Book Review: Endless Horizon by Dan Walsh

A Word of Intro

SO CAL. The frequently referred to land of fruits and nuts. Best climate in the country. Classy women and hot cars. Could be, it’s the other way ‘round. Grooviest, ‘this is it!’ places to dine…this fortnight. Happy hours where the mere thought of a cigarette will get you run out of town on a surfboard. The heart of sunshine where political correctness is turning everything gray. This is where I grew up. With the Beach Boys and Sex Wax and Graham’s Drive-In. American Graffiti reality TV.

Grew up and became a cop, ‘til my back gave out on me. Ahhh, new career choices abound. It became quite regular, for awhile, to attend parties where wine coolers were the beverage of choice. What do you mean a Silver Bullet? In a bottle! I suppose you smoke, too? Well, in the morass of self defense and the justification of values the question usually popped up, “Do you miss being a cop?” followed by, “What do you miss about it?”

Took me awhile to figure it out. What I missed. It was the people. I missed talking to the crooks, the homeless, outlaw bikers, street folk, Hare Krishnas and massage parlor operators. Often psychotic. Never dull. Street people have a unique perspective on life most will never know, understand, or even want to.

Streetwise Dan

Dan Walsh knows. He understands. I just finished his book: Endless Horizon: A Very Messy Motorcycle Journey Around the World. I guess it falls somewhere between Travels with Charlie and the Choirboys. It is getting lots of good press. The online forums either love it, or hate it. I loved it. Loved it so much I read it twice. Back to back. Once wasn’t enough.

Walsh is a motorcycling journalist whose dispatches from the road were published in Bike and Motorcyclist magazines. The first time through, like a combo plate, was hard to digest. Maybe I was in too much of a hurry. Most likely it was his Brit accent.

Which brings me back to my intro. Walsh doesn’t mess around with wine coolers and the like. He gets down with the street people. No Hilton and prescribed adventure here. “I’m looking for the cheapest kip in town, ideally run by a bald man with a hairy back and gravy stains down his vest.” He travels solo and takes life as it is dealt out. That is why I liked the book so much. It is also what probably puts off a lot of people. Not many feel comfortable dealing with street folk. If you don’t like touching people don’t become a cop, or a motorcycling journalist taking to the road. I felt comfortable with his travels and the people he rubbed elbows with.

Bon Voyage Twice

The book starts with a frail main squeeze relationship that weakens when he takes off on his Yamaha XT Desert Rat for Africa. The first step in a ‘round the world venture. The book can be exciting, especially when lost he rides through a minefield rather than backtrack in the hope of finding the right set of tire tracks back to the correct route. Can’t get much more on the edge than that.

Walsh returns to the UK for a year with a trip to the US squeezed in. Then he picks up a BMW F650 in Toronto and heads off to Buenos Aires. Along the way he finds the Great Dismal Swamp, New Orleans and the City of Angels. It was here abouts that I started to relate to the book. I could close my eyes and smell the stale beer and body odor in Venice as the afternoon fog mingled with smoggy haze. When he slides across the border into Tijuana I start feeling at home. By the time he reaches Argentina I am ready to saddle up and join him. Well, maybe only as far as Central America. I found what I want there.

Walsh On Walsh

What is nice about this book is he actually spends time talking about the bikes and the problems with them he encountered. Too many books talk where stayed and sights seen, with little about the bike. I happen to like to read about the bike. I can go sightseeing out of a Lonely Planet guide.

He also talks about himself: his relationship problems, his insecurities, and an analysis of his life with alcohol. Deep stuff, thoughtfully written, which is a bit of change from his rough and risqué style. But, mostly it is about the people he meets. The friends and lovers he encounters. And, a solo ride around the world. That, to me, is what life is all about.