Last year several friends and I started planning an epic motorcycle adventure. We were to fly to Morocco, rent Honda XR250 enduro bikes, and explore that amazing country for two weeks. When those plans fell through, I shifted my sights to a NEW journey! We’re calling it the Moto Photo Mexico Adventure!!!
I say “We” because I’m so excited to be partnering with my good friend, amazing photographer, and incredible video editor, Jason from Docent Prodigy. Although Jason isn’t able to ride with me on this trip, he’s going to be working with me to produce daily moto vlogs of my epic journey, which we’ll be sharing on YouTube. He’s a fun guy with an amazing gift! Working together on this is going to be amazing. But I’m even more excited for our NEXT collaboration, when he will be able to join me out on the road!!!
In addition to Jason joining me in the post-production department, I am so grateful to his lovely wife, Erica, for letting “boys be boys”, and to my beautiful bride, Cami, for all her love and support. Cami will be holding down the fort and keeping up with our clients while I’m away. We couldn’t do it without you two!!!
As most of you know, I’m no stranger to living and traveling abroad. Having lived most of my formative years in a remote mission station in The Democratic Republic of Congo, AFRICA, I’m well accustomed to roughing it, and indeed feel quite at home in the third world. In fact, I seem to get an itch every few years to return to that simpler way of life that exists outside the realm of American commercialism, politics, and overindulgence. For example, in 2012 I went backpacking solo across Belize and Guatemala for two weeks, riding the “chicken buses” along with the locals, discovering incredible wildlife, and exploring the amazing Mayan ruins along the way.
Saying I’m super excited about this new Moto Photo Mexico trip would be an understatement. A ton of planning and preparation has gone into it. I have so many incredible friends who either live in Mexico, live along the route I’ll be taking through the southern US states, or have ridden their motorcycles in Mexico. Everyone has been so selfless with their guidance, and so generous with their hospitality. Many of them have even invited me to stay with them along the way. Others have connected me with their relatives and friends in towns I’ll be visiting. It has truly been wonderful to see this outpouring of help, encouragement, and support! (Speaking of which, if you live along the route I have planned in the map, and would like to reach out, I’d be delighted to connect with you!)
The ultimate final destination, and one of the biggest goals of this journey, is to finally see the millions of monarch butterflies that return to Mexico each winter from their long migration up through the United States. It’s been a bucket-list item for me for quite some time! I’ll be arriving at the pinnacle of this mass migration. I’m so excited!!! There are of course so many other incredible sights I’m looking forward to seeing and photographing. From the Cave of Swallows (which is the largest pit-cave in the world), to the spectacular waterfalls along the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains…from the old historic mining towns, to the glorious architecture of the Spanish colonial cities…it’s all going to be amazing!
However, I am most looking forward to meeting the incredible PEOPLE of Mexico! Everyone I’ve told about my journey (at least everyone who has never lived outside the U.S.), has stared at me like I’m NUTS!!! Their comments range from “why on earth would you go down there” to “are you bringing a gun”. Seriously?!? I personally believe there are two sides to every country…the political side, and the people side. What we see in the news here in America is all about the political side of things. How would you like to be judged as an individual by what people in other countries see on their news station every night? School shootings, police brutality, the social media ramblings of our leaders…you get my point? We forget that the “people” of every country, of every tribe, of every place on earth are no different than we are. “People” all around the planet have the same hopes and dreams we do. All they want in life is be healthy, to be happy, to fall in love, to raise a family, to have a good job, to enjoy life, and be a good neighbor.
My hope is that this video series will be fun, will be entertaining, will be educational, but more importantly, will show that people everywhere are full of goodness and kindness. I hope you’ll Subscribe to the channel and follow along. It’s going to be a WILD RIDE!!! And I’d love to share it with you. 🙂
