride Route Sheets™." If you live in the area, or just want to travel there, you'll find some good rides.

Thanks to Michael Murray (of the Motorcycle Travel DVDs) for sending the info.

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

Becoming One with a Cantankerous Outfit

Greg Williams writes the "On the Road" column for the Calgary Herald’s Driving.ca section. Inside Motorcycles magazine published his entertaining review of American Borders in their magazine. You can read it on his blog.

Audio Interview with Author Carla King on Sojourn Chronicles

D. Brent Miller of  Sojourn Chronicles reviewed American Borders and interviewed me (available streaming online) for his motorcycle travel blog and multimedia site. In the interview we discuss the American Borders trip, how it came about as a series of dispatches and the process of turning those largely journalistic entries into the much more personal memoir. I hope you enjoy it. (Read/hear it here.)

Bay Area Backroads Star Launches OpenRoad.TV w/Motorcycle Forum

I'd like to invite all of you who have answers and questions about riding in the American West to visit http://OpenRoad.TV to see some great stories and video footage from Doug McConnell's tours and interviews from the area. For those of you who don't live in the Bay Area, Bay Area Backroads is one of the most well-loved and longest-running shows in tv history. Doug and his crew are making video segments from the show available on the Internet so they're available all over the world. They've managed to figure out the video compression thing on the Internet so you can view short segments with relative ease. Check it out! There are some beautiful beautiful beautiful videos of national parks and cowboy towns and roadside attractions -- all the sights and sounds and people you want to meet when you're on a road trip.
    I'm a moderator for the brand new motorcycle touring forum there, so please visit and contribute your knowledge about motorcycle touring in the American West. Your favorite places, recommendations for motorcycle rentals, and the nuts and bolts of getting from here to there and there to here are all welcome. It's also a place to post questions. I know that a lot of you from all over the world have knowledge and have questions, and it would be great to meet you on the forum! Just go to http://OpenRoad.TV and click Forum, and you'll find the Motorcycle Touring interest on the list. See you there!
Carla

See you at Cycle World in Atlanta

Come see me at  at the Cycle World show in Atlanta, February 23-25. I'll be signing books all weekend at the Ural booth.  (Go to the site and print out their 50% discount parking coupon.)

And check out this review of American Borders:

"Heartwarming and revealing, readers get to know and love Carla, and get to know themselves a little more in the process," says Genevieve Schmitt, founder of WomenRidersNow.com. "She's a true hero, smiling every mile of the way and finding humor in the worst of circumstances."

(Aw gee!)

Well, despite the portrayal of the Ural in the book -- which was, after all, a test ride of the new import, I really do recommend today's Ural, which is a really great, reliable, and let's not forget the most important trait -- fun! -- machine.

Order the book, or if you've read it, give it a review on the Motorcycle Misadventures website.

See you in Atlanta!
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.

Weblogs for Writers

At the San Francisco Writers Conference today I spoke with the Wild Writing Women on crafting the personal essay. My contribution was information on how blogging can help you practice your writing skills, gather information, become an authority on your topic. Here are some helpful links.