I have recently obtained some decent quality sound recording of the presentation (the second one) in September 2010. So I decided to publish it online. Enjoy!
"Every year, hundreds of travelers are trotting the globe with their cars, motorcycles, bicycles and on feet. Overlanding has become an increasingly popular way of traveling and connecting with the world. Erdem Yücel presents his solo motorcycle circumnavigation and also explains what's significant about overlanding, how and why these people travel the way they do. It's a 45 minute trip around the world, full of interesting photographs, videos and surprising facts that can possibly change the way you look at traveling. " Read More
I entered New York State on Friday, April 17.
Arrived in Toronto the next day.
North American route is over. Along with it, some other things also came to an end. I now know that I'm leaving this continent and riding back home is not a plausible option anymore. The luxuries and conveniences of being in this side of the world are going to fade away slowly. One specific characteristic of this journey is that it began from Los Angeles, a city that symbolizes the ultimate edge of western civilization. As I move forward, this system of values and everything that comes with it, will slowly degrade to the point of becoming unrecognizable, meaningless. This is neither something to look forward to, nor to complain about. It's just something to go through and be aware of.
Two weeks into the trip and I'm already losing some conveniences that were a part of my life ...Read More
Tomorrow will probably be the last day of riding in the US. I'm now in a hotel near Cleveland, a city on the shores of Lake Erie. I'll take HW 90 all the way up to the Niagara Falls, where I'll be crossing into Canadian soil.
After leaving Madison and Savaş behind, I headed towards Chicago. I was coming close to a crossroads where a few phone calls were waiting for me. Ada's birthday, mom and dad, then finally an old friend who lives in Indiana. Fırat and I have known each other since we were little boys and somehow grew up to be very similar people. That rarely happens with childhood friends. Normally, when you look at the face of an old friend, you see the how they'd been 20 years ago. There usually isn't much to share other than old memories. That's not the case with him.
I had to ...Read More
The day started with quite a scene. Bintuğ took off for Los Angeles in the morning. No actual tear drops were shed, but we got as emotional as two biker dudes could get. Wind and cold made our eyes a bit wet but all was fine. Knowing that we would not be seeing each other until fall, we hugged, and of course tapped each other on the shoulders for what appeared to me as 48 times... This is a good indication of the inability of Turkish males to communicate emotions. It gets the message through without making a big scene.
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At that point we were quite sure that we made it to the other side of the Rockies. We couldn't be more mistaken. It took more than a few more hours to get to the summit. Road conditions were OK, but everywhere was covered in snow. It'd been ...Read More
I'm looking for a word... It's not exactly 'geography'. It's more like the movement of it. Not just the tectonic movements over a given time, but also the movements on the surface of it. Water, wind, roads... I feel like the roads we're riding on are prerecorded movements mimicking those of the land. Highway 70 goes through the Rocky mountains following Colorado river. For about 4 hours, we rode along the river following every curve of it. This must be a motorcycling dream.
Today was our last night with Bintuğ. Tomorrow morning, he'll be returning to Los Angeles. His companion made this transition much easier for me. We had great time together.
Surprisingly, I'm having a hard time catching up with the documentation of the trip. I think all of these habits will settle in a week or so... Here are some recent photographs:
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And here is a short video ...Read More