Atlas Rider is Heading to South America

 

Atlas Rider is Heading to South America

A fellow Blogger and Rider, Bill Dwyer from Atlas Rider, is preparing to head out on a trek by motorcycle through and around South America. Bill will be video-documenting his trip on YouTube. All the details can be found below in Bills official press release:


Contact: Bill Dwyer
Tel: 708-280-9115
Email: dwyer.bill@gmail.com
Website: http://www.atlasrider.com/


TRAVELING OFF THE GRID, ON YOUTUBE

A motorcycle journey through Latin America documented on YouTube

On August 15th Bill Dwyer sets off for an eight month trip that takes him from America to Argentina, spanning over 20 countries and 25,000 miles. Without a cellphone, and infrequent internet access he will no longer always be "connected" or "on the grid." He travels alone, but brings along a virtual audience for the ride through documenting his journey on YouTube.

As a software developer, Bill grew weary of his corporate job. He sold most of his belongings and traded his cubical for the open road. Food, gas and shelter will be his only concerns. No more timelines to follow or deadlines to meet, only serendipity creates the destiny of his road map.

Perceptions of Mexico and Latin American countries as a seething breeding ground of violence have been widespread. Bill believes that people and the world around us are not as dangerous as we sometimes are lead to believe. The success of his journey should prove to be a reminder that among a seemingly hostile world there is still some good out there.

Bill is an avid adventure motorcyclist and blogger for 3 years. He has built up an audience from all walks of life and continues to entertain, educate and inspire them to take the plunge and seek out adventures of their own.


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Here is the link where Bill made his blog announcement: http://www.atlasrider.com/?p=1234

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If you would like more information about Bill Dwyer's journey you can visit http://www.atlasrider.com/, or to schedule an interview with him, he can be contacted at 708-280-9115 or by email at dwyer.bill@gmail.com.

So, go visit Atlas Rider and get signed up to follow along on his journey. Bill is on all the social medias so hook up with him and tell him Torch sent ya!

Ride on,
Torch

Ride to McGehee Catfish Restaurant Part 1

It was Saturday 8-29-2009 as I backed out my garage in Bedford Texas and was on my way with a sense of adventure gleaming n my eye. I had my IPod Nano playing 615 songs randomly through my Ink’d earphones. I glanced at the Yamaha V-Stars’ trip odometer and I only had 34 miles on this tank. No need to stop for gas before leaving, I thought to myself. The ambient temperature thermometer mounted on my handlebars read 80 degrees Fahrenheit and felt nice and cool as I rode away. I was leaving on my motorcycle ride to Marietta Oklahoma and specifically to McGehee Catfish Restaurant for lunch.

On my head I was wearing a cotton dew rag under my HJC Helmet, and my Oakley sunglasses. I had on a pair of blue jeans, a full sleeve cotton shirt, (with the sleeves pushed up over my elbows), my black leather FMC vest, and my Bates boots. I decided to use the crumby FieldSheer gloves; I might as well get as much use out of them as I can, before they completely fall apart. This trip I also remembered to coat all exposed surface areas with 45 SPF sun-screen, so as not to become a sacrifice to the sun gods this trip. For the record I should have re-applied before riding home, my face and nose did get some red.

For personal protection I had my Springfield XD .40 Subcompact in a C-TAC holster inside my right waistband, my Kel-Tec P3AT .380 in my left vest inside upper pocket, and my Kershaw Leek pocket knife in my left front pocket. Too bad I didn’t have room for my Smith and Wesson Boot Knife in these Bates boots, oh well. I had my phone, a Palm Treo, in my right vest pocket and along with a pair of compact reading glasses stashed away with my P3AT it allowed me to post updates of my ride on Twitter. In a pinch I could also throw it at an attacker, or just throw it like I’ve wanted to do on occasion. I wondered; does this vest make me look fat? I probably looked like a cross between one of the characters in the movie Wild Hogs and one of the personalities from the TV show Sons of Anarchy.

I hopped on 121 Southbound, hung a right onto 183 West continued onto 820 West before turning north on I35 W. Before long I was passing Texas Motor Speedway on the left and then the University of North Texas on the right. I was in Denton. I decided to stop and get a drink and refuel Mistress. I topped off the tank with unleaded, downed a Red Bull, texted my wife and was off heading north on I35 again.

I was making good time traveling at ~~ mph. I did manage to keep it under triple digits, barely. There were a lot of other motorcyclists out going the opposite direction and I tried to wave or acknowledge them all. I was passed by someone with Oklahoma plates in a hurry to get home, so I tucked right in behind them. You will be pleased to know that I did see one Texas State Trooper en-rout to Oklahoma. Fortunately, everyone had slowed down with the tell tale brake lights warning everyone. He was parked off the right shoulder down in a ditch or culvert and there was an 18 wheeler between us anyway. Before I knew it I was on the bridge going over the Red River and passing a large Welcome to Oklahoma sign on my right. Casino anyone?

It wasn’t much longer and I had arrived at exit 32 and was in Marietta. It is about 100 miles from my house to Marietta and the ride took around an hour and a half. I pulled into the McDonalds, parked and went in to get something to drink. I sat down and enjoyed an iced coffee with caramel while I texted my wife, got to check in with the boss, and checked my phones Google Maps GPS and indeed I was exactly where I thought I was. After that it was time to take a short tour through town.

I drove through downtown Marietta and tried not to blink so as not to miss it. Then I came back around coming down a side street and saw a museum. I had time to kill so I stopped in. It turned out it was the Love County Historical Society Pioneer Museum. They had an interesting mix of antiques, historical records and photos all dealing with Marietta and Love County. The volunteer on duty went out of his way to tell me some of the history of Marietta, including some interesting stories and strange characters as well as pointed out items of historical interest. After some time of browsing, visiting, and emailing my wife photos of some of the antique quilts it was time to leave.

I had asked directions to McGehee Catfish Restaurant to make sure I was headed in the right direction and decided to take a ride out there to scout it out even though they were not open for lunch yet. So I continued heading west and turned south on US77 which parallels I35 and then east on E2150 / McGehee RD which dead ends at the restaurant. Most of the Google Maps are incorrect, unless you look for the one that says Airport: McGehee Catfish Restaurant; the restaurant is at the dead end, not in the city of Marietta itself.

The restaurant scouted out I rode back to the town and walked around several stores to kill time until they opened for lunch at 1:00pm. After drinking a Monster energy drink at the Carl Jr.’s, texting my wife again, and browsing some of the local stores, I filled Mistress up at the Valero and headed back to McGehee’s noting that it had gotten a lot warmer, hot in fact, outside. A glance at the temperature reading showed it was now in the mid 90’s.


Ride on,
Torch

Ride Texas Review

Texas is a big place. In fact, there is 261,797 square miles of it. Texas is second in size only to Alaska. It is also home to a lot of Texans and is second largest in population behind only California. As of 2004 Texas has 303,176 miles of public roads. Motorcyclists make up 2.5 percent of all licensed drivers in the state of Texas. This equates to nearly 4000,000 motorcyclists on Texas roadways. So, why not have our very own Texas and Southwest specific motorcycle riding magazine? Well we do, and it is a very informative one as well.

I had seen Ride Texas displayed in the better magazine racks for sale, but had never bought one or read one, until recently. A few months ago I was reading on a great forum called Two Wheeled Texans and ran across a thread simply titled, “Ride Texas Magazine”. The title piqued my curiosity and so I clicked the link and entered the thread.

The author of this thread was Pooh Bear, a local rider from San Antonio. He posted the question, “Does anyone recommend this for subscription?” along with a link to the Ride Texas magazine website. I quoted and commented to a reply made by weekend warrior, another Texan from Lubbock, and added that I’d like to peruse an issue also.

I was surprised when humanrace, who rides out of Bryan Texas, quoted me and offered to send me a couple copies of Ride Texas. I shot off an email accepting the hospitality of the offer and a short time later two magazines arrived in the mail. On top of that, one of them was the much coveted March 2009 Top 10 Best in Texas Readers Choice Awards issue.

Ride Texas is not a new magazine; in fact they have been in publication for over ten years since founded in 1999 as TEXMOTO. Their claim to fame is being the first and only motorcycle-interest publication in Texas at that time. Since its inception they have won numerous journalism awards, including those for photography, writing, graphic design and layout. They have also been featured in a lot of other media as well.

Pick up a copy of Ride Texas magazine, or RTM for short, and the first farkle that catches your eyes are the breath taking, glossily detailed, photos. From the front cover to the ads in the back there is a lot of candy for the eye to see. You can tell that this is a quality magazine by how well it is put together. From the organization of the content to the layout of the pages, everything is tastefully done.

The front covers of RTM tactfully catch the reader’s attention giving up tantalizing hints of the wealth of information to be found between its pages. I found all the content to be relative to motorcycling in and around The Lone Star State. In fact, some of the information unearthed inside these magazines would be relative to anyone traveling in Texas whether they were on two wheels or more.

The contents of each RTM is mapped out on the first couple pages, page two and page four. From there you can jump to which ever article grabs your front tire or, you can just read them front to back. The editor, Valerie Asensio, usually starts the articles out with one of her own in the section entitled ONWARD. Valerie gives a warm invitation in the classic letter from the editor style for the readers/riders to not only enjoy the articles but to participate by riding to the destinations outlined in RTM.

Along with Onward there are several other sections that are in every edition of RTM. BEING THERE by Gene McCalmont was one of my favorites. Gene writes of his many life and motorcycle related experiences. I really like Genes writing style. He writes honestly and truthfully despite how humorous or embarrassing it may be. Gene also authors the section called AFTER THE RIDE subtitled Good life guide, where he espouses about the finer things in life to enjoy when the riding is done.

The (Almost) TRUE STORIES section is really quite funny. RTM also has the standard LETTERS section where they print subscribers letters and comments. The RTM INSIDE section has all the News and updates. On top of all the core magazine content they have the FEATURES section.

The FEATURES part of the magazine is where different writers will document there travels to different destinations in and around the great state of Texas. They document the travel rout as well as the sites to see along the way. Sometimes they will detail the planning of the ride, traveling tips, and give various contacts or resources used. At the destinations they not only describe places to see and stuff to do but also give you lodging choices. Another great feature is the list of great places to grab a bite to eat. It is also interesting to read about the different people they meet along the way like the owners or workers at the many places they stop in.

A lot of the rides are planned around the almost endless events in and around the great state of Texas. Rallies, parks, scenery, nature, concerts, festivals, fairs, sporting events, shows, rodeos, exhibits, and cook offs, are all destinations that that wind up inside the covers of RTM. Lastly, or maybe more importantly, RTM has included easy TEAR & GO maps of each trip that you can remove and take along on your own ride with you.

If you live in, travel in, or ride in Texas I definitely think it is worth it to subscribe to Ride Texas. The articles are all relevant and well written. The magazine is very well rounded and is also filled with local advertising. In the Top 10 BEST IN TEXAS Readers Choice Awards issue I was elated to see that the V-Star 1100 made it onto the Top 10 Best Bikes list at number six, I’m just slightly biased because I ride one. My only complaint is that RTM is only published bimonthly, but hey, they make it worth the wait.

Ride on,
Torch