My second book of the year was The Longest Ride by Emilio Scotto, a ten-year motorcycle venture around the world.  This is quite an amazing story and worth the read because of the sheer grandeur of the adventure.  Ten-years and 500,000 miles on an old Honda Goldwing.

Emilio was born poor in Argentina, but in his early twenties he was working for Pfizer and making a modest income in dollars.  When he saw an ad for a Honda Goldwing, he had an instant radical commitment to buy the $26,000 bike.  With incredible persistence, which he exhibits throughout his journey, he persuaded the dealer to finance the bike in spite of the fact that there was almost no way he could pay for it on his modest salary.  But just about the time he was to default on his loan, the peso was devalued and he wound up buying the $26,000 bike for $3,000!

Next thing you know, he is off to see every single country in the world with $306 in his pocket.  I am amazed when anyone starts such adventures with little or no money.  But he made it!

The book is poorly written.  There's no doubt about that.  It sounds like the writing of a person more committed to riding than to writing, which is obvious. 

The one thing I wish he had talked more about was exactly how he managed to keep cobbling together enough money to keep going.  Many times he runs completely out of money, and then the next page he is spending money on a boat passage or extortion rates for entering a new country.  Occasionally, he explains that he worked in a restaurant or hotel, or later in the journey, managed to get sponsorships or sell his story to a magazine.  But most of the time, I was left hanging wondering how he managed financially.

His persistence is inspiring!  In most of the troubled countries of the world, he had great difficulty getting through the border checks.  He strategy mostly was to wait them out.  He would go to the necessary office or border crossing every day for three weeks and sit all day waiting.  Finally, the clerks would call a higher up and when they discovered his story, he was given permission to enter and to bring his bike.  I think he spent a year of his journey waiting at border crossings!

And the trip was unnecessarily dangerous!  He went through six or eight war-torn countries, in spite of good advice not to enter because of the danger.  He simply would not listen to advice. If someone said the road ahead was impassable, he had to try it.  If someone said he would be killed by warring tribes or cannibals, he had to go. Crazy!  I am mostly surprised that he lived to tell the tale.  There were numerous occasions when he came way too close to being killed!  I like adventure but not that kind of unnecessary risk.

I am also very impressed with the Honda Goldwing.  His bike must have been about an 1983 model, and it kept him going against incredible odds around the world.  He drove it in all kinds of terrible conditions from water, to desert to jungle.  He finally did have to have some major repairs and a new engine, but he got amazing service out of this bike.  And it made me want to get one.

It's not the best narrative in the world, but with all it's weaknesses, I still very much enjoyed the book.  It truly is a one-of-a-kind adventure.