Tales of adventures of years gone by

[crash]

I happened upon an old friend who is now in his mid 70's on the weekend at a function. Had a great conversation with him.
He was telling me how when he was 19, him and a mate (he on his matchless and his mate on an Indian) toke off from central Vic and rode to Queensland. They would set up the tent between the bikes and campout overnight. They met many wonderful people / strangers who offered their backyards, verandas and shops to sleep in.

It got me thinking how people do not seem to have these types of adventures anymore but the more I thought about it how wrong I am. How many backpackers are out their nowaday, Both here in Australia and overseas? They just seem to travel differently - vans / vehicles etc. and there are more facilities catering for them -eg backpacker accomadation. Even 15 years ago I have met people that had recently had expereince of strangers offering hospitality and giving out contacts of " if your heading this way look up........".

In the end I have concluded that it is up to yourself to make up your own adventure and hop on the bike and have the time / experience of your time. I am sure when I talk about what I got up to in my 20's when I am in my 70's people will look back and think that I was a luck person and that they wish they had adventures like mine as I have with this old friend and his adventure.

[rangieman]

Memories 10 years ago i rode my Fj1200 from melb to brissy stayed in a motel along the way up .
On the return trip i rode straight through to melb could not stand or walk for two days afterwards so sore

[crash]

Mine on a motorcycle was a trip from Melbourne to Canberra and back. Got to Canberra bike was making a noise when down shifting, could not work out why. Still rode fine. Took the scenic route home. When left Canberra coming through first town down shifted and it threw the chain - the chain had stretched that much, it was flopping around making the noise I could hear. Jammed up real good. Lucky for me the Ulysses club had just finished up a meeting - was loaned some extra tools to help me get things sorted and then a warm coffee. Next day woke to a thick frost / fog. Nearly missed a Wallaby coming through the hills, then along the highway had to dodge flying rubber from an exploding trailer tyre. You know what I had a fantastic journey and hope to someday do more travelling on the bike.