Desert Songs

Back to 1973 . . . “It was getting too dark to ride, and I lay down in the desert to sleep. I woke in the middle of the night to look up at a herd of camels walking over me . . .”

Just recently I rediscovered some cassette tapes that I made 35 years ago during the first magical months of my journey, from London to Nairobi. Hearing them again is like reliving the past. There are camel drivers singing on the ferry from Aswan to Wadi Halfa, more music from Kinedra in the Atbara Desert, and from tribesmen at the Crocodile’s Mouth, and commentary from the road to Gedaref.

I have digitised them and incorporated them into a short film of that part of the journey.
I showed it for the first time, together with much more from both journeys, at the Santa Rosa BMW dealership north of San Francisco in March.

It was a great success – standing room only – so I am encouraged to improve on it.

My desert companions outside Kassala in Sudan

Because I recently became the grandfather of a darling little fellow called Landon, I flew to Kentucky later in March to visit the family. So of course, while I was there, I showed my films again, to more enthusiasts at Eastern Kentucky University, and that went down very well too.

The plan to go to Springfield didn’t work out this time, nor did the gig in Miami, but we can pick those up again another time when I’m back from Europe.

I leave in four days’ time, on April 28th, to fetch my bike from Dirk Erker in Duisburg. He looks after it, and I sort of look after his bike at my place, but he’s a brilliant mechanic, and I’m not.

So first I’m going to ride down a long chain of friends to Montpellier, in France, near where I once lived. And there I’ll meet up with Angel and Teresa who have just published a new translation of Jupiter’s Travels in Spanish.
I have never met them, but I KNOW for a fact that they are wonderful people, just from they way they write to me, and the work they’ve done.

So then we three will ride in company to Madrid, and on May 11th at the De Viajes book shop I will introduce myself and the new book and show some pictures.
Then I will eat tapas and drink a lot of rioja. That’s how it goes.

I’m planning to be in Europe for five months. Far too much to talk about right now. I’ll try to keep blogging away though. Meanwhile I have to say good bye to the beautiful, big garden I’ve been working on behind my house. My trusty neighbours, Nona, Tammy and Ted are going to take care of it and. I hope, extract a ton of good stuff from it. It’s part of a communal arrangement I have always wanted since I had to let go of my organic farm in 1989. Here’s a picture:

In the new year comes yet another delightful prospect at the other end of the world.
There are two lovely Kiwis, John and Alison Rains, who run the excellent if unpronounceable Te Waipounamu motorcycle touring company in New Zealand, and they have asked me to star in one of their forthcoming productions.
Or, to bring it down to earth, they are promoting a tour around their gorgeous country in January of 2010, and they think having me along will entice some of you to go too.
I hope they’re right.

John and Alison and the house they built by hand on Diamond Bay

I’ve never done anything like this before, and probably never will again, but I reckon it’ll be a riot.
I know them well – they’re very good people, and very good at what they do – and I can’t wait to get another gawk at the spectacular scenery.
So, if you’re enticeable, click here, and find out all about it.