An unassuming Australian adventurer rumbled into town on his dust covered black motor bike with side car. He had driven through the Copper Cannon System, moving to the beat of his own drum and possibly the drums of the Tarahumara Indians. After seeing both the bike and him so dusty and weathered I decided to check the history of this expedition on Google ....and what a rugged wilderness passage it was for him!
He was in town checking in with us as potential crew, then planed to drive to Seattle to stow his bike and to visit to a few good people. Who he says helped him along his way. I googled his next trip from La Paz Mexico to Seattle America, and it too is a journey of huge mileage, not to mention the drop in temperature to 5 degrees. This ranks him as a serious adventurer and biker as well.
He spent 2 full days sorting, god only knows how much an adventurer has to sort after such an extensive trip for years through the wilderness. He then bunks his tired and dusty self into Mexican hostel accommodation close to our marina. He can’t drift off to sleep for his weary body won’t let him but takes much needed rest.
He chats to the people around him within and I suspect takes a marzipan sweet from an idle person in the hallway of the accommodation. He asks an idle person sitting in a wheelchair if he wants a ride in his bike up to the shops and when this was accepted with such delight, he then offers this disabled person a side-car ride to Seattle with him the next day – ‘just for kicks’ he said. However the adventurers’ calendar already was hard pressed for time to be back within 3 was a tight turnaround. With his “should be fine” attitude he makes both space and time for another human being on his antique motor cycle.
We both felt this special adventurer warranted a wave off on his journey, so we head up to the car park in time to see his departure. As we approached the side-car we were offered a marzipan sweet by the disadvantaged pillion passenger. The still dust covered bike was loaded up to the hilt with the side car companions’ trusty wheelchair strapped to the top - readily accessible. That grateful companion was sitting pretty with the box of sweets on his lap ready for the next person he will meet along the route north I suspect.
This is not my story to tell but just want to say that ‘the adventurer’ was going to be inspiring as a crew member aboard Condesa. The Pacific crossing will be just a part of his next expedition; it must be never ending adventures for people with the time and the respect for the world and what it has to offer. And I am sure the latest travelling companion who accompanied him on the ride north to Seattle in that side car had witnessed a rare act of kindness he would never have imagined being offered to him.
I looked forward to hearing more about the Indian tribes and their lives in the Copper Canyon region when we are drifting across the Pacific.
But sadly that day never came for either of us. RIP Dean