Latest / B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast / Update from NomadOn2wheels about his travels around the world in S5 Episode 13

Transcript

Update from NomadOn2wheels about his travels around the world in S5 Episode 13 · B 4EVA Kool "Race A Motorcycle" Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back to another edition of the Be Forever Cool podcast.
• 0:02
  My name is Rex 45. We got Nomad in the building.
• 0:06
  What's going on, man? Welcome back to the show.
• 0:09
  Where are you in the world today?
• 0:11
  Aw man, yes, I'm, I'm in the Netherlands now.
• 0:15
  I made made my way to the Netherlands.
• 0:16
  So I was, I was able to make it into across the across the water
• 0:21
  from Morocco into Spain and made my way to Portugal, France,
• 0:27
  Belgium and now I'm here in the Netherlands.
• 0:30
  Oh, man, I, I, so I guess we got to get caught up because I think
• 0:34
  the last time we spoke, I'm trying to think I, I think
• 0:38
  you're in the either Republic of Congo.
• 0:42
  Yeah. That was like 1520 countries
• 0:47
  ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
• 0:48
  I was actually, I was act last time we spoke.
• 0:51
  I was in. I was actually in Nigeria.
• 0:53
  OK. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 0:54
  I was, I was in, I was in, I was in Congo.
• 0:56
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't in Congo.
• 0:57
  That's right. That's right.
• 0:58
  I wasn't in Congo. Yeah, there's been a couple of
• 1:01
  months. I know we talked on adventure
• 1:03
  stuff I think back in April as well.
• 1:07
  So, yeah, so it's been a little bit.
• 1:09
  Yeah, yeah, it's been some time spent some.
• 1:11
  Time. So yeah.
• 1:11
  So let's let's get caught up, man.
• 1:15
  I mean, I gotta imagine it has to be wild being in the
• 1:20
  Netherlands now after being the, for lack of better word, so
• 1:24
  rural. We spoke last.
• 1:28
  So let's talk about your journey, how you got from there
• 1:31
  to here and also kind of like what that experience is like,
• 1:35
  because I saw some clips of you in Morocco and stuff like that.
• 1:38
  And, and you know, it was more, more, a lot, a lot more things
• 1:43
  were happening in one area than riding through some small towns
• 1:47
  or villages and stuff like that. So I I got to imagine like your,
• 1:51
  your spider senses must have been all over the place for a
• 1:53
  few days. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:57
  I mean, you know, coming out of the Congo, next country after
• 2:01
  that was Cameroon. I think by that time I was
• 2:07
  trying to figure out which border to cross to get into
• 2:10
  Nigeria. So the so, so for those who
• 2:12
  don't know, going from Cameroon to Nigeria, there's a section of
• 2:17
  Cameroon that's really that's quite dangerous.
• 2:22
  And you have three options when it comes to crossing the border.
• 2:24
  You have to, you can take the ferry, you can take an escort or
• 2:30
  you can take a route that's really off road.
• 2:34
  Now, when I say really off road, I mean it's really off road.
• 2:38
  The you want to only do it during dry season, during the
• 2:41
  rain season, you'll see trucks go in and then just leave their
• 2:43
  truck there over, you know, for the course of like a couple
• 2:46
  months because it gets stuck in the, in the mud.
• 2:49
  So, but yes, I mean, I think that was a decision that I had
• 2:54
  to make to find out which border I was going to cross.
• 2:58
  Getting into Nigeria, I was a bit nervous heading into Nigeria
• 3:01
  because I've obviously we've heard so many stories about
• 3:04
  Nigeria, but the surprising thing about Nigeria was the fact
• 3:09
  that it was absolutely a blast. Nigeria was amazing.
• 3:13
  The people were amazing. Is probably one of the most
• 3:15
  friendliest countries that I've been to in Africa, so.
• 3:19
  So everyone is not trying to sell you something, trying to,
• 3:25
  you know, take all your inheritance, none of that.
• 3:28
  Well, that's a whole another topic.
• 3:34
  I'd say, I'd say the end of the day, you know people, they're
• 3:38
  opportunists, you know, like, and, and it's, it's when, when
• 3:41
  things arrive, when the, when the opportunity arrives, they,
• 3:44
  they, you know, they tend to kind of, you know, they will try
• 3:47
  to get you. You know, if you're sleeping.
• 3:50
  Yeah, yeah. So you do have to kind of watch
• 3:53
  out a little bit, you know, especially if you're going to a
• 3:55
  store and you want to buy something and then they see you
• 3:58
  and they know you're American or whatever and then everything
• 4:01
  just double S and triples and quadruples.
• 4:03
  So the thing and also like they will definitely, you know, if
• 4:10
  they're trying to sell you a service, you know, they will
• 4:13
  convince you that the their service is the best and you
• 4:17
  can't get it anywhere else, you know, but yeah, I mean, the end
• 4:24
  of the day, they, they're still very friendly group of people
• 4:28
  and they always, they always want to take photos.
• 4:32
  They're always like, oh, let's take a picture, let's take a
• 4:34
  picture. You know, it was probably the
• 4:36
  only country in Africa where people were very open to taking
• 4:41
  pictures. You know, the whole kids would
• 4:44
  come in and they'd bring everyone into the, into the
• 4:47
  photo. And yeah, so it was.
• 4:48
  They're they're, they're not shy.
• 4:50
  OK, OK. And, and like, what towns or
• 4:53
  cities did you get to visit and like, what was the, the
• 4:58
  architect like and, and kind of like, you know, the hustle and
• 5:01
  bustle of the, of the, of the town or city.
• 5:04
  Yeah. So it depends on where you were.
• 5:06
  You know, as you, as you're further away from the cities,
• 5:10
  you see a lot more of these smaller villages and you kind of
• 5:15
  get that feel of when you walk into a small village, you, you
• 5:18
  just have that small village feel and you just, you know,
• 5:20
  it's like everyone knows everyone.
• 5:23
  There's a local store over there and like everyone gets
• 5:26
  everything over there. Also as you get further away
• 5:30
  from say, Lagos, right, everyone, like you see a lot
• 5:36
  more Muslim culture as well. There's a lot more Muslims
• 5:42
  surrounding like outside of Lagos.
• 5:47
  And also as you go further north, like if you go towards
• 5:50
  like Abuja, you definitely will get more Muslim as you go, as
• 5:59
  you go north in Nigeria. But I didn't go that far north.
• 6:05
  I stayed a little bit, like actually very far South.
• 6:09
  I stayed and just went, went across Nigeria.
• 6:13
  So did you go? So you, you spent a little bit
• 6:15
  of time in Lagos. Yeah.
• 6:17
  So Lagos is amazing. Lagos.
• 6:19
  And how does it compare to like a New York or like a Boston or
• 6:23
  like a Chicago? Like, you know, what's the vibe
• 6:27
  like? And did you did you get to enjoy
• 6:30
  a nightlife? Yeah, so it's, it's actually,
• 6:32
  it's funny you say that because it definitely has a New York.
• 6:35
  It can have a New York feel, especially with the highways and
• 6:37
  the byways is going across throughout the city and if you
• 6:41
  take the wrong one, it'll bring you somewhere for 30 minutes and
• 6:44
  then you have to turn around. It has.
• 6:47
  That same, that same vibe, you do see a bit of poverty along
• 6:53
  the road as you're, as you're driving, especially on the, on
• 6:57
  the water, because there's a lot of like there's a, there's a
• 7:03
  like a main is there's like a main city.
• 7:05
  And then there's like another part that's like kind of like a
• 7:08
  small island and that's where like things are really nice.
• 7:13
  You know, you're in that smaller, smaller island and then
• 7:16
  things are like buildings, tall skyscraper buildings, all that
• 7:20
  stuff. And but then as you get closer
• 7:23
  to the water, sometimes it's like you can see a lot of the,
• 7:27
  the poverty along the edges of the water and, and it kind of,
• 7:31
  it almost kind of reminded me of India, like Mumbai.
• 7:36
  Like you look over here and there's skyscraper buildings
• 7:38
  over here and there's like $1,000,000 apartments and things
• 7:43
  like that. And then you look over to the
• 7:44
  right and then you just kind of see the, the slums in the right.
• 7:47
  You know, it kind of gave that feel just a little bit at times.
• 7:53
  Got you. And, and what was lodging like
• 7:55
  for you? Were you in one of the nice high
• 7:57
  rises for a day or two hour? Oh, you still like, you know.
• 8:02
  Definitely not. Place to pitch a tent.
• 8:04
  I'm I'm still in the budget mode.
• 8:06
  I was still definitely in the budget mode.
• 8:10
  But I mean, it's honestly, you can find something decent for
• 8:12
  like $20.25 bucks a night that has, you know, a shower that
• 8:20
  that's not a bucket shower. But yeah, I mean, I think, I
• 8:25
  think the end of the day, you know, with Lagos, it's a, it's a
• 8:29
  whole different vibe of Africa. It's, it's, it explodes.
• 8:35
  It's like a like the nightlife is, is really cool.
• 8:37
  Like you can go out and The thing is like, no, everyone is,
• 8:40
  everyone is friendly. Like you're not going to go out
• 8:43
  and get into a fight, you know, like it's not going to happen.
• 8:47
  You know, you don't, you don't you don't even think about
• 8:49
  things like that. It's, it's everyone is just
• 8:53
  especially when they know that you're not from there and you
• 8:55
  know, people want to show you around and they want to bring
• 8:57
  you. So it's, it's a really, really,
• 9:00
  really, really cool vibe. Really cool vibe.
• 9:02
  So I liked, I like Nigeria a lot.
• 9:05
  So no. It's not.
• 9:06
  And then from Nigeria, where did you move on to?
• 9:09
  So Nigeria, I went to Togo, Benin and you know, it's, it's
• 9:15
  crazy because the hospitality in Africa is, is absolutely
• 9:20
  astonishing. Like the people there, they will
• 9:23
  do their best to take care of you, to get you what you need.
• 9:27
  It's funny because I actually got the Togo and I needed a visa
• 9:32
  for Benin. Sorry, I got the Benin and I, I
• 9:35
  needed a visa for Togo. So when I got the Benin, I met
• 9:38
  this guy at a hostel and he was on work on business and he lives
• 9:44
  in Togo. And I told him, I said, look,
• 9:47
  you know, I applied for a visa for for Togo and they haven't
• 9:52
  gotten back to me. It's been like 2 weeks.
• 9:53
  Yeah, yeah. Like he's like, that's weird.
• 9:55
  And he's like, it's supposed to get back to you in four days.
• 9:58
  So I was like, he was like, he's a, he's like, let me just make a
• 10:03
  phone call really quick. You've heard that before.
• 10:06
  Makes a makes a phone call and he's like, he's like what's your
• 10:11
  passport number or what's your your application number?
• 10:16
  Within like an hour I had an e-mail saying that I got
• 10:19
  accepted and the application got accepted.
• 10:21
  Wow. Yeah.
• 10:22
  So like you do end up meeting people that know no other people
• 10:28
  in high places. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:32
  And he actually helped me go from Togo into Ghana because
• 10:36
  Ghana I didn't have a carne at Pasas.
• 10:39
  So because I didn't have a carne, I was having a lot of
• 10:42
  trouble getting, I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to get
• 10:46
  my bike into Ghana because they wouldn't have let they wouldn't
• 10:49
  have let my bike into Ghana if he if he wasn't there at the
• 10:52
  border, they wouldn't have let my bike into Ghana.
• 10:54
  I would, I would have gotten stuck there.
• 10:57
  I don't know how I would have gotten in, but he's like,
• 11:01
  listen, because I told him I don't have a, a carne for Ghana.
• 11:05
  So he was like he's like, let me let me figure this out.
• 11:08
  Let me let me see what let me see what I can do.
• 11:11
  So he makes a phone call and we get to the border.
• 11:13
  He meets, we meet up with a guy at the border.
• 11:15
  They bring me to customs and then customs.
• 11:19
  The guy looks at one of the one of the other guys.
• 11:23
  The guy behind the desk looks at one of the other guys and he's
• 11:25
  like, he looked at him like like, you know, you shouldn't be
• 11:28
  doing this. You know, like he he, he looked
• 11:30
  at him with shame. He's bringing me to the border
• 11:33
  and I don't have all the documents that, but he's just
• 11:36
  looking at him like, why are you doing this?
• 11:38
  You know, like. Lots said with no words.
• 11:40
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so and I and I, I picked,
• 11:45
  I picked up on that and I'm like, oh, I was like, so we that
• 11:49
  that even took us about an hour because we had to go back and
• 11:52
  forth and convince the guy to let to let me in with the bike
• 11:58
  eventually. And also I didn't have to pay
• 12:01
  anything. So everything was kind of
• 12:03
  already paid for because I did some documentation in the
• 12:07
  country before that. But yeah, they didn't want to
• 12:11
  let me in. So I I don't.
• 12:13
  Yeah, they didn't want to. Let me down.
• 12:15
  Yeah, exactly. So in in this.
• 12:18
  So this guy, he actually has family and friends.
• 12:22
  So I'm supposed to go and visit him in France when I get there
• 12:26
  because he's back and forth between France and Togo.
• 12:29
  So yeah, really cool, really nice.
• 12:31
  And he actually, he took care of everything.
• 12:34
  When I got to Togo, he's like, he's like, he paid for
• 12:39
  everything. He brought me to all the local
• 12:40
  places, paid for everything. Yeah, yeah.
• 12:42
  Gave me a place to sleep. And he was just like, no, no,
• 12:45
  when you're here, you don't, you don't pay for anything.
• 12:48
  So it was, it was actually really, really incredible.
• 12:52
  I mean, it's kind of the same hospitality that I'm getting
• 12:55
  here in Europe as well, so. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:57
  People are very friendly. So it's like, you know, you meet
• 13:02
  people along the way and then they, they're, they're so happy
• 13:04
  to, to, to meet up with you or they're happy to, to, to help
• 13:08
  you out, you know? Right, right.
• 13:09
  And, and, and what has he, what has he thought of your story so
• 13:12
  far, your travel so far, 'cause he, I mean, pretty fascinating,
• 13:16
  right? Yeah.
• 13:18
  He was, yeah. And he was just happy to kind of
• 13:19
  just bring me around and like, show me to his friends.
• 13:22
  He's like, oh, look at his bike. And then he's been around his
• 13:25
  New York plates and it's, it's, it's almost the same thing.
• 13:27
  Then when I got to Ghana, when I got to Ghana, it was like
• 13:30
  completely this, like it was absolutely the same thing
• 13:35
  because I got the Ghana and I went to this bike shop and they
• 13:38
  called like 3 or 4 people and told them that I was in town.
• 13:43
  And then there was this one guy who was a motorcycle instructor
• 13:47
  and he is, he has a Tenerife and he was so happy to meet me and
• 13:54
  he was so happy to see a bike in Ghana that had New York license
• 13:57
  plates. Like he was just, he was just
• 13:59
  jaw dropped. And then him and his brother,
• 14:01
  they own a bike shop. So they gave me free tire, they
• 14:05
  gave me free service, oil change, all that stuff.
• 14:09
  They put me in a hotel for like 3 days and they paid for
• 14:12
  everything. No kidding.
• 14:13
  Yeah, I'm that serious guy. I I, yeah, the, the hospitality
• 14:17
  is wild. So I'm.
• 14:19
  I'm so thankful, you know, to have these people, to have met
• 14:24
  these people. You know.
• 14:27
  And I always feel like the majority of people in the world
• 14:30
  want to be kind. They wanted, they want to help
• 14:33
  you, you know. So yeah, it was just, it was
• 14:37
  like Ghana was a great experience, another great
• 14:39
  experience because people, because we did, we went riding
• 14:41
  together. We went, yeah, we went explore
• 14:44
  in Ghana and to, you know, get some nice trails and it was, it
• 14:47
  was really, really, really cool. So definitely, I'm definitely
• 14:52
  gonna go back to Ghana because I was, I wasn't, I wasn't there
• 14:55
  long. I wasn't there long enough.
• 14:57
  I needed to be there a lot longer.
• 14:58
  Like 5 months more to go. Yeah.
• 15:01
  Yeah, exactly. It must have been nice to get
• 15:04
  new tires because you had those other tires on for for a long.
• 15:10
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they looked at my tires
• 15:12
  and they're like, dude, like where are you going with these
• 15:14
  tires, man? It's not going to.
• 15:16
  They're not going to, yeah, it's not going to be good.
• 15:18
  Just like I have tires here. You can just yeah, just put,
• 15:20
  just put, just put these tires on.
• 15:22
  You'd be all right. Wow.
• 15:24
  Yeah. That's that's, that's pretty
• 15:26
  wild. And and then so after Ghana,
• 15:29
  what did you had to and what was that like?
• 15:31
  Yeah. So the Ghana I think came.
• 15:33
  What country was it? I want to say it was Liberia.
• 15:37
  Liberia. I had a friend in Liberia.
• 15:42
  OK, OK, I can't. I'm trying to think, I can't
• 15:45
  remember if it was called to Wow or or Liberia or Liberia.
• 15:48
  So is everyone pretty much have a American accent I mean.
• 15:52
  Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's, it's it's funny how, you know,
• 15:55
  obviously you know, the history of Liberia, it's it's freed
• 15:58
  slaves from United States. So, you know, you look people,
• 16:01
  they look at the flag and they're like, wow, the flag
• 16:03
  looks like United States was like, well, it's like that
• 16:05
  because of, you know, the people that are from here are
• 16:08
  descendants of slaves that, you know, And but this, this person
• 16:14
  that I knew, she was my old roommate in New York.
• 16:19
  And she's like, she's Liberian and she's like, oh, come hang
• 16:23
  out, come meet my family. And, you know, and again, she
• 16:26
  took me in and helped me out. And her husband helped me out
• 16:29
  big time at the next border because, because I had issues at
• 16:34
  the next border as well. He, he knew a guy at the border.
• 16:37
  He's like, listen, I know somebody that can help you out,
• 16:40
  get you through it. Yeah.
• 16:41
  That's that's the way the universe work is wild, huh?
• 16:44
  Yeah, exactly, exactly. So you know when you when you
• 16:48
  put the energy out there as if I always feel the universe will
• 16:51
  definitely respond. So yeah, unfortunately I didn't
• 16:56
  get to stay in Liberia in long enough maybe like like 3 or 4
• 17:01
  days. And at this point I was just
• 17:04
  kind of hauling ass up the coast of, of Africa to get to Europe.
• 17:09
  So I think there was a 1 border that I was going to.
• 17:15
  It might have been the court of war border.
• 17:18
  Man had such a bad time. That was the worst border.
• 17:22
  It just, you know, I hadn't really experienced a ton of
• 17:27
  corruption or hard corruption at the border.
• 17:29
  Just just like simple things like I'm at the desk and you
• 17:33
  know, before the woman stamps my passport.
• 17:35
  Just like that's, you know, $15 and you're like, no, it's not,
• 17:40
  it's not $15, no. And then she'll sit there for
• 17:43
  like 5 minutes and look. At you and.
• 17:45
  You just have to stare down and then she'll just stamp it very
• 17:49
  angrily and very angry, and then just get to just give it back to
• 17:52
  you, give your passport back to you.
• 17:54
  That's kind of the extent of this.
• 17:56
  The corruption that I've actually experienced hadn't been
• 18:00
  that bad till I got to Cote d'Ivoire.
• 18:02
  Is he the Cote d'Ivoire? I think it was Cote d'Ivoire.
• 18:06
  The guy brings me to the office and he's like, he's like, he's
• 18:11
  going through all my documents. He's filling everything out.
• 18:14
  He's doing everything, everything he needs to do.
• 18:16
  And I could see him going through it.
• 18:18
  He's putting stamps on stamps. Boom, boom, boom.
• 18:20
  OK, I'm like, alright, this is going, this is going very well.
• 18:24
  Then he's like, then he's like, oh, you know, it's fifty U.S.
• 18:30
  dollars or something. And I'm like, whoa, I'm like,
• 18:34
  for what? It's just like for the
• 18:36
  documents. And it's like, well, I already
• 18:38
  paid for this stuff. Some of the stuff I already paid
• 18:40
  for and I paid for at the embassy.
• 18:44
  And it's always good to keep a receipt because then you can be
• 18:46
  like, you know, you can hold the receipt up and you just like,
• 18:49
  listen, I paid for it. And he's like, no, but you
• 18:52
  didn't pay me. And I was like, OK.
• 18:54
  And I was like, well, I don't have that so.
• 18:57
  And then he looks at me. He is he's just like, you're
• 19:00
  American, right? I was like, yeah, he was just
• 19:02
  like, you have U.S. dollars. I was just like, little do you
• 19:05
  know, I've run out so. Can I show you my bike outside?
• 19:10
  Yeah, I've, I've, I've been on the road for two years, man, and
• 19:15
  I've literally run out of U.S. dollars.
• 19:17
  I have no more U.S. dollars. He's like, he's just, he says to
• 19:21
  me, he's like, yeah, but you can, you can get U.S. dollars.
• 19:25
  You can go to the bank and get U.S. dollars like not that easy,
• 19:29
  man. It's not that easy.
• 19:30
  And then he and then he looks at me.
• 19:32
  Then he says to me, he's like, you have to pay.
• 19:35
  He's now his voice is getting nice, starting to demand.
• 19:38
  I just had a calm voice. I just like I don't, I don't
• 19:42
  have U.S. dollars, man. Then he gets pissed and just
• 19:46
  throws my documents across the table.
• 19:49
  And then I think, oh, I had some of the local currency.
• 19:53
  I had like maybe 15 or $20.00 of the local currency, but he
• 19:57
  wanted U.S. dollars. You didn't want the local
• 19:59
  currency, you wanted U.S. dollars.
• 20:01
  So he was telling me to go and exchange the money that I had to
• 20:07
  go bring U.S. dollars. So I'm like, I'm not doing that.
• 20:11
  Like, why would I do that? Right, Right.
• 20:13
  So, and oh, actually, you know what?
• 20:16
  I didn't show him that I had that currency.
• 20:19
  I knew I had it in my pocket. I had about 10 to $15.00 worth
• 20:23
  of the currency in my buck and I didn't, I didn't tell him that I
• 20:26
  had that, but he was like, I sold him.
• 20:28
  I was like, oh, I don't have, I don't have it.
• 20:29
  So he's like, he's like, yeah, you can go and exchange money
• 20:32
  and you can go get it. And, and I was like, I don't
• 20:35
  have it. Then.
• 20:36
  Then he brings me outside and then goes and sits in the chair
• 20:39
  because there's like 5-4 or five officers that are just sitting
• 20:42
  in the chair. He just goes out.
• 20:45
  He goes outside, brings me out there and he just sits in the
• 20:47
  chair and then pretty much. And then they start talking in
• 20:50
  French, you know, obviously I don't know what they're saying.
• 20:54
  So it was like, all right, well, I guess we're just going to sit
• 20:57
  here. So I just kind of, I had a mango
• 20:59
  and I just sat on the bike and I just, I faced, I faced all the
• 21:03
  officers and I just, I just started peeling the mango and
• 21:05
  eating in front of them. It's like, it's like, all right,
• 21:10
  well, we, I got, I have all day. So I, I could be here overnight
• 21:14
  if you want me to. I don't, I don't have this money
• 21:16
  you're asking me for. So yeah.
• 21:19
  And then eventually the one of the guy gets up, goes in the
• 21:23
  office, gets my documents hands to me and just says go.
• 21:27
  That was after about I was there for about 3 hours.
• 21:30
  Wow. Yeah, I was there for about 3
• 21:33
  hours. I sat like everything happened
• 21:36
  for in about an hour and a half. And then I sat and waited for
• 21:40
  them, for them to make a decision for another hour and a
• 21:43
  half. Right, because usually people
• 21:45
  probably eventually gets annoyed or whatever and just kind of
• 21:49
  give in. Right, right.
• 21:51
  Exactly. You know, because, you know, if
• 21:52
  you're not, if you're not used to this kind of stuff, you like,
• 21:56
  you know, you you just you just give them the money.
• 21:58
  Yeah, Yeah, fine. I have it here.
• 21:59
  Here's the money. Let me go.
• 22:01
  Like like dude, I've been to like 50 countries already.
• 22:03
  Yeah, yeah, this is that my first rodeo man.
• 22:06
  And also also like I was on a budget.
• 22:08
  Yeah. So I, I didn't technically I had
• 22:12
  the money, but I just like, I don't have it to just give to
• 22:14
  you, right, Right. You know, like I, I actually
• 22:17
  need this money. So like, you know, like it's, it
• 22:20
  was actually, I think the situation was if I had given him
• 22:23
  the cash that I had on me, I wouldn't have money for fuel for
• 22:27
  the next country. Right, right, because there.
• 22:30
  There were no ATMs between the, the the the border and the next
• 22:34
  big city. Wow.
• 22:35
  So I had no cash. So I would, if I'd given that to
• 22:38
  him, I wouldn't have any, any fucking any money.
• 22:40
  Yeah. So you'd be down the road that
• 22:42
  trying to you figure out how you going to get some get someone
• 22:45
  else out there money. Right.
• 22:46
  Yeah. And I think after that went
• 22:52
  with, oh, Guinea, that border was Guinea.
• 22:55
  Sorry, that border was Guinea. OK, OK, well, it was Guinea.
• 22:59
  It was Guinea, now that I think about it.
• 23:01
  Guinea was cool. Once The thing is like once you
• 23:03
  cross the borders, like everyone's nice, everyone's
• 23:07
  cool. But the the borders itself are
• 23:09
  just just, they're just a pain in the ass.
• 23:12
  They're just a pain. The the I obviously I and I
• 23:15
  probably. I probably know the answer, but
• 23:16
  like, if you arrive into the situation a year ago, you might
• 23:21
  have handled it different than where you are today after having
• 23:24
  6 all the experience you've had in the last year and change,
• 23:28
  right? Because also, again, like you,
• 23:30
  you knew enough to keep calm because I might have been
• 23:33
  cussing and, and, and might have got myself locked up.
• 23:35
  You know what I'm saying? Like.
• 23:40
  That's the thing about the borders, man, you know, like you
• 23:44
  have to stay calm, you know, like, because if you, if you get
• 23:49
  riled up and, you know, that just delays things even more
• 23:55
  longer. Yeah, just that just makes
• 23:57
  things even worse because, you know, their reaction to you
• 24:03
  freaking out is, is they're just going to be like, oh, OK, well,
• 24:09
  yeah, now we're going to call the police, you know, like it's
• 24:13
  just the last thing you want them to do is to feel like they
• 24:17
  have to use some more authority because of something, you know,
• 24:22
  I mean, a lot of times they what they'll do is did they might
• 24:24
  give in and say, OK, fine here take take yourself and go.
• 24:28
  You know, if you raise hell, I don't know, but I, I would, I
• 24:31
  would stay as calm as possible and be like, yeah, you just, you
• 24:36
  know, like this is this is this is what I have.
• 24:39
  I'll sleep here and I'll pitch my tent right here.
• 24:41
  You know, it's like it's, it's, you know, I'm not going to, I'm
• 24:44
  not going to raise hell. I'm not going to.
• 24:46
  I'm just going to, yeah, stay calm.
• 24:48
  And yeah, it's, it's just The thing is when you travel, you
• 24:52
  just don't want to, you don't want to lash out, lash out, you
• 24:59
  know, especially in public, you know, as a tourist, as a
• 25:03
  tourist, you just, you want to stay as calm as possible.
• 25:05
  I mean, there has been times where I have lashed out.
• 25:08
  The only country that's actually really did that to me was India.
• 25:13
  They were the India was the only country that's ever managed to
• 25:19
  get me boiling to a point where I had to scream and yell at
• 25:23
  somebody, even hit somebody. So so it it just it just this
• 25:28
  you want to talk about countries that attach this?
• 25:30
  Is on a different trip. Yeah, this is on a different
• 25:33
  trip. This is I went backpacking back
• 25:36
  in 2017. Gotcha, Gotcha.
• 25:38
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, the main thing
• 25:41
  you want to do is stay as calm as possible because it's just,
• 25:44
  you just don't want to lash out. You don't want to raise your
• 25:46
  voice. You don't want to, you know, so
• 25:47
  but I mean, you, you know, sometimes you get angry, you
• 25:50
  know, you know, like it's very difficult to to to keep that
• 25:54
  because people are going to people are going to try you.
• 25:56
  Yeah. And then and The thing is like
• 25:58
  when they try you, it's like, it's like, do you think I'm
• 26:02
  like, you think I'm stupid? Like are you really doing this
• 26:05
  right now? Is just so you know, you, you,
• 26:09
  you, you, you do your best to just to stay as calm as possible
• 26:13
  so. That's Yeah, you do.
• 26:15
  You have to and as many as most situations as possible be.
• 26:19
  It's hard to do it 100% of the time, but if you can get away
• 26:21
  with 99. Yeah, exactly.
• 26:23
  There's always going to be that. There's always going to be that
• 26:26
  one time man where you're like. You know, caught you, got you.
• 26:29
  Yeah. And so you're, you're on a time
• 26:31
  crunch and you're going through all these places and dealing
• 26:34
  with, with the visas and stuff like that now.
• 26:38
  So I, I, without looking at the map, how close are you to, to,
• 26:43
  to leaving Africa at this point? Because you still like this.
• 26:46
  This is before you got to Morocco.
• 26:48
  Yeah. So this was after Guinea Had I
• 26:57
  had what country? Senegal.
• 27:01
  Senegal. Once I got to Senegal, I had to
• 27:04
  wait for the visa for Mauritania.
• 27:06
  So I only had about four, four countries at Senegal, Mauritania
• 27:09
  and Morocco. Morocco was easy for Mauritania.
• 27:16
  The visas could be a pain, but the guy from Togo knew someone
• 27:21
  in Mauritania and he made a phone call and he's just like,
• 27:25
  listen, just give him your documents, they give him all
• 27:27
  your information and you'll have a visa in four days.
• 27:30
  So that's exactly what happened. And then as a matter of fact,
• 27:34
  there were some travelers that were behind me that had trouble
• 27:37
  getting to Mauritania. They did the visas, you know,
• 27:40
  they were waiting 2 weeks, 3 weeks.
• 27:42
  Sometimes you wait a month, like, yeah, and it could be
• 27:45
  something really stupid. And that these, the visa
• 27:47
  application is very simple. It's a very simple application,
• 27:50
  but it's just like. Are you, like, collecting the
• 27:53
  dresses to send, I don't know, holiday cards or something,
• 27:56
  Birthday cards to these people, Yeah.
• 28:01
  Yeah, I should start. Doing that, aren't I, you might
• 28:03
  have you might have to meet their their kids and grandkids.
• 28:05
  So that could be you got about 30 years of travel.
• 28:09
  Yeah, yeah, exactly. But yes, I mean, The thing is,
• 28:13
  it was Senegal was really nice, was really cool.
• 28:15
  Like I like Senegal a lot. Senegal's very touristy.
• 28:20
  So people from people from Europe come down to Senegal.
• 28:24
  I didn't realize how touristy it was, but then when I got there,
• 28:27
  I was like, oh wow, this is actually, well, there's some
• 28:29
  very touristy section that you say that parts of it.
• 28:32
  So then Mauritania. Mauritania was cool, but I just
• 28:37
  again, I just kind of zip through it.
• 28:41
  Morocco. Morocco was really nice.
• 28:43
  I like Morocco. Yeah, Morocco, some of the
• 28:46
  videos of where you arrived and that you posted and stuff like
• 28:49
  that. And and like I said, so did did
• 28:52
  you know, how were you reacting to the culture changes, you
• 28:56
  know, as as you're progressing north?
• 28:58
  Yeah, you can tell it started to get very European as you as you
• 29:03
  start going north, especially as you get into Morocco, the city
• 29:07
  start getting a lot more modern. I was able to use my credit card
• 29:13
  and tap the credit card with the machines.
• 29:16
  You know, it was like the first time that I was able to use a
• 29:19
  credit card at A at a gas station and since Namibia.
• 29:22
  Wow. Yeah.
• 29:24
  So it was it was just like, oh, I could give you a credit card.
• 29:27
  Oh, nice. It just, it just wasn't
• 29:29
  expecting that. But then, yeah, it was just it
• 29:32
  just as you start going north, it just starts to get more
• 29:34
  modern, more European. I don't know.
• 29:37
  And then? How is the food?
• 29:39
  And I don't think I really asked about the food as much, but like
• 29:42
  how, how is the food changing? And, and just, I mean, you know,
• 29:46
  being Jamaican and you know, having a Jamaican background and
• 29:49
  stuff and, and then all these other countries like, like how
• 29:52
  similar, how not similar foods are and, and stuff like that.
• 29:56
  Yeah. I mean, I, I would say the
• 29:57
  staple around like around Nigeria and coming out of
• 30:06
  Cameroon, Nigeria, you have like Fufu, which is, which is very
• 30:12
  good. I fell in love with fufu and
• 30:15
  Fufu. You have Nigeria, Togo, Benin.
• 30:20
  I wouldn't say that is that similar to, to, to like West
• 30:26
  Indian food. But I think you still have the
• 30:29
  Curry and the spices and stuff. You still have some of that,
• 30:33
  which is, which is interesting because I always felt that the
• 30:35
  Curry came from India. So but I guess it depends on
• 30:39
  what kind of Curry it is. So, but yeah, I mean, as you
• 30:46
  start going up to the, the food stays similar.
• 30:49
  Everyone has their own kind of way of making fufu.
• 30:52
  And there was another one that was cool.
• 30:55
  Is is that dough bases? I'm trying to think, is that
• 30:57
  like a like almost like a like, not rice, but really?
• 31:00
  Yeah, so it can be cassava. Yeah, yeah.
• 31:05
  Yeah, it can be cassava, it can be can be rice, and it depends
• 31:11
  on what country you're in. Yeah, yeah, there's and some
• 31:16
  people eat it without the sauce. I think in in Togo and Benin, it
• 31:21
  was like they just pile a ton of like really good sauce on there
• 31:25
  and it's oh, so good. Oh, it's so good.
• 31:29
  Oh man, I, I, I definitely miss that.
• 31:31
  I was. I could eat that every day for a
• 31:35
  while. Yeah, yeah.
• 31:36
  And. Then as you start going up, I'm
• 31:42
  trying to think that I eat any Senegalese dishes.
• 31:48
  I had to have been since Italy. Senegalese dishes.
• 31:52
  I do remember a lot of the Moroccan dishes that I had.
• 31:56
  Moroccan food is really good, a lot of like bread and you know,
• 32:01
  and sauces and things like that. But yeah, I mean, the the food,
• 32:06
  the food stays similar throughout and then slowly
• 32:10
  starts to change as you start to go start to go north.
• 32:17
  I think I would love to to go a little bit more into like Mali,
• 32:22
  Burkina Faso and Niger and eat deep foods from over there as
• 32:26
  well. See what that cuisine is like.
• 32:30
  But I eat a lot of like like just a mom and pop local like
• 32:35
  going into, I don't know, just did they have like 3 chairs and
• 32:41
  a table and you know you're getting then you you, you find
• 32:45
  yourself with the bowl in your hand.
• 32:47
  And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Know like, so like I eat, I've
• 32:50
  eaten a lot of places like that. So, but then when you go into
• 32:55
  like a restaurant, restaurant, you know, sit down and it's kind
• 32:58
  of nice and you know, they will kind of make the food a little
• 33:02
  bit different, but I. Feel like right, Right when?
• 33:05
  You go into the smaller shops, it's like, Oh yeah, this is
• 33:08
  good, this is good. Just don't look in the kitchen
• 33:10
  because there's probably flies in there, so.
• 33:13
  I'm sure. I'm pretty sure it must be.
• 33:16
  It's just probably fun that that was one thing you that was one
• 33:20
  thing you don't do is just don't look in the kitchen.
• 33:23
  Right, right. Don't look in the kitchen.
• 33:25
  So there we go. That's my number one rule when
• 33:28
  it comes to when it comes to food.
• 33:31
  Don't look in the kitchen. You might not like what you see.
• 33:33
  So OK, so now any more countries in in, in Africa before you
• 33:38
  cross the border? And we're like, what was
• 33:40
  crossing the border? Like, was it a ferry?
• 33:42
  How? How did that happen?
• 33:45
  Yeah. So I was just moving, moving
• 33:46
  through Africa and then getting it to Morocco and then taking
• 33:50
  the ferry. Yeah.
• 33:50
  So it was a it was a probably a 1 1/2 hour ferry.
• 33:54
  OK, that's not. Bad, not, not too bad.
• 33:57
  Goes right into to Spain. And once you get to Spain, yeah,
• 34:04
  that's, that's, that's it. You're in Europe, which is quite
• 34:06
  wild. It was, it was kind of, it was
• 34:08
  kind of crazy that, that, that like crossing.
• 34:10
  Well, it was first of all, it was crazy leaving Africa,
• 34:13
  leaving Africa. I I really, really enjoyed
• 34:15
  Africa a lot. And you know, I talked to a lot
• 34:18
  of people before I did the trap, did the trip and some people,
• 34:24
  most people were like, you're going to love it or hate it,
• 34:27
  depending on who you are. And depending on what kind of
• 34:31
  luxuries you, you had you, you like or depending on how open
• 34:36
  minded you are, like you either love it or you hate it.
• 34:39
  People can piss you off or people can, you can love the
• 34:42
  people. I think for me it was, it was
• 34:49
  way it was definitely I, I loved it to the point where I would
• 34:55
  not mind living there in a specific country for like, you
• 35:01
  know, three to four months out of the year and then relocating
• 35:05
  somewhere else. And if I could do like living in
• 35:10
  say states, Europe and Africa, you know, just kind of be those,
• 35:16
  that little triangle there that would be.
• 35:18
  Chasing the sunlight and not the snow.
• 35:20
  Exactly exactly that would be that would be amazing.
• 35:24
  So, but, but yeah, I mean, I love, I loved it.
• 35:30
  I loved Africa. So leaving Africa was was was
• 35:32
  kind and a lot happened in Africa so.
• 35:35
  How, how long were you there? You were there for.
• 35:38
  Ten months. Ten months.
• 35:39
  Yeah, so and so much happened, you know, the bike got messed
• 35:44
  up, I crashed, you know, I've broken the shoulder.
• 35:47
  It's just, it's just a lot just happened in Africa.
• 35:51
  I have a lot of memories there now.
• 35:52
  So, yeah, and then going into Europe, once I stepped into
• 35:57
  Spain, I was like, wow, I'm on my 4th continent.
• 36:01
  Wow. And I was like, I cannot believe
• 36:05
  that I've ridden my motorcycle on four different continents.
• 36:08
  And I was like, wow. And just getting there.
• 36:12
  I had to really just kind of like take it all in and just
• 36:15
  think about like everything that I was doing.
• 36:17
  And, you know, I had to like, take a deep breath, man.
• 36:21
  And yeah, it was, it was just, it was incredible the fact that
• 36:27
  I had gotten there. And yeah, yeah, and, and then
• 36:30
  you heard a bunch of horns, probably, and people trying to
• 36:32
  get out the way. You're not going fast enough.
• 36:36
  Well, to be honest with you, I mean, I think the culture here
• 36:40
  is very quiet. You know, it's not.
• 36:42
  No one's going to like beat the horns like crazy.
• 36:44
  Like that's that's the thing. No, you said.
• 36:46
  The culture here, the culture where you're now or culture in
• 36:48
  Spain? Yeah, yeah.
• 36:50
  It's different, huh? Yeah.
• 36:53
  Yeah. You don't really hear.
• 36:55
  It's not like being in New York City or being, you know, in
• 36:59
  Boston or people are not laying on the horn like they're not,
• 37:04
  they're not impatient Americans, you know, it's.
• 37:10
  But yeah. But getting into Spain was
• 37:11
  really cool. And then the next was Portugal.
• 37:16
  And I had met up with a friend in Portugal.
• 37:18
  You got to and and it was it's, it's South, South of Spain or
• 37:22
  South Spain, right? So like Valencia or?
• 37:27
  It would be, what do you call it, Gibraltar.
• 37:33
  OK. OK.
• 37:34
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's kind of where the the
• 37:38
  ferry dropped you off at. Yeah, yeah.
• 37:40
  Yeah. And yes, then I just kind of
• 37:42
  hauled, hauled ass to Portugal, OK, and stayed in Portugal for
• 37:49
  about a week. Yeah, it was there.
• 37:51
  How do you like Portugal? You're going back.
• 37:59
  Is that what you know? You know, I, I think, I think if
• 38:02
  I did it differently, if I was not in Lisbon during tourist
• 38:09
  season, I think it would be a little bit different.
• 38:12
  But because, because it was tourist season in Lisbon, I felt
• 38:18
  like another tourist. It was, it was like, yeah.
• 38:23
  And I felt like it was like United States.
• 38:25
  Yeah, you're like, you know. No, no one speaking Portuguese,
• 38:32
  all you hear is English. Yeah.
• 38:36
  So yeah, you know, I think, I think if I were to if and when,
• 38:40
  which I do plan on going back, I'd probably stay near the
• 38:43
  coast, stay away. I'd stay away from Lisbon.
• 38:46
  I've already have a not so great taste.
• 38:49
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In my mouth for Lisbon.
• 38:52
  That's kind of how I feel I felt about Venice.
• 38:55
  Venice is very touristy and you know, you're really, it's tough
• 38:59
  because it's such a cool place. But at the same time, when you,
• 39:02
  when you know, when you see all the tourists, there's also like
• 39:05
  man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 39:07
  It kind of, it almost feels like it kind of ruins the the natural
• 39:10
  vibe of the place. You know, yeah.
• 39:13
  But I think, you know, if I were in like the north or near the
• 39:18
  coast, you know, I think it would be a little bit different,
• 39:23
  just a way outside of the touristy areas, so.
• 39:28
  But, and what's riding a bike like in Spain and, and in
• 39:31
  Portugal? Because I, you know, and I was
• 39:34
  like, I, you know, more asphalt roads and highways, I suspect.
• 39:39
  Yeah, I mean, if you just, if you're taking just the paved
• 39:42
  roads, yeah, there's a lot of, you know, big highways, things
• 39:45
  like that. Unfortunately, I was not able to
• 39:47
  really explore and take some back roads and take, you know,
• 39:51
  trails and things like that because it's definitely along
• 39:53
  the the Trans Euro Trail is, is, is is along those countries.
• 39:57
  So and it goes all the way north.
• 40:00
  And you can take the trans euro trail and you know you would
• 40:06
  you'd be on dirt like 9590% of the time.
• 40:08
  So, but taking Oh, and the, the gas in, in Europe, Oh my gosh,
• 40:16
  it's so expensive. I kept, I kept complaining about
• 40:20
  the fuel, the prices of the fuel, because I filled my bike
• 40:23
  up and it was like 30 euros. Oh, oh wow, it was.
• 40:27
  Like it was like 2727 euros and that and my bike wasn't even on
• 40:31
  east and I'm like, wow, that's expensive.
• 40:33
  And then you know, the, you know, the, you know, the right
• 40:35
  now the dollar is super weak. So, so in euro is like, you
• 40:40
  know, it's, it's like, I don't know, like 14 or something like
• 40:43
  that, I think. But it's a it's just, it was
• 40:48
  just, I couldn't, I had never filled my bike up and paid that
• 40:52
  much money as. I could live for a whole day.
• 40:55
  What am I doing? Yeah, exactly.
• 40:57
  You know, And then, you know, obviously the highways, you
• 41:01
  know, you're hammering the throttle.
• 41:02
  So the highways there, you're going, you know, 90 miles an
• 41:06
  hour, 80 miles an hour and you're just, you're just on the
• 41:09
  throttle. So that's just drinking my gas.
• 41:12
  So now I'm just kind of like, well, damn, I, I have to stop
• 41:16
  for gas every time and, and fill up 25 to $30 every time.
• 41:20
  And just, it's just, yeah, it was a, it was definitely an eye,
• 41:25
  eye opener being like welcome to Europe.
• 41:27
  You know, yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
• 41:31
  And then, OK, so you get from Portugal, where do you head
• 41:35
  next? Portugal into back into Spain,
• 41:39
  then France. But again, I was just moving
• 41:43
  through. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 41:46
  I was trying to get to the this festival in in the UK called the
• 41:51
  ABR festival but my bike in France kind of shit the bed it
• 41:58
  the chain. The chain just started.
• 42:00
  The chain was stretched out. The sprocket was bad so I had to
• 42:06
  make an emergency stop and and get that fixed so I didn't make
• 42:10
  it to the festival. So I ended up just going all the
• 42:13
  way straight from France, Belgium and then into
• 42:17
  Netherlands. So and then I've been been here
• 42:20
  since just getting the bike ready.
• 42:22
  So which is kind of the next step.
• 42:25
  But anything is, you know, like once I got into Europe, I had to
• 42:28
  take a deep breath and be like, oh, I'm in Europe now.
• 42:30
  But but then I also had to say to myself, like I have the race
• 42:34
  to think about as well. So like, that's that I didn't
• 42:37
  even have, I didn't even have much time to really embrace the
• 42:40
  fact that I had gotten into Europe because getting the bike
• 42:45
  ready for the race was like always in my mind.
• 42:47
  And whether whether or not I was going to be able to do it or
• 42:50
  even make it to the race because I had, you know, finances were,
• 42:55
  you know, unfortunately we're starting to get a little wonky.
• 42:58
  And then there was like, how am I going to get to Romania?
• 43:03
  You know, how am I going to get the bike fixed?
• 43:05
  But then, you know, again, you know, the universe responds and
• 43:09
  all. I've been chit chatting with a
• 43:12
  friend from like, way before, like maybe like when I was in
• 43:15
  Namibia and he said to me he owns a shop.
• 43:18
  And he's like, listen, when you get to the Netherlands, man, let
• 43:20
  me know. I got a place for you to sleep.
• 43:22
  You can work on the bike here, you can send parts there, all
• 43:25
  that stuff. So, yeah.
• 43:27
  So you know, since then, when I got into Netherlands, it's a
• 43:30
  place called Bob's Bike Shop, which is actually where I am
• 43:33
  right now. Shout out to Bob.
• 43:35
  Yeah, and, you know, he's been super cool, man.
• 43:39
  He's been the hospitality once again, has been, you know, you
• 43:43
  know, it's a been amazing. So and he's been helping me get
• 43:47
  a lot of shit, lot of stuff done on the bike and yeah, and I'm
• 43:53
  completely rebuilding the bike here and and yeah, it's it's
• 43:57
  been it's been a great experience.
• 43:58
  So we were, we were riding the other day and saw saw a little
• 44:03
  bit of the countryside and yeah, pretty cool, pretty cool stuff.
• 44:06
  So. Another ones is pretty cool.
• 44:08
  I I've been to Amsterdam, Asson and and Granigan and yeah, you
• 44:14
  know, just just getting around is, is a little bit different.
• 44:17
  So seeing all those bicycles, was that a shock for you?
• 44:19
  Yeah. Yeah, see, getting into the city
• 44:22
  and seeing all the bicycles, man, I was like, OK, bicycles
• 44:25
  run this town. I see.
• 44:26
  You know, it's just like that's but yeah, it's a good thing
• 44:29
  though. I mean, I think, you know, it's
• 44:30
  a, you know, the bicycles are, you know, obviously they lower
• 44:34
  emissions and, you know, all that good stuff, so.
• 44:36
  Keep everyone slim. Yeah.
• 44:39
  Yeah, exactly. But but yeah, I mean, I, I was,
• 44:44
  I was already warned that when you get to the Netherlands, it's
• 44:47
  going to be a lot of cyclists. So yeah, it's just the way it is
• 44:50
  there. Yeah, no, it's definitely pretty
• 44:52
  cool to see. Let's talk about the race and
• 44:55
  the preparation and stuff like that.
• 44:56
  It sounds like you are going to make it and the bike is going to
• 45:00
  get together and all that fun stuff.
• 45:02
  So let's talk about when the race is, what it entail from the
• 45:06
  paperwork side and also training as well.
• 45:09
  Let's talk about that and then also like what what are you
• 45:13
  doing to the bike to make it survive this this the race?
• 45:17
  Although, you know, I suspect you probably survived so far
• 45:21
  with it already. I think this race might be a
• 45:22
  piece of cake. Yeah, I wish this race would be
• 45:28
  a piece of cake, but it's it is definitely the rebel Romaniacs.
• 45:31
  And you can't, it's just it's a tough race.
• 45:34
  So it's always a tough race every year.
• 45:36
  And you know, people train really hard for this race and I
• 45:39
  think as far as training goes, that's kind of been out the
• 45:43
  window. So I think as as far as training
• 45:49
  is just going to be like once I get the bike together, there's
• 45:52
  some things I need to work on, like a little bit of clutch
• 45:54
  control and also getting used to the bike.
• 45:57
  So everything that I'm doing to the bike is pretty much just
• 46:04
  surround weight reduction. So I'm just trying to make the
• 46:08
  bike as light as possible. So I've removed so many things.
• 46:13
  I've moved the auxiliary fuel tank, I removed the ABS box,
• 46:18
  I've removed the the rally tower that was in front.
• 46:22
  I have dropped maybe 2527 lbs off the bike.
• 46:29
  So it's, it's been and I did a little small test ride and it
• 46:34
  feels so different. The bike feels it feels so
• 46:38
  different, so also gave it a different look.
• 46:42
  It's kind of just like a big dirt bike now.
• 46:47
  But yeah, I mean, that's that's pretty much was the goal was to
• 46:50
  just make the bike as light as possible.
• 46:53
  As far as getting it ready for the race, getting to the race,
• 46:58
  that's a whole another. I don't know, I'm trying to
• 47:01
  figure out if I can ride there, get a ride there as as of right
• 47:06
  now, it seems like I'm going to be riding there, which can make
• 47:10
  things a little difficult because obviously, you know,
• 47:13
  when I get there, I'm going to have to change the tires because
• 47:17
  I can't ride there on the same tires that I'm going to be
• 47:19
  racing with. So it's just, yeah.
• 47:22
  So there's some things to think about when it comes to getting
• 47:27
  there that logistics I'm still trying to figure out.
• 47:31
  Right. Yeah, and also, you know,
• 47:38
  getting getting the what I actually putting the bike
• 47:43
  together, you know my oh, I also put a, a, a smaller front
• 47:50
  sprocket on there. OK.
• 47:51
  So you know to help with. More Top End.
• 47:55
  More top end Yes, exactly. So, yeah, so I'm just trying to,
• 48:00
  you know, slowly but surely get the bike piece by piece, but,
• 48:04
  you know, ready to go. So and and when is the race?
• 48:09
  When does it start? It's July 21st, so when you get
• 48:16
  there. Two weeks from like today, yeah.
• 48:20
  Man, yeah, it's, it's around the corner.
• 48:22
  It's definitely around the corner.
• 48:23
  So and my bike is still on the on the on the on the operating
• 48:28
  table so. But I mean, how cool is it
• 48:32
  though to be, you know, in, in Holland and and you know, your
• 48:36
  bike is apart. You still got two weeks, you
• 48:38
  know, you know, I think if you ride some bicycles, you probably
• 48:42
  just need the endurance training.
• 48:44
  You may, you may think differently, but how cool is it
• 48:47
  like to be, you know, and, and you, I know you said you haven't
• 48:50
  had a moment to take any, all the, all that in, but you know,
• 48:52
  every once in a while you're like, man, this is pretty dope
• 48:55
  what I'm doing. And I'm not quite there yet.
• 48:57
  I still got some things to figure out.
• 48:58
  But at this point, you know, it's just, it's just kind of
• 49:02
  like, am I taking path A or path B?
• 49:04
  It's not like you're not going. Right, right, right.
• 49:07
  Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, yeah.
• 49:10
  I mean, it is, It is, You know, you, you have to step back and
• 49:13
  think to yourself like, you know, I'm here, I made it, you
• 49:17
  know, and I got some decisions to make, you know, how to get
• 49:21
  there and what I'm going to do with my bike.
• 49:24
  And I also have to think about what happens afterwards as well.
• 49:29
  That's true. But yeah, so I mean, it's, it's,
• 49:32
  it's definitely something that I you need to take, you have to
• 49:34
  step stop and think about and just take in and say this, this
• 49:40
  is this is a pretty cool journey that I'm on.
• 49:43
  And you know, I'm, I'm trying my, my best to, to, to get
• 49:48
  there. I think at the end of the day,
• 49:53
  you know, I really, I really have been, have enjoyed every
• 49:58
  moment leading up to today a lot.
• 50:02
  I had a lot of UPS, a lot of downs.
• 50:05
  I had a lot of downs. A lot has happened and you know,
• 50:11
  I'm thankful that I'm able to make it this far, you know, so.
• 50:16
  Now are you, are you pitching a tent outside just to make sure
• 50:20
  you, you stay, you know, humble because a little bit of creature
• 50:23
  comfort for me, you know, I can't look at that tent anymore.
• 50:27
  Well, I can tell you right now, man, it's like the fact that I I
• 50:31
  have a hot shower every day I wake up in the morning right now
• 50:35
  is quite is quite crazy. So it just, you know, having
• 50:39
  that hot shower and it gets hot where it actually burns your
• 50:42
  skin. Like I'm like, oh, I haven't had
• 50:44
  hot water like that in in a long time.
• 50:47
  And I can get used to that. I can get used to this.
• 50:51
  Yes, yes, yes, definitely. Nice, nice.
• 50:54
  And you know, before we get out of here, you know, you mentioned
• 50:57
  afterwards I didn't even think about that, but like, yeah, you
• 51:00
  know, are you, you know, after the race is over, you just going
• 51:03
  to put the bags on and keep going or are you going to hang
• 51:05
  out in the Netherlands for a little bit?
• 51:07
  Which country is the race in? Romania.
• 51:10
  Romania, OK. Are you going to, are you going
• 51:12
  to hang out Romania for a little bit or?
• 51:15
  Well, here's the thing. I mean, right now again, the the
• 51:19
  funds are winding down and I'm not working.
• 51:22
  So that is the problem. If I had a steady income, I
• 51:26
  would throw the bags back on and just, yeah, I would just tour
• 51:31
  Europe, you know, for another, you know, two months or
• 51:34
  whatever, forever. How many months I have for for
• 51:39
  the visa, But unfortunately, you know, because I'm not working, I
• 51:44
  have to figure out something else.
• 51:45
  So I might have to head back to Netherlands or even Portugal,
• 51:53
  possibly leave the bike and go back to the States and just make
• 51:57
  some money. Got you got.
• 52:00
  You and, and then go back. So, you know, I could have done
• 52:05
  this sooner, but I wouldn't have been able to make the race,
• 52:10
  right. So, but after the race, I'm
• 52:13
  like, OK, I, I feel a lot more comfortable and OK, I feel a lot
• 52:19
  more OK with, with parking the bike heading back to the states
• 52:25
  if they, if they let me in and, and you know, and, you know,
• 52:32
  make make some money. And because I really want to get
• 52:36
  a visa for Portugal, as I was when I was talking to my friend
• 52:40
  who lives in Portugal, she's like, you're better off doing it
• 52:42
  from the from the states because if you're already there, it
• 52:46
  makes things a lot more difficult because then you end
• 52:48
  up for staying your visa trying to get the process done.
• 52:53
  So she's like, you're better off going to going to the States,
• 52:56
  get some money into your account, figure out your life,
• 53:00
  do some things, stay there for about a year and then apply for
• 53:02
  the visa. Got you.
• 53:04
  Got you. So she said that's the easiest
• 53:06
  way to do it. Got you.
• 53:08
  OK, well, hopefully something else will pop up and you might
• 53:10
  not have to wait a whole year. You never know.
• 53:13
  That's the beautiful thing about it.
• 53:15
  Yeah, and The thing is, you know, I mean, the, the
• 53:16
  hospitality here in Europe has been incredible.
• 53:19
  Like I, I really, I really like the, the people in the motor,
• 53:24
  the motor community here, the, the adventure motorcycle
• 53:28
  community is just, I don't know, everywhere it's, it's different,
• 53:30
  it's different than the states. The states it's a little bit
• 53:33
  more difficult to tap into whereas.
• 53:37
  It's like a pastime here in Europe.
• 53:38
  Yeah, yeah, You know, and that whereas like Europe, it's like,
• 53:43
  you know, I get I there's a lot more love, there's a lot more.
• 53:46
  It's a lot more inviting to be honest with you.
• 53:50
  It's like I'm really upset that I missed the ABR festival
• 53:54
  because then I would have met so many people who, who I've been
• 53:58
  in contact with on social media, you know, because they're all in
• 54:02
  Europe. Everyone that I'm talking to and
• 54:05
  being who's engaged with my account, most of them are in
• 54:09
  Europe. So no, you never know.
• 54:12
  I mean, and you know, you know, we'll talk more fear, but you
• 54:15
  never know. It's that's it's pretty wild to
• 54:20
  even have this the the opportunity.
• 54:22
  But like you never know what's going to happen in the next few
• 54:24
  weeks or in in the future. And you can still reach out to
• 54:27
  these people and whatever, whatever connections that could
• 54:29
  happen. Yeah, well, the biggest thing
• 54:31
  that will help me is me doing well in a race.
• 54:35
  I mean, if I if I did well in a race.
• 54:37
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That alone, I think, would spark
• 54:40
  something. It would open up doors.
• 54:42
  Yeah, yeah, for sure. But, you know, we'll, we'll,
• 54:46
  we'll figure that out when we get there, right?
• 54:48
  Yes, we will and we'll find out. Man, I want to thank you for
• 54:51
  coming on this to be forever cool podcast.
• 54:53
  My name is Rex 45 Nomad on two wheels.
• 54:56
  Peace.