Tag: interview

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A Conversation with Alison DeLapp

After riding through the National Parks of the northwest, and then riding as far north in Alaska as possible, Alison DeLapp decided that her next big adventure was to ride south as far as possible, Terra del Fuego, the southern most point of South America.

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Her motorcycle adventure took about four and a half months from her start in California. She found other adventurers to ride with along the way, but spent 25 days riding by herself.

She describes her travels and how she prepared for her adventure.

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Here is our conversation:

[audio:Alison_DeLapp.mp3]

You can read more about Alison’s travels on her web site, Alison’s Wanderland.

Thanks for listening.

See you on the highway.

Brent

 

 

 

 

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A Conversation with Liz Jansen

Book: Women, Motorcycles and the Road to EmpowermentLiz Jansen started riding motorcycles when she was a kid, and grew up molded into the norms of society. But, leading up to 2003, she became dissatisfied with the direction her life was taking, and decided to make some changes. In 2003, she took a two-month long odyssey to think and reflect on what her life should be. It’s no wonder that motorcycling played a big role in her decisions.

Today, Liz is a published author, speaker, and coach. She offers workshops and retreats. She writes on her web site, “I help people who are considering change, dealing with change or going through life transitions to create the life they want.”

I reviewed her book about six months ago, and it is a fascinating read, not so much about motorcycling, but about the efforts of women to find empowerment. This book could be about backpacking, or long-distance bicycling, or wilderness trekking. It’s main focus is finding empowerment and self discovery.

Liz Jansen

 

 

Liz conducts seminars and retreats, and recently started producing webinars, including “Getting Started with Solo Travel” and “Fear Busting.” In January, she will be presenting a seminar on solo travel and the International Motorcycle Show in Toronto. It will be the same presentation given each day of the show. In late January, she will offer a premium webinar on the same subjects. She says the winter months are perfect for planning those summer travels.

And of course, she plans to get in a few of her own adventures this year, destinations yet to be determined, but has a few ideas.

Liz and I had wanted to do this interview quite some time ago, when the first book review was produced. We finally managed to connect using Skype. Our conversation was recorded December 3, 2012.

[audio:Liz-Jansen_3Dec2012.mp3]

You can learn more about Liz at her web site, www.LizJansen.com.

Thanks for listening. See you on the highway.

Brent

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A Conversation with J. Brandon

Pounding out a career in marketing and media in Silicon Valley didn’t give J. Courtney Brandon the happiness and peace of mind that he was seeking. So after about two decades of work, he searched for where he wanted to live and then what he wanted to do. That’s how he landed in Nevada, and he brought along his skills to help adventure travel companies, outfitters and outdoors organizations with their marketing efforts.

J_Brandon_300x300J. provides marketing, communication and event management services for adventure travel companies through American Sahara, a company he founded. He says one of the skills adventure travel companies need to develop is utilizing social media more effectively. “For outdoor companies, social media is like sitting around the campfire.”

When he’s not helping others, J. is off on his own little mini adventures whether it be in the Nevada desert or the Sierra Nevada mountains, not far from his home.

J. and I used Skype to talk about his work and trends in adventure travel. What is it and where it’s going as more and more individuals opt for something different in their travels? Here’s our conversation, recorded November 15, 2012.

[audio:J_Brandon_15Nov2012.mp3]

Visit J.’s website, www.AmericanSahara.com, and/or join in the Twitter conversations around the campfire at #ATQA and #MotoChat on Wednesdays.

Thanks for listening. See you on the highway.

Brent

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Motorcycling for a cause

Book Review: Live Full Throttle: Life Lessons From Friends Who Faced Cancer

Tamela Rich was looking for a cause—something she could get behind and get involved. Although she says she has not had cancer, she picked breast cancer research and joined other women motorcyclists to raise awareness and funds. Then, she turned it into a book.

Live Full Throttle is a collection of photos, essays, women’s stories and a set of exercises for deeper reflection on the eight chapters that relay those individual stories. The cover photo gives a clue with a pink bra strapped across the front of Rich’s BMW G650GS. Inside, more photos of women and men sporting bras on bikes, over clothing and on cowboy hats.

For such a serious topic as breast cancer, there is a lot of laughter along with the tears in this book.

“This book is like an unexpected food to taste buds. Suspend your expectations as you explore, and let yourself contemplate, this memoir and photo essay hybrid that is inspired by the soulful people and places I’ve encountered as a long-distance motorcyclist for breast cancer causes.

These encounters taught me a great deal about myself and through these stories, pictures and suggested exercises, I hope you will learn about yourself too.”

Tamela Rich.

With Tamela Rich on a book tour, and passing through Ohio, I managed to connect with her for an interview. We met at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, and the fine folks there graciously let us use there conference room.

As we sat down to talk, I learned a lot about Tamela Rich, and how she came to produce this book.

Here is the interview:

Tamela Rich [audio:Tamela_Rich.MP3]

 

You can learn more and purchase the book from her web site: www.TamelaRich.com.

Thanks for listening. See you on the highway.

Brent