hospital and probably saved my life have Patrick’s eyes wide open. I wonder how we will deal with this past. How will we dis- cuss that wild-eyed, hard-drinking, pot- smoking, high-octane candle burner that turned into Dad? Don’t get me wrong—I still fight, wringing the neck of 200-horse- power, 200-mph race bikes and riding big BMWs through the sands of Peru, making adventure television. Now I go to bed early, stay sober and eat clean. If I caught one of the girls I chase, I’d be as confused as a dog finally getting its teeth into a car’s bumper. Shelby has traveled significantly in over
Shelby Tucker’s garden.
and to the home of my good friend, travel author Shelby Tucker. Spinning through the twisting English country lanes in glori- ous sunshine is using up most of my remaining grey matter, but the bike feels secure, the speeds are respectful, and with six points and a hefty fine awaiting anyone using a cell phone, I’m feeling comfortable. A late lunch in the beer garden of the Hare and Hounds pub is a little piece of heaven. The smell of the beer, the slow, lethargic service, and the landlord’s laundry hanging
out to dry catch me between two worlds, where there is strangeness to the familiarity as I try to piece it together. Watching Pat- rick slumped back half asleep, I decide resistance at this point is futile, I drink my tea, and we saddle up. Arriving on Osney Island, we find Shelby
and his wife Carole at home and enjoy an excellent meal in their small garden. Warm memories of arriving in Oxford on the Laverda and an insane boxcar ride through Nicaragua after Shelby dragged me to a
135 countries around the world, written two best-selling travel books about his experiences in Burma and Tanzania, and is working on a third about hitchhiking to India at 25 and again at 75 years of age. This new book, Two Roads, is the inspiration for the journey Patrick and I are taking as I recall my life and thoughts from 30 years ago, when I first rode motorcycles before leaving to travel the world. Returning home sporadically over the decades, I’ve seen the changes England has gone through as staccato movements, almost the way we made stick-figure people dance in our school notebooks one page at a time. America might have never had a physi-
cal empire the way Great Britain did, but the way the world’s cultures are dissolving under her influence is quite astonishing: clothing, fast food, credit, convenience stores, 24-hour business, bars open until 2 a.m. When I started my drinking career,
Sunset from my siters’s front garden.
April 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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