August 1, 2025 • 44 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Welcome to the ADV Cannonball Podcast, where we
discuss all things on twowheels, the adventure bike
cannonball, and othermotorcycle-related nonsense.
SPEAKER_06 (00:22):
Season three, episode 11.
Welcome to Adventure CannonballPodcast.
I am your host, Taylor Lawson.
And today I am joined by a oncecruise ship DJ, Captain Aaron
Paul.
Oh, my God.
SPEAKER_05 (00:34):
How are you, sir?
I thought we discussed to putthat way behind in our past and
never talk about that again.
But those were good times.
Well, yeah, those were goodtimes.
You know,
SPEAKER_06 (00:46):
sometimes you got to revisit those times.
So, sir.
Where are you and what are youdrinking?
SPEAKER_05 (00:52):
I am in Victoria, British Columbia, and it is nine
o'clock in the morning.
So I am drinking some awesomewater.
You
SPEAKER_06 (01:01):
make that look so good, man.
You wear it well.
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate that.
All right, so I'm in 81 degreeFahrenheit, 27 degree Celsius,
Sweden.
It has been so warm here.
You know, you never hear peoplein the Nordics complaining about
the heat, but oh my God, I'mleaving this weekend to go into
(01:22):
like the mainland Europe.
So I'm going south to get somecool.
That's how hot it is up here.
SPEAKER_05 (01:28):
That's crazy.
What are you drinking there?
That looks good.
SPEAKER_06 (01:31):
I got a new Carnegie brewery.
And it's a Jack IPA session alesession IPA.
So I guess I'm supposed to drinkthis all night.
SPEAKER_05 (01:41):
You're supposed to get jacked on that session IPA.
SPEAKER_06 (01:45):
Get jacked on the session IPA.
Yeah.
So here we go.
Let's see if I can do it withoutsplashing a little beer on the
keyboards.
SPEAKER_05 (01:50):
He's trying folks.
He's trying.
Oh
SPEAKER_06 (01:53):
yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (01:53):
I managed to make it happen.
Nicely done.
All right.
Well, listen, you said you saidyou're going to mainland Europe.
So give us a little travelitinerary for us people that are
stuck behind the keyboard andmicrophone.
SPEAKER_06 (02:05):
Yeah.
So we're going to roll downthrough.
We're going by train.
We're not going to takemotorcycles.
We're going to go by train andwe're going to do an overnight
train from Stockholm down toBerlin.
And we're going to spend timewith some friends in Munich, do
a little hiking near Innsbruckin Austria, end up in Cinque
Terre in the five towns inItaly, sort of that coastal
(02:25):
area.
It's so beautiful.
Do some hiking there and hike inand amongst those towns.
And then we'll end up in alittle place in Jean-Lapin,
which is a subset of Antibes inthe south of France.
We'll hang out there for a weekin an apartment and then do a
quick overnight train back toSweden.
So we'll be gone for threeweeks.
SPEAKER_05 (02:46):
Nice.
That is a quintessentialEuropean vacation.
And the fact that you're doingsome hiking gives us some
promise because one of thesedays...
One of these days, sir, you andI are going to do a through hike
together, whether you like it ornot.
I know you're not attracted bythis, but one of these days, you
and I are going to do a badassthrough hike somewhere.
Let
SPEAKER_06 (03:03):
me ask you, do you get to use motorcycles with a
through hike?
SPEAKER_05 (03:06):
No, but you can see them sometimes on the highway
next to you.
And you can think, boy, thiswould be a lot easier if we were
on that trail.
We're on
SPEAKER_06 (03:14):
some dirt bikes.
I'll keep that in mind.
But yes, I'm open to thatchallenge.
Speaking of challenges, I dobelieve, sir, there is a
challenge that we enteredourselves into and an award was
given.
Talk to us about that.
SPEAKER_05 (03:29):
Yes, sir.
I put three of our Europeepisodes to the.com podcasting
awards and you, sir, have won agold award for 2025 in the
sports industry.
So congratulations.
Does that mean that there's aplatinum award
SPEAKER_06 (03:47):
ahead of it as well?
SPEAKER_05 (03:47):
Unfortunately, as things go for us, that the gold
is a little bit of a misnomerbecause yes, there is a platinum
award.
So you...
You have won a number two award,but still, congratulations.
Well, it's only appropriate.
The number two podcast wins anumber two award.
So, you know, it all makessense.
Consistency.
We're all about consistency.
(04:08):
Listen, at least you didn't winthe honorable mention piece of
paper certificate.
SPEAKER_06 (04:12):
Well, at least it wasn't that.
Anyway, I do believe that thoseinterviews were great.
You did some fantastic work withthose interviews.
And...
Yeah, I think it is a dulyshared award.
SPEAKER_05 (04:22):
Well done.
I was happy to receive thatemail.
And one of these days, I think atrophy comes in the mail.
So we will have to share custodyacross the pond.
SPEAKER_06 (04:31):
Yeah, maybe when we were in India, like when I see
you in India in September, youcan hand it off to me and I can
hand you...
the book from Jordan Gibbons.
And you can carry that two kilobook around with you on the back
of your motorcycle as we go theHimalayas route.
SPEAKER_05 (04:45):
That'd be pretty funny.
Actually, grab this big trophy.
We'll strap it to the back ofthese little motorcycles and
drag it all around the Himalayaslike a Top Gear episode.
Ellie, I got the perpetualtrophy on the back.
We're so famous, number two.
Watch out, out of the way.
Number two is coming through.
All
SPEAKER_06 (05:04):
right, so you did some great interviews there.
You just had also a greatinterview with Mike Thompson.
Tell us a bit about that, MotoDreamer Tours.
SPEAKER_05 (05:10):
Yeah, so Mike Thompson has an interesting
story, and we'll definitely havehim back on.
He was in Denmark, just down thestreet from you.
And, you know, we talked aboutCuba and it is a subject you
don't see very much of.
And he was able to operate a fewtours during a time of, let's
(05:30):
call it less embargo rulesplaced on them by the American
administration.
And it was a little bit oflightning in the bottle.
So, you know, we always try totalk about something interesting
here with people and, you know,you don't, see videos or hear
much about Cuba.
So the interview is Mike's toursthat he did in Cuba.
(05:53):
Unfortunately, they're nothappening anymore because of
obvious reasons.
And we talk about that in theinterview, but hopefully one day
it reopens and hopefully theyget back on their feet.
But yeah, it's an interestingperspective into ADV in Cuba.
Fantastic.
And with that, Roll theinterview.
SPEAKER_00 (06:12):
Registration is now open to the public for the next
ADV Cannonball Rally.
All riders on any motorcycle arewelcome to join the adventure.
Whether you're looking for anexciting and highly organized
coast-to-coast ride with a groupof like-minded riders or a
friendly competition forcannonball glory, it doesn't
(06:32):
matter.
Everyone can participate.
Head over to ADVCannonball.comto secure your rally starting
position today.
Now back to the podcast.
SPEAKER_05 (06:44):
Mike Thompson from Moto Dreamer Tours.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you very much.
Great.
I'm in Victoria, BritishColumbia today.
And where are you?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
So I'm in Denmark at the moment in Scandinavia and
enjoying a rainy summer day.
SPEAKER_05 (06:57):
It is summer.
We're recording in the end ofJuly.
So that will be summer storms,won't it?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
We've had a lot of rain this year.
So definitely typical Danishsummer.
We should
SPEAKER_05 (07:07):
introduce you to our listeners.
You've got quite the motorcycleresume and the adventurer resume
as far back as age six, you andyour family went on a amazing
four by four trip.
Perhaps you can start with that.
SPEAKER_01 (07:21):
Yeah.
So actually my family is quitethe travel family.
So we've been on a couple of bigtrips.
And the first one that myparents did with me and my
sister was when I was six toseven years.
So one and a half years we didin a old British Land Rover that
was purpose built for the trip.
And we did the down throughEurope in into Africa.
(07:45):
And then we shipped the car fromKenya across to India, did all
of Asia there and back throughPakistan, Bangladesh and Iran
and the whole way back toDenmark.
So, yeah, I got the travel buckreally early on.
SPEAKER_05 (08:00):
Yeah, we have the pleasure of speaking with a lot
of interesting people.
And there always seems to bethat that common thread of
having really cool parents andbeing introduced to any form of
travel seems to, you know, pusha young man to get on two wheels
and do things that areirreplaceable.
responsible.
SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
Absolutely.
I think, I mean, the main thingthat keeps people at home is the
fear of just getting started.
But once you're on the road inany kind of travel scenario,
whether it's your parents thatbring you out or you go out with
a buddy or a friend or yourgirlfriend or whatever, but once
you've come over that firsttrip, then I think it gets into
(08:35):
your blood really easy and it'smuch easier to go the second
time.
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_05 (08:40):
That's what drug dealers say, right?
The first one's free.
Exactly.
Speaking of adrenaline anddrugs.
You were in the internationalrally.
We don't know a lot about a lotabout that rally over here on
this side of the pond.
Perhaps you can tell us aboutthe rally and tell us about your
experience.
SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Yeah, so I it always from when I was a little kid, I
was due to the trips I did withmy parents.
We saw, you know, old rallybikes that were stuck in the
desert and and was just leftthere to to rot.
So when we came through with theLand Rover, I was like just
looking at these bikes with somuch in And I just knew I wanted
to come back to the SaharaDesert and do my own riding on
(09:18):
two wheels.
So back in 2015, there was arally called the
Intercontinental Rally, whichbasically did the old Dakar
routes from when the actualDakar rally was in Africa.
So this rally was from southernSpain all the way down to Dakar
using most of the old tracksthat the Dakar, actual Dakar
(09:40):
rally did.
So I managed to get to do thisrally two times.
It's an amateur rally but it'stough enough i would say long
days on the bike dirt all theway down of course it was run
pretty much like a normal rallyso you had like liaison stages
where you had to transportyourself to the special stage
which got timed and then you hadto get back to camp at night so
(10:01):
some days were six seven eighthundred kilometers in the dirt
yeah we we run
SPEAKER_05 (10:07):
a an amateur rally here and it's quite quite
mundane but you know we run iton public streets and there are
plenty of people that sign up.
And even before they show up atthe start line, they see the
mileage and they see the hoursand they all of a sudden
disappear.
So this, uh, thisintercontinental rally seems a
little more bad-ass than youraverage, than your average
street street ride.
(10:27):
So I can definitely, uh, I candefinitely give you a credit
there today.
You're, uh, you're running amoto dreamer tours for the last
15, 20 years with your family.
And I can see that you justposted a video from the UAE and
Oman.
I used to live in the UAE.
I was a yacht captain for theroyal family and I did tons of
off-roading there and it wasreally off-roading paradise.
(10:48):
How did you like that adventure?
SPEAKER_01 (10:50):
That's cool.
Yeah, well, I mean, I've beengoing to Oman now for the last
four years after the pandemichere and I love it.
I mean, to me, Oman is Arabiathe way that it was displayed in
all the old movies and storiesof, you know, adventure.
So it's like a really neatArabian architecture and just a
(11:13):
spectacular Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (11:43):
in Fort Lauderdale for 10 years.
And you could literally almostsee it on a clear day.
And I think it's an interestingtopic.
When was your last tour in Cuba?
SPEAKER_01 (11:52):
So the last time I was in Cuba was in May last
year, 2024.
And basically the situation has,it goes up and down in waves, I
will say.
And it of course has a lot to dowith the administration in the
US because there is an embargoon Cuba from the US government
(12:13):
which limits the ways that youcan travel to Cuba.
And during the Obama presidency,it really opened up, which meant
that you could go to Cuba onwhat was called the People to
People program.
So it was very easy for Americancitizens to go to Cuba and
participate in these trips wherethere were built-in activities
(12:36):
to meet and interact with theCuban people.
And that was a kind of a bypassof the embargo when you did it
through this program.
So So that was totally legal tovisit as an American citizen.
You just couldn't be an actualfull-on tourist.
You had to participate in thispeople-to-people program.
But it was very looselycontrolled, so it was very easy.
But now, since Trump is back onhis second term here, it has
(12:59):
really been tightened up.
And it's very, very complicatedto run tours in Cuba.
Me being European, there arereally no regulations for us
Europeans.
And there are several Europeancompanies that do trips.
in Cuba, both by bringing theirown bikes over and also by
renting some few local bikesthat are available on the
(13:21):
island.
But the problem is now that ifwe Europeans go to Cuba to
visit, then we can no longer getto the US on our ESTA visa,
because if you've been to Cubawithin the last five years, then
you are not welcome in the US.
So that puts a huge limit towhat Europeans actually want to
go visit Cuba.
Then on the other hand, theAmericans can come down to Cuba
(13:45):
on a new program that is similarto the People to People program.
But there are a lot oflimitations.
So for example, you're notallowed to stay in any hotel or
use any restaurant or anybusiness that in any way is
connected with the militaryadministration of Cuba.
And this is basically all thehotels because Cuba being a
(14:08):
communist island, the land isowned by the government.
So there's a lot of big Spanishhotel chains there.
Melia is one of them.
They have some huge resortsthere, but to be able to build a
resort on Cuba, you have to havethe government as a 50-50
partner there because they ownthe land.
Or you make a lease on the landfor 100 years, you build your
(14:29):
hotel, you earn your money back,but the property will remain the
Cuban government property.
So this means that youbasically, as an American
citizen, can only stay in smallhomestays over there.
And yeah, that limits theoptions and the quality of the
trips that you can present tocustomers.
SPEAKER_05 (14:46):
Yeah, it's a dynamic situation.
And maybe that's the reason whywe don't see too much talk about
Cuba.
And I think you really, youknow, your last tour there might
have been a special time andmight have been something that
may not be able to be reproducedon a larger scale anytime soon.
Were you aware of the uniquetiming when you had that tour?
(15:07):
I
SPEAKER_01 (15:08):
was not expecting it to be as closed as it was.
when we came there last yearactually it was a pretty sad
situation in my opinion sad inthe sense that the Cuban people
really don't have anything therelike on the very first day we
were in La Havana the capitaland one of my customers had
(15:29):
flown in there and neededshampoo to wash their hair and
you just couldn't get it likedaily items you can't get it in
Cuba there was a sparsity offuel so it was hard to get fuel
you had to know your connectionswhere to go to They had, what do
you call it, power cutouts everyevening there.
So every night you're sittingand having dinner at some
(15:52):
restaurant and the lights wouldjust go out for two or three
hours and you'd have to walkhome to your accommodation in
the dark.
So I really saw that Cuba ishaving a really, really hard
time right now because theydon't have many allies left.
And that's hard for the economy,but it's especially hard for the
population, you know.
(16:13):
I mean, I don't necessarily feelsorry for any administration of
any country.
Usually they're the ones thatare at fault of how the people
in the country have to, whatconditions they have to live
under.
And in Cuba right now, it's asad sight.
SPEAKER_05 (16:27):
Yeah, it's hard enough for any island nation,
especially in the Caribbean, tosurvive.
And it's especially hard under acommunist regime.
It seems to be working well withChina, obviously.
I've spent a lot of time inChina and I think you have as
well.
But they have more of acapitalist hybrid model that
seems to be working really well.
(16:48):
And Cuba seemed to be moving inthat direction.
It's just a shame that theyweren't allowed the breadth to
implement those policies in amore full manner.
SPEAKER_01 (17:00):
Well, I think Cuba is obviously, they're stuck on
their history and theirrevolution.
And in some way, it never reallyworked and really didn't come to
fruition the way that therevolutionaries thought it was
going to happen.
And obviously the Soviet Unionbroke down and they were heavily
(17:22):
supported by the Soviets backthen.
And now they have the friends ofVenezuela.
They're getting some oil fromVenezuela, but even Venezuela is
in trouble with their so-calledcommunist regime down there.
So the truth is that communismis not working anywhere.
And yes, what you're seeing inChina is a capitalist communism
(17:42):
in In my opinion, it's reallynot so much communist.
Probably it's more like adictatorship in my eyes, where
you have just a few toppolitician guys that is really
ruling it, but they are lettingthe population be capitalist
under some regulations.
So this is why China is doingpretty well.
I mean, I go a lot to China atleast once a year.
(18:05):
And I mean, the speed that Chinais improving their conditions
for their citizens is justunmatched.
It's unmatched.
I mean, if you go to Beijing orShanghai or some of those cities
and see how quickly they aregrowing is unbelievable.
So something is working forChina, but it seems like they
can't really filter it over totheir communist friends or they
don't want to do it anymore.
So I'm not sure quite what'shappening.
SPEAKER_05 (18:26):
There's a there's a book that I'm not a big fan of.
It's called The InvestmentBiker.
Oh, yeah.
I don't agree with a lot of whathe has to say, but he has a
great section in there aboutanalyzing how why communism has
has never really worked.
But anyways, I'm I'm interested.
in how you flew to Cuba fromDenmark
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
so I actually before I came to Denmark actually my
company started in Colombiaafter a motorcycle trip where I
met my wife in Colombia and wegot married and I had to find a
way to survive in South Americaand I knew I had to work with
tourists so first we set up alittle backpackers hostel and
then that developed into alsooffering motorcycle tours and
(19:09):
eventually it became all we didwas the motorcycle tours so I I
actually flew through Colombiaon the way to Cuba, and there's
a lot of connections.
A lot of Colombians go to Cubafor their cheap beach vacations.
So there's many connections ifyou go through Colombia.
SPEAKER_05 (19:25):
Yeah, that's interesting.
When I grew up, I grew up inToronto, in Canada, and all of
Canada vacations in Cuba aswell.
They just do the standard, we'llgo to the Gated Resort, and this
seems to be what Canadianstrying to get away from the
frigid winter are definitelylooking for.
SPEAKER_01 (19:42):
Yeah, that's a big thing.
And also for Europeans, I mean,they're not restricted.
They don't have travelrestrictions from their
government.
So there's a lot of Europeantourism there.
And if you see the big resorts,they're all owned by Spanish
hotel chains and Europeanchains.
So there's a massive resourcethat can have up to 5,000 people
there where you get, you know,taken around in small golf
(20:04):
carts.
And it's like going into thisfantastic world where everything
is working.
And as soon as you get outsidethe gate, it's like everything
has fallen to pieces.
It's like going into Armageddonas soon as you get out of the
gate.
So it's really, really a weirdcontrast there that the Cuban
government let these resortshave everything.
You can have Italian restaurantand Thai restaurant.
(20:25):
Everything is inside theresorts.
But as soon as you're out amongthe normal people of Cuba, they
don't have anything.
SPEAKER_05 (20:30):
I used to work on cruise ships and I was a yacht
captain for, I don't know, 30,40 years.
And it's always the same inisland nation that you're in the
resort or the marina and theminute you step out, it's
difficult to be certain.
I'm wondering, did you ship yourmotorcycles to Cuba or did you
rent some from a local partner?
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
No, so actually back in 2017, me and my wife went to
Cuba to do the research.
This was back when Obama was inpower, I believe, and it was
kind of a positive atmospherearound Cuba that now maybe it
would open up and be able tohave tourism come in.
And so we did, you know, about amonth of research and scouting
(21:12):
and and really checked outeverything.
We spoke actually with the Cubangovernment.
We were allowed to set up abusiness and we ordered 11 BMW
motorcycles that we wanted toship over there from our
Colombian distributor andeverything was set to go.
And then Trump came in andchanged the travel rules for
Americans.
And then we didn't dare to pullthe trigger on that project.
(21:34):
So in the meantime, there's aGerman guy who has imported
about 10 or 12 BMWs over there.
They are from 2000 17, 18-ish.
So they're getting close to 10years now and they have taken a
beating on the roads over there.
So that's really the only bikesyou can get locally.
And you cannot go there as anindividual and rent a bike and
(21:55):
go around on your own.
You must go around as part of agroup tour and you must have a
Cuban so-called guide, which ismost likely somebody that works
for the government and keeps aneye on you behind the scenes.
So yeah, it's controlled and Andit's not easy.
Even if you want to bring yourown bikes, there's a lot of
(22:16):
regulations and you must get atemporary import permit.
It's pretty complicated to getit.
And often you have to do stuffto lighten the process in the
port and with customs andeverything.
So even that process can be longand it takes weeks in both ends.
So from a business perspective,I mean, if you can do
(22:38):
back-to-back tours over therefor a couple of months, it might
be worthwhile.
But to go over and do a singletour or two tours is
complicated.
So actually at the moment, weare just kind of like in a
holding position, waiting to seewhen we can return and what can
be done about it.
But right now it seems to be theembargo that is really having
its effect.
SPEAKER_05 (22:58):
People always say it's just politics, but at the
end of the day, there are smallpeople like you and I who are
trying to do things and ourwhole life gets turned upside
down because of something thatis said from behind, from some
podium.
And it really does have aneffect on our family and their
second and third order effectsto these things.
But we're not a political show,so we won't go there.
(23:18):
But how much time would you sayis a good amount of time to
explore the island on one ofthese tours?
So I think,
SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
I mean, if you want to get into the, I mean, I think
the interesting part about goingto Cuba is the history.
I mean, obviously there is aninteresting history with the
whole revolution and itsconnection to the mafia in the
US and, you know, all thecasinos that got built.
You can still see a lot ofleftovers from that, obviously
(23:48):
all the old American cars.
So from a historic standpoint,Cuba is super, super
interesting.
Even being the first place thatgot colonized in the Americas
when the Europeans sailed over,it was Havana that got
established the first of all thelocations.
And from there, they went outand found all the rest.
(24:10):
So, I mean, there's so muchhistory there it's changed hands
a few times the British held itthe pirates held it the the
Cubans had it and the Spanishhad it and and you know the
Americans almost had iteconomically during the you know
all the the the mafia timesthere the gangster times so from
that standpoint it's superinteresting and and to me it's
(24:33):
interesting to go down and seelike the Bay of Pigs and and all
of those sites that are therebut again I mean you really have
to use your imagination themuseums are run down you It's
not the nicest displays and allof that, but just the atmosphere
of being there and kind offeeling the history is really
awesome.
From a standpoint of riding,it's an island.
(24:54):
It's not that big.
There are only a couple of areasthat is mountainous.
So most of the rest of it ispretty flat with some very bad
pavement, lots of potholes,really bumpy.
So from a standpoint of riding,I would say we do a 10 day trip
there and that's plenty.
You could do seven days.
If you just want to get afeeling for the history, you
(25:16):
could fly into La Havana.
You could do a couple of daysthere, which is a cool and
interesting town.
You could go up to the tobaccoregion and you could go down and
see the Bay of Pigs and maybe gofurther south and go down to
Trinidad and so on, if you'renot in for the beach vacations.
So from that standpoint, I wouldsay anywhere from five to 10
(25:36):
days is what you need to see theisland.
SPEAKER_05 (25:39):
Did you go up into the mountainous region at all?
That seemed Did we have sometwisties and some interesting
things to see up there?
SPEAKER_01 (25:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
We go up in the tobacco regionand ride the mountains up there.
It's very nice.
But again, the road condition ispoor.
So you don't want to lean toohard in on the curves.
So it's hard to like really,really enjoy it.
And it's not dirt.
So it's not like you're on areal dirt adventure trip either.
(26:08):
So you're kind of like inbetween bumping around and just
like taking in the the brokeninfrastructure of the country.
But it's spectacular, beautifulup there.
It's really nice plantations androcky formations and caves you
can go into and you can evensail inside some of the caves.
And so there's a lot of stuff tosee and try out for sure.
(26:31):
But from a writing perspective,it is a few days of good writing
and that's it.
SPEAKER_05 (26:36):
Often the writing brings you to things that are
interesting.
When you were in Havana, it usedto have this reputation of this
cool and interesting party town.
Is that reputation still holdingtrue or is that all gone as
well?
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
It's a happening town in the sense that it's
obviously a tropical island andit's warm weather.
People are out on the streets.
You have music on every corner.
People playing and, you know,doing the salsa and, you know,
street restaurants and so on.
But it's a crumblinginfrastructure.
(27:09):
So all the beautiful oldcolonial buildings from the
Spanish empire and so on arecrumbling you have tubes
sticking out of the wall andsomebody taking a shower on the
third floor and the water justcomes straight onto the street
and like it's just it's like inSouth America they call it
barrios it's like theunderdeveloped parts of town
where it's just kind of likeslum type of but of course they
(27:31):
have some areas that arehistoric and that is taken more
care of around the main squareand so on but if you go around
the small streets it's crumblingpeople are poor they are begging
you for like they ask you if youdid you bring medicine to me and
it's like what medicine do youuse because i didn't bring
anything but i i mean they justwant anything that they can get
(27:54):
give me your shoes do you haveclothes to me that i can have so
it's like it's it's it's i meani must say i have been there
several times and this last mayit was really sad to be back and
see how how um yeah how needythe population is of everything
from fuel to electricity to fooduh just, just shampoo for their,
to wash their hair.
(28:14):
I mean, it's, it's, it's prettysad.
SPEAKER_05 (28:16):
Yeah.
You wonder what the motivationof the embargo is, is to just to
hurt the population and, and,and then, you know, how much
more can they take, but youknow, I'm not a, I'm not a
politician on and I'm, and I'mnot very smart, so I don't
really know what the motivationis, but that is the actual
result.
And, you know, I recently spokewith Ted Simon and we talked
(28:37):
about, you know, going to theslums in India and traveling
slowly and becoming part ofthese communities and
unfortunately the same whetherit's India or if it's Cuba you
know that is the reality of itand I think a motorcycle is a is
a bit of a time machine it canit can take you in into these
experiences and you're not in atour bus with with 40 other
(29:00):
people you are immediatelyinside the population mixing
with them and whether it's youknow shiny and pretty or a
little more gritty the wayyou're talking about it it is
most definitely definitely a wayto connect with the people.
Do you find that to be true,whether it's Cuba or any of your
other adventures that you go on?
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
No, absolutely.
I mean, this is the point of whywe go on a motorcycle is to meet
the locals where you would neverbe able to meet them with any
other means of travel.
Even when we did the travelswith my parents in the Land
Rover, we were in this bubbleand we had everything we needed
inside the car and could carryeverything.
Once you're on the bike, you'reexposed and you absolutely have
(29:40):
to make use of the locals,whether it's to help you find
the way or find out where's thenearest restaurant or where can
you park the bike.
And no matter where you park, ifit's a gas station or in front
of a restaurant, everybody comesup to you to find out who are
you, what are you doing, whereare you from, why are you here,
and everybody is helpful.
(30:02):
And that is my experience now,having ridden motorcycles in 110
countries around the world.
People are people everywhere.
So no matter what you need,people will It's the authorities
in each country that will setthe tone of the country, but the
people are just working toimprove their lives, to raise
their children, put food on thetable, and they will always help
(30:23):
a stranger in need.
So this is what I love aboutmotorcycle riding and just being
in it.
Like you say, you feel thetemperature changes, you feel
the weather and the wind, andthat's what I love about
motorcycle riding.
So yeah, that is a time travelstraight into the heart of each
nation.
that we visit is being on thosetwo wheels.
(30:44):
And I would never change thatfor a bus or a car.
SPEAKER_05 (30:47):
You know, most of us have read Che Guevara's The
Motorcycle Diaries.
And if you haven't, youabsolutely should.
And, you know, there's thisinteresting nexus between his
story in The Motorcycle Diariesand all those amazing
experiences riding through theAmericas and your time in Cuba.
(31:07):
You know, he says the same thingand all those interesting
stories because he was on amotorcycle.
He had a little advantagebecause he was able to speak the
language.
Do you speak Spanish or do manypeople speak English?
SPEAKER_01 (31:18):
Yeah, so I've lived 17 years in Colombia and my
wife's Colombian.
My two daughters are Colombian.
So yes, I speak fluent Spanishnow.
So this is, of course, a hugebenefit traveling in Latin
America.
And just to comment on the Chestory, actually, it was a nice
connection in the sense that inBolivia, we traveled to the
(31:40):
little village in the mountainswhere he got shot by the
Bolivian army and then actuallythe Cuban government brought
back his remains and they havebuilt this big monument for him
there Mausoleum in Cuba that wego and visit on the trip and
that's actually one of thehighlights because it actually
shows pictures of him and themotorcycle and his life and his
(32:00):
connection with therevolutionaries there and
everything so that's one of thehighlights is actually seeing
that Mausoleum there with him soyeah 100% I mean, if you speak
Spanish, you'll get so much moreout of traveling in Latin
America.
And Latin America is not knownfor having a lot of English
speakers.
So it's very good to have aSpanish speaking translator,
(32:23):
whether it's the local guide orsomeone like me on the tour.
SPEAKER_05 (32:27):
I know right now you're preparing for a trip to
Iceland.
Perhaps you can tempt us with alittle of your plans for
Iceland.
SPEAKER_01 (32:36):
Yeah.
So, I mean, we basically, mywife and me decided to move.
from Colombia after thepandemic, which really hit hard
in Latin America and basicallyalmost killed off our business.
We had to sell off all therental motorcycles.
We had almost 50 motorcycles, 17employees.
We had a ton of tours goingaround in Colombia, down through
(32:58):
Ecuador, Peru, all the way toPatagonia, through Brazil.
And we had to sell all of thatto pay back banks and just
survive during those year and ahalf that Colombia had their
borders closed almost a year anda half down there.
So it was very tough situation.
And we kind of looked at eachother.
Do we want to start from zeroand build up again?
(33:19):
Or do we want to go home?
And our daughters are nowteenage daughters.
So we wanted to give them, youknow, a better opportunity for
more personal freedom and bettereducation and so on.
So we actually came back toDenmark two and a half years ago
and are now establishingourselves over here.
So what we're doing right now issetting up some Northern
(33:40):
European tours, which includeinclude Iceland, Norway, around
the Baltic Sea, stuff like that.
And I'm heading to Iceland nowon August 1st to do our first
trip up there, 10-day tour,where we're going to go around
the island and in through themiddle and basically just check
out all the moon-lookinglandscape up there.
SPEAKER_05 (34:00):
Last June, I shipped my GS to Europe and all the
listeners know we just can'tstop talking about our time in
Norway.
And I can only imagine that...
iceland is just as just asinteresting i i did a bunch of
off-roading there a few yearsago but the whole time you're in
a vehicle you know chuggingalong getting everything thrown
around your car i'm like if ijust had a motorcycle this would
(34:22):
be a lot better
SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
yeah absolutely i mean again uh yeah why traveling
anything else but a bike i meanit's uh it's hard to bring the
family of course but uh but it'sthe way to see definitely if you
want to see nature and and getthe big experiences of of the
scenery and so on you want to beon a bike and you can reach
those places you can't reach inany other way.
(34:44):
So yeah, I'm super excited forIceland and also Norway.
Norway is one of my topdestinations from a scenery
standpoint.
Extremely expensive place totravel, but it pays off.
SPEAKER_05 (34:55):
Yeah, that place is wildly expensive.
But I think we paid 20 somethingdollars for one beer in Oslo,
but we can complain about thatat a later time.
I'm actually shipping my GS backin October and I think it will
just live there.
because there's so much to do inyour neck of the woods.
And I'm looking forward toexploring the area again.
(35:17):
And perhaps we can have a beerthe next time I rip through
Denmark.
SPEAKER_01 (35:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
You're welcome.
Mi casa es tu casa.
SPEAKER_05 (35:26):
And where can people find out more about your tours
and perhaps get a hold of youfor an adventure?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Well, so basically everything we do is on our
website.
We don't have an actual physicalstorefront, so everything
happens online.
So you You can just GoogleMotoDreamer Tours or
MotoDreamer.com and everythingis right there.
SPEAKER_05 (35:46):
Great.
I will put in the show notes thelinks and I'll also put the
links to your YouTube channel.
If you just want to go on asmall adventure from your couch,
you do a great job of showingwhat people can experience on
one of your tours.
And with that, thanks for comingon the show and hopefully in the
future we can talk about one ofyour other adventures.
SPEAKER_01 (36:04):
I'd love to.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for havingme and hope to see you sometime
for a beer.
SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have
your I've just been handed anurgent and horrifying news
story.
And I need all of you to stopwhat you're doing and listen.
SPEAKER_04 (36:25):
Cannonball! And we are back.
The interview
SPEAKER_06 (36:49):
was really interesting in that I love the
fact that he took a month to todo research on his location.
It turned out that Cuba ended upnot being a place where he could
actually continue with histours.
But I love the fact that he putso much time into that.
They're really dedicated to itand they obviously do a great
job with their tours.
This is probably one of thereasons they're so successful.
SPEAKER_05 (37:10):
Yeah, and I like his tours because they are a
cultural immersion and not justlet's go tear up some tarmac.
And he does the same thing.
I just noticed he was doing someresearch for the Nordic areas.
And he's on his way to Icelandto set up tours in Iceland.
So there's a lot of work thatgoes into a motorcycle tour that
(37:33):
is not just ripping through atown.
So we're going to stop here andwe're going to check that out.
I really found it interesting.
I didn't know that Che Guevara'sbody was exhumed from Bolivia
where he was executed.
and brought to Cuba.
And I didn't know that.
And as I was doing someresearch, I saw this great
picture of Che Guevara, FidelCastro, and Hemingway fishing
(37:56):
off the coast of Cuba.
And, you know, I've read a lotof Hemingway.
So even like Old Man of the Seawas written during that time.
So there's a strange confluenceof all those stories.
And it's a real good historical,uh, nexus with riding ADV bikes.
So it was fun.
SPEAKER_06 (38:14):
Yeah.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Interesting.
How the, um, you see bits ofhistory showing up in, uh, in
modern day things.
SPEAKER_05 (38:21):
Yeah.
And it was interesting, I'msure.
And I'm sad that I wasn't ableto take the tour with them, but
to get the Cuban perspectivefrom the Bay of Pigs invasion.
So, uh, my hat's off to, uh,Mike for putting together a ADV
tour that is, uh, you know,culturally immersive.
SPEAKER_06 (38:40):
Very cool.
Very cool.
Let me ask you shift gears for amoment.
Do you have any ADV cannonballnews you want to share?
SPEAKER_05 (38:48):
I sure do.
For 2026, Alexander from NewYork has signed up and wait for
it.
He is on a X max scooter.
So our first zany motorcycle orscooter sign up for 2026.
And I emailed him and I said,Alex, Alexander, you know that
(39:08):
this isn't the scootercannonball.
This is the badass ADVcannonball.
And he goes, yep.
And he says, this is a 400ccscooter and I can do highway
speeds.
And I said, you realize you'reprobably not going to arrive to
the hotel before dark.
And he goes, I'm ready to be abadass.
So welcome to the 2026 ADVcannonball
SPEAKER_06 (39:27):
rally.
Fantastic.
As you're saying that, I'mwondering if he heard about this
from the interview where youinterviewed the scooter
cannonball.
SPEAKER_05 (39:36):
Yeah, so I had noticed in the last 48 hours,
there's some people who signedup for waitlist.
And now I ask people what theirhow they heard about us and what
their resume is.
And there's four or five people.
So there's a chat or somethingthat people were talking about
the ADV cannonball in the arenaof scooter cannonball.
So I'm really thankful thatthey've kind of embraced us.
(39:57):
And we're looking forward toseeing more people crossover.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_06 (40:00):
fantastic.
That's great.
And probably vice versa as well.
SPEAKER_05 (40:03):
Yeah, for sure.
You know, it's very easy to do acannonball on an ADV bike,
especially if you're sticking tothe paved sections, the safe
sections.
But I think it's even harder togo do it on a 50cc scooter going
across the country.
It's a long, hard day, you know,cruising along with your little
two-stroke scooter, they callit, on the pipe, and you're just
(40:24):
ripping across the country.
I think that's even moredifficult.
So yeah, I hope to see morecross-pollination between the
two rallies.
SPEAKER_06 (40:32):
Yeah, it's also, that reminds It's a bit like
Mally Moto.
It's like Rally Moto, Mally Motoon those scooters because the
actual rally takes longer thanthe service interval of one of
those machines, right?
So halfway through, you're doingyour own oil changes and
changing belts or whatever.
SPEAKER_05 (40:46):
Yeah.
And they're always breakingdown.
It's not like a big GSA where Ican do 10,000 miles and never
even touch except for an oilchange.
These guys are constantlybreaking things.
And yeah, so my hat's off to allthose guys and welcome Alexander
to 2026.
Yeah.
Fantastic.
Any
SPEAKER_06 (41:03):
2025 news?
SPEAKER_05 (41:03):
Yeah.
Number 15 dropped out.
So Dion Earnright from Westovertook over his position and
another first, he is on aCan-Am.
So we have a lot of firsts.
We of our first Can-Am, sowelcome to 2025.
SPEAKER_06 (41:34):
And he's like, yeah, I might get out there.
Anyway, nice to see that we gotone in the mix.
SPEAKER_05 (41:38):
Yeah.
And then Roberto from Ashevilleon a 1200 GS is now waitlist
one.
And he's a convert from thescooter cannonball.
So welcome to waitlist one,Roberto.
Fantastic.
SPEAKER_06 (41:50):
And you have any shipping available?
I know that your shipping wasfilling up pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_05 (41:55):
Yeah.
So there's some space for 2026,but I just wanted to tell
everyone for 2025, there is onespace available from the finish
line.
So if anyone is looking forshipping from the finish line,
preferably, you know, Georgia,North Carolina, New York kind of
area.
Please reach out to me and wecan fit you in.
Fantastic.
(42:15):
All right.
Yeah.
And I just want to mention thenext episode, we have Danny
McGee.
Danny McGee has a fantasticseries on YouTube called
Southbound.
So if you want to study up forthe next episode, everyone go to
YouTube and look for Southbound.
It's a great ADV adventureheading southbound.
SPEAKER_06 (42:35):
Fantastic.
And then one of the things thatI'm sure we can put in the show
notes is on Mike Thompson.
He actually, one of the reasonsit made him so easy to actually
interview is the fact that heis, he has all the equipment.
He is, he has a channel that heputs a lot up on YouTube.
So he also has a lot of goodcontent as well.
SPEAKER_05 (42:53):
Yeah, I will put all those links in the show notes.
SPEAKER_06 (42:55):
And kind sir, I believe that is a wrap.
Roll the outro.
SPEAKER_03 (43:02):
Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast.
Please give us a five-starreview on your preferred podcast
platform.
That really helps us with thealgorithm gods.
All hail the algorithm gods.
You can buy us a coffee onbuymecoffee.com slash ADV
Cannonball.
Or directly help save thissinking ship for the price of a
(43:23):
pint at patreon.com slash ADVCannonball.
Follow us on all the socialswith the handle at ADV
Cannonball.
If you'd like to send us aquestion or Thanks for
listening.
(43:47):
And remember, don't be an ADVweenie.
Keep your right hand cranked andyour feet on the pegs.
Welcome to the ADV Cannonball Podcast, where we
discuss all things on twowheels, the adventure bike
cannonball, and othermotorcycle-related nonsense.
SPEAKER_06 (00:22):
Season three, episode 11.
Welcome to Adventure CannonballPodcast.
I am your host, Taylor Lawson.
And today I am joined by a oncecruise ship DJ, Captain Aaron
Paul.
Oh, my God.
SPEAKER_05 (00:34):
How are you, sir?
I thought we discussed to putthat way behind in our past and
never talk about that again.
But those were good times.
Well, yeah, those were goodtimes.
You know,
SPEAKER_06 (00:46):
sometimes you got to revisit those times.
So, sir.
Where are you and what are youdrinking?
SPEAKER_05 (00:52):
I am in Victoria, British Columbia, and it is nine
o'clock in the morning.
So I am drinking some awesomewater.
You
SPEAKER_06 (01:01):
make that look so good, man.
You wear it well.
Thank you, sir.
I appreciate that.
All right, so I'm in 81 degreeFahrenheit, 27 degree Celsius,
Sweden.
It has been so warm here.
You know, you never hear peoplein the Nordics complaining about
the heat, but oh my God, I'mleaving this weekend to go into
(01:22):
like the mainland Europe.
So I'm going south to get somecool.
That's how hot it is up here.
SPEAKER_05 (01:28):
That's crazy.
What are you drinking there?
That looks good.
SPEAKER_06 (01:31):
I got a new Carnegie brewery.
And it's a Jack IPA session alesession IPA.
So I guess I'm supposed to drinkthis all night.
SPEAKER_05 (01:41):
You're supposed to get jacked on that session IPA.
SPEAKER_06 (01:45):
Get jacked on the session IPA.
Yeah.
So here we go.
Let's see if I can do it withoutsplashing a little beer on the
keyboards.
SPEAKER_05 (01:50):
He's trying folks.
He's trying.
Oh
SPEAKER_06 (01:53):
yeah.
SPEAKER_05 (01:53):
I managed to make it happen.
Nicely done.
All right.
Well, listen, you said you saidyou're going to mainland Europe.
So give us a little travelitinerary for us people that are
stuck behind the keyboard andmicrophone.
SPEAKER_06 (02:05):
Yeah.
So we're going to roll downthrough.
We're going by train.
We're not going to takemotorcycles.
We're going to go by train andwe're going to do an overnight
train from Stockholm down toBerlin.
And we're going to spend timewith some friends in Munich, do
a little hiking near Innsbruckin Austria, end up in Cinque
Terre in the five towns inItaly, sort of that coastal
(02:25):
area.
It's so beautiful.
Do some hiking there and hike inand amongst those towns.
And then we'll end up in alittle place in Jean-Lapin,
which is a subset of Antibes inthe south of France.
We'll hang out there for a weekin an apartment and then do a
quick overnight train back toSweden.
So we'll be gone for threeweeks.
SPEAKER_05 (02:46):
Nice.
That is a quintessentialEuropean vacation.
And the fact that you're doingsome hiking gives us some
promise because one of thesedays...
One of these days, sir, you andI are going to do a through hike
together, whether you like it ornot.
I know you're not attracted bythis, but one of these days, you
and I are going to do a badassthrough hike somewhere.
Let
SPEAKER_06 (03:03):
me ask you, do you get to use motorcycles with a
through hike?
SPEAKER_05 (03:06):
No, but you can see them sometimes on the highway
next to you.
And you can think, boy, thiswould be a lot easier if we were
on that trail.
We're on
SPEAKER_06 (03:14):
some dirt bikes.
I'll keep that in mind.
But yes, I'm open to thatchallenge.
Speaking of challenges, I dobelieve, sir, there is a
challenge that we enteredourselves into and an award was
given.
Talk to us about that.
SPEAKER_05 (03:29):
Yes, sir.
I put three of our Europeepisodes to the.com podcasting
awards and you, sir, have won agold award for 2025 in the
sports industry.
So congratulations.
Does that mean that there's aplatinum award
SPEAKER_06 (03:47):
ahead of it as well?
SPEAKER_05 (03:47):
Unfortunately, as things go for us, that the gold
is a little bit of a misnomerbecause yes, there is a platinum
award.
So you...
You have won a number two award,but still, congratulations.
Well, it's only appropriate.
The number two podcast wins anumber two award.
So, you know, it all makessense.
Consistency.
We're all about consistency.
(04:08):
Listen, at least you didn't winthe honorable mention piece of
paper certificate.
SPEAKER_06 (04:12):
Well, at least it wasn't that.
Anyway, I do believe that thoseinterviews were great.
You did some fantastic work withthose interviews.
And...
Yeah, I think it is a dulyshared award.
SPEAKER_05 (04:22):
Well done.
I was happy to receive thatemail.
And one of these days, I think atrophy comes in the mail.
So we will have to share custodyacross the pond.
SPEAKER_06 (04:31):
Yeah, maybe when we were in India, like when I see
you in India in September, youcan hand it off to me and I can
hand you...
the book from Jordan Gibbons.
And you can carry that two kilobook around with you on the back
of your motorcycle as we go theHimalayas route.
SPEAKER_05 (04:45):
That'd be pretty funny.
Actually, grab this big trophy.
We'll strap it to the back ofthese little motorcycles and
drag it all around the Himalayaslike a Top Gear episode.
Ellie, I got the perpetualtrophy on the back.
We're so famous, number two.
Watch out, out of the way.
Number two is coming through.
All
SPEAKER_06 (05:04):
right, so you did some great interviews there.
You just had also a greatinterview with Mike Thompson.
Tell us a bit about that, MotoDreamer Tours.
SPEAKER_05 (05:10):
Yeah, so Mike Thompson has an interesting
story, and we'll definitely havehim back on.
He was in Denmark, just down thestreet from you.
And, you know, we talked aboutCuba and it is a subject you
don't see very much of.
And he was able to operate a fewtours during a time of, let's
(05:30):
call it less embargo rulesplaced on them by the American
administration.
And it was a little bit oflightning in the bottle.
So, you know, we always try totalk about something interesting
here with people and, you know,you don't, see videos or hear
much about Cuba.
So the interview is Mike's toursthat he did in Cuba.
(05:53):
Unfortunately, they're nothappening anymore because of
obvious reasons.
And we talk about that in theinterview, but hopefully one day
it reopens and hopefully theyget back on their feet.
But yeah, it's an interestingperspective into ADV in Cuba.
Fantastic.
And with that, Roll theinterview.
SPEAKER_00 (06:12):
Registration is now open to the public for the next
ADV Cannonball Rally.
All riders on any motorcycle arewelcome to join the adventure.
Whether you're looking for anexciting and highly organized
coast-to-coast ride with a groupof like-minded riders or a
friendly competition forcannonball glory, it doesn't
(06:32):
matter.
Everyone can participate.
Head over to ADVCannonball.comto secure your rally starting
position today.
Now back to the podcast.
SPEAKER_05 (06:44):
Mike Thompson from Moto Dreamer Tours.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you very much.
Great.
I'm in Victoria, BritishColumbia today.
And where are you?
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
So I'm in Denmark at the moment in Scandinavia and
enjoying a rainy summer day.
SPEAKER_05 (06:57):
It is summer.
We're recording in the end ofJuly.
So that will be summer storms,won't it?
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
We've had a lot of rain this year.
So definitely typical Danishsummer.
We should
SPEAKER_05 (07:07):
introduce you to our listeners.
You've got quite the motorcycleresume and the adventurer resume
as far back as age six, you andyour family went on a amazing
four by four trip.
Perhaps you can start with that.
SPEAKER_01 (07:21):
Yeah.
So actually my family is quitethe travel family.
So we've been on a couple of bigtrips.
And the first one that myparents did with me and my
sister was when I was six toseven years.
So one and a half years we didin a old British Land Rover that
was purpose built for the trip.
And we did the down throughEurope in into Africa.
(07:45):
And then we shipped the car fromKenya across to India, did all
of Asia there and back throughPakistan, Bangladesh and Iran
and the whole way back toDenmark.
So, yeah, I got the travel buckreally early on.
SPEAKER_05 (08:00):
Yeah, we have the pleasure of speaking with a lot
of interesting people.
And there always seems to bethat that common thread of
having really cool parents andbeing introduced to any form of
travel seems to, you know, pusha young man to get on two wheels
and do things that areirreplaceable.
responsible.
SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
Absolutely.
I think, I mean, the main thingthat keeps people at home is the
fear of just getting started.
But once you're on the road inany kind of travel scenario,
whether it's your parents thatbring you out or you go out with
a buddy or a friend or yourgirlfriend or whatever, but once
you've come over that firsttrip, then I think it gets into
(08:35):
your blood really easy and it'smuch easier to go the second
time.
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_05 (08:40):
That's what drug dealers say, right?
The first one's free.
Exactly.
Speaking of adrenaline anddrugs.
You were in the internationalrally.
We don't know a lot about a lotabout that rally over here on
this side of the pond.
Perhaps you can tell us aboutthe rally and tell us about your
experience.
SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Yeah, so I it always from when I was a little kid, I
was due to the trips I did withmy parents.
We saw, you know, old rallybikes that were stuck in the
desert and and was just leftthere to to rot.
So when we came through with theLand Rover, I was like just
looking at these bikes with somuch in And I just knew I wanted
to come back to the SaharaDesert and do my own riding on
(09:18):
two wheels.
So back in 2015, there was arally called the
Intercontinental Rally, whichbasically did the old Dakar
routes from when the actualDakar rally was in Africa.
So this rally was from southernSpain all the way down to Dakar
using most of the old tracksthat the Dakar, actual Dakar
(09:40):
rally did.
So I managed to get to do thisrally two times.
It's an amateur rally but it'stough enough i would say long
days on the bike dirt all theway down of course it was run
pretty much like a normal rallyso you had like liaison stages
where you had to transportyourself to the special stage
which got timed and then you hadto get back to camp at night so
(10:01):
some days were six seven eighthundred kilometers in the dirt
yeah we we run
SPEAKER_05 (10:07):
a an amateur rally here and it's quite quite
mundane but you know we run iton public streets and there are
plenty of people that sign up.
And even before they show up atthe start line, they see the
mileage and they see the hoursand they all of a sudden
disappear.
So this, uh, thisintercontinental rally seems a
little more bad-ass than youraverage, than your average
street street ride.
(10:27):
So I can definitely, uh, I candefinitely give you a credit
there today.
You're, uh, you're running amoto dreamer tours for the last
15, 20 years with your family.
And I can see that you justposted a video from the UAE and
Oman.
I used to live in the UAE.
I was a yacht captain for theroyal family and I did tons of
off-roading there and it wasreally off-roading paradise.
(10:48):
How did you like that adventure?
SPEAKER_01 (10:50):
That's cool.
Yeah, well, I mean, I've beengoing to Oman now for the last
four years after the pandemichere and I love it.
I mean, to me, Oman is Arabiathe way that it was displayed in
all the old movies and storiesof, you know, adventure.
So it's like a really neatArabian architecture and just a
(11:13):
spectacular Thank you.
SPEAKER_05 (11:43):
in Fort Lauderdale for 10 years.
And you could literally almostsee it on a clear day.
And I think it's an interestingtopic.
When was your last tour in Cuba?
SPEAKER_01 (11:52):
So the last time I was in Cuba was in May last
year, 2024.
And basically the situation has,it goes up and down in waves, I
will say.
And it of course has a lot to dowith the administration in the
US because there is an embargoon Cuba from the US government
(12:13):
which limits the ways that youcan travel to Cuba.
And during the Obama presidency,it really opened up, which meant
that you could go to Cuba onwhat was called the People to
People program.
So it was very easy for Americancitizens to go to Cuba and
participate in these trips wherethere were built-in activities
(12:36):
to meet and interact with theCuban people.
And that was a kind of a bypassof the embargo when you did it
through this program.
So So that was totally legal tovisit as an American citizen.
You just couldn't be an actualfull-on tourist.
You had to participate in thispeople-to-people program.
But it was very looselycontrolled, so it was very easy.
But now, since Trump is back onhis second term here, it has
(12:59):
really been tightened up.
And it's very, very complicatedto run tours in Cuba.
Me being European, there arereally no regulations for us
Europeans.
And there are several Europeancompanies that do trips.
in Cuba, both by bringing theirown bikes over and also by
renting some few local bikesthat are available on the
(13:21):
island.
But the problem is now that ifwe Europeans go to Cuba to
visit, then we can no longer getto the US on our ESTA visa,
because if you've been to Cubawithin the last five years, then
you are not welcome in the US.
So that puts a huge limit towhat Europeans actually want to
go visit Cuba.
Then on the other hand, theAmericans can come down to Cuba
(13:45):
on a new program that is similarto the People to People program.
But there are a lot oflimitations.
So for example, you're notallowed to stay in any hotel or
use any restaurant or anybusiness that in any way is
connected with the militaryadministration of Cuba.
And this is basically all thehotels because Cuba being a
(14:08):
communist island, the land isowned by the government.
So there's a lot of big Spanishhotel chains there.
Melia is one of them.
They have some huge resortsthere, but to be able to build a
resort on Cuba, you have to havethe government as a 50-50
partner there because they ownthe land.
Or you make a lease on the landfor 100 years, you build your
(14:29):
hotel, you earn your money back,but the property will remain the
Cuban government property.
So this means that youbasically, as an American
citizen, can only stay in smallhomestays over there.
And yeah, that limits theoptions and the quality of the
trips that you can present tocustomers.
SPEAKER_05 (14:46):
Yeah, it's a dynamic situation.
And maybe that's the reason whywe don't see too much talk about
Cuba.
And I think you really, youknow, your last tour there might
have been a special time andmight have been something that
may not be able to be reproducedon a larger scale anytime soon.
Were you aware of the uniquetiming when you had that tour?
(15:07):
I
SPEAKER_01 (15:08):
was not expecting it to be as closed as it was.
when we came there last yearactually it was a pretty sad
situation in my opinion sad inthe sense that the Cuban people
really don't have anything therelike on the very first day we
were in La Havana the capitaland one of my customers had
(15:29):
flown in there and neededshampoo to wash their hair and
you just couldn't get it likedaily items you can't get it in
Cuba there was a sparsity offuel so it was hard to get fuel
you had to know your connectionswhere to go to They had, what do
you call it, power cutouts everyevening there.
So every night you're sittingand having dinner at some
(15:52):
restaurant and the lights wouldjust go out for two or three
hours and you'd have to walkhome to your accommodation in
the dark.
So I really saw that Cuba ishaving a really, really hard
time right now because theydon't have many allies left.
And that's hard for the economy,but it's especially hard for the
population, you know.
(16:13):
I mean, I don't necessarily feelsorry for any administration of
any country.
Usually they're the ones thatare at fault of how the people
in the country have to, whatconditions they have to live
under.
And in Cuba right now, it's asad sight.
SPEAKER_05 (16:27):
Yeah, it's hard enough for any island nation,
especially in the Caribbean, tosurvive.
And it's especially hard under acommunist regime.
It seems to be working well withChina, obviously.
I've spent a lot of time inChina and I think you have as
well.
But they have more of acapitalist hybrid model that
seems to be working really well.
(16:48):
And Cuba seemed to be moving inthat direction.
It's just a shame that theyweren't allowed the breadth to
implement those policies in amore full manner.
SPEAKER_01 (17:00):
Well, I think Cuba is obviously, they're stuck on
their history and theirrevolution.
And in some way, it never reallyworked and really didn't come to
fruition the way that therevolutionaries thought it was
going to happen.
And obviously the Soviet Unionbroke down and they were heavily
(17:22):
supported by the Soviets backthen.
And now they have the friends ofVenezuela.
They're getting some oil fromVenezuela, but even Venezuela is
in trouble with their so-calledcommunist regime down there.
So the truth is that communismis not working anywhere.
And yes, what you're seeing inChina is a capitalist communism
(17:42):
in In my opinion, it's reallynot so much communist.
Probably it's more like adictatorship in my eyes, where
you have just a few toppolitician guys that is really
ruling it, but they are lettingthe population be capitalist
under some regulations.
So this is why China is doingpretty well.
I mean, I go a lot to China atleast once a year.
(18:05):
And I mean, the speed that Chinais improving their conditions
for their citizens is justunmatched.
It's unmatched.
I mean, if you go to Beijing orShanghai or some of those cities
and see how quickly they aregrowing is unbelievable.
So something is working forChina, but it seems like they
can't really filter it over totheir communist friends or they
don't want to do it anymore.
So I'm not sure quite what'shappening.
SPEAKER_05 (18:26):
There's a there's a book that I'm not a big fan of.
It's called The InvestmentBiker.
Oh, yeah.
I don't agree with a lot of whathe has to say, but he has a
great section in there aboutanalyzing how why communism has
has never really worked.
But anyways, I'm I'm interested.
in how you flew to Cuba fromDenmark
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
so I actually before I came to Denmark actually my
company started in Colombiaafter a motorcycle trip where I
met my wife in Colombia and wegot married and I had to find a
way to survive in South Americaand I knew I had to work with
tourists so first we set up alittle backpackers hostel and
then that developed into alsooffering motorcycle tours and
(19:09):
eventually it became all we didwas the motorcycle tours so I I
actually flew through Colombiaon the way to Cuba, and there's
a lot of connections.
A lot of Colombians go to Cubafor their cheap beach vacations.
So there's many connections ifyou go through Colombia.
SPEAKER_05 (19:25):
Yeah, that's interesting.
When I grew up, I grew up inToronto, in Canada, and all of
Canada vacations in Cuba aswell.
They just do the standard, we'llgo to the Gated Resort, and this
seems to be what Canadianstrying to get away from the
frigid winter are definitelylooking for.
SPEAKER_01 (19:42):
Yeah, that's a big thing.
And also for Europeans, I mean,they're not restricted.
They don't have travelrestrictions from their
government.
So there's a lot of Europeantourism there.
And if you see the big resorts,they're all owned by Spanish
hotel chains and Europeanchains.
So there's a massive resourcethat can have up to 5,000 people
there where you get, you know,taken around in small golf
(20:04):
carts.
And it's like going into thisfantastic world where everything
is working.
And as soon as you get outsidethe gate, it's like everything
has fallen to pieces.
It's like going into Armageddonas soon as you get out of the
gate.
So it's really, really a weirdcontrast there that the Cuban
government let these resortshave everything.
You can have Italian restaurantand Thai restaurant.
(20:25):
Everything is inside theresorts.
But as soon as you're out amongthe normal people of Cuba, they
don't have anything.
SPEAKER_05 (20:30):
I used to work on cruise ships and I was a yacht
captain for, I don't know, 30,40 years.
And it's always the same inisland nation that you're in the
resort or the marina and theminute you step out, it's
difficult to be certain.
I'm wondering, did you ship yourmotorcycles to Cuba or did you
rent some from a local partner?
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
No, so actually back in 2017, me and my wife went to
Cuba to do the research.
This was back when Obama was inpower, I believe, and it was
kind of a positive atmospherearound Cuba that now maybe it
would open up and be able tohave tourism come in.
And so we did, you know, about amonth of research and scouting
(21:12):
and and really checked outeverything.
We spoke actually with the Cubangovernment.
We were allowed to set up abusiness and we ordered 11 BMW
motorcycles that we wanted toship over there from our
Colombian distributor andeverything was set to go.
And then Trump came in andchanged the travel rules for
Americans.
And then we didn't dare to pullthe trigger on that project.
(21:34):
So in the meantime, there's aGerman guy who has imported
about 10 or 12 BMWs over there.
They are from 2000 17, 18-ish.
So they're getting close to 10years now and they have taken a
beating on the roads over there.
So that's really the only bikesyou can get locally.
And you cannot go there as anindividual and rent a bike and
(21:55):
go around on your own.
You must go around as part of agroup tour and you must have a
Cuban so-called guide, which ismost likely somebody that works
for the government and keeps aneye on you behind the scenes.
So yeah, it's controlled and Andit's not easy.
Even if you want to bring yourown bikes, there's a lot of
(22:16):
regulations and you must get atemporary import permit.
It's pretty complicated to getit.
And often you have to do stuffto lighten the process in the
port and with customs andeverything.
So even that process can be longand it takes weeks in both ends.
So from a business perspective,I mean, if you can do
(22:38):
back-to-back tours over therefor a couple of months, it might
be worthwhile.
But to go over and do a singletour or two tours is
complicated.
So actually at the moment, weare just kind of like in a
holding position, waiting to seewhen we can return and what can
be done about it.
But right now it seems to be theembargo that is really having
its effect.
SPEAKER_05 (22:58):
People always say it's just politics, but at the
end of the day, there are smallpeople like you and I who are
trying to do things and ourwhole life gets turned upside
down because of something thatis said from behind, from some
podium.
And it really does have aneffect on our family and their
second and third order effectsto these things.
But we're not a political show,so we won't go there.
(23:18):
But how much time would you sayis a good amount of time to
explore the island on one ofthese tours?
So I think,
SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
I mean, if you want to get into the, I mean, I think
the interesting part about goingto Cuba is the history.
I mean, obviously there is aninteresting history with the
whole revolution and itsconnection to the mafia in the
US and, you know, all thecasinos that got built.
You can still see a lot ofleftovers from that, obviously
(23:48):
all the old American cars.
So from a historic standpoint,Cuba is super, super
interesting.
Even being the first place thatgot colonized in the Americas
when the Europeans sailed over,it was Havana that got
established the first of all thelocations.
And from there, they went outand found all the rest.
(24:10):
So, I mean, there's so muchhistory there it's changed hands
a few times the British held itthe pirates held it the the
Cubans had it and the Spanishhad it and and you know the
Americans almost had iteconomically during the you know
all the the the mafia timesthere the gangster times so from
that standpoint it's superinteresting and and to me it's
(24:33):
interesting to go down and seelike the Bay of Pigs and and all
of those sites that are therebut again I mean you really have
to use your imagination themuseums are run down you It's
not the nicest displays and allof that, but just the atmosphere
of being there and kind offeeling the history is really
awesome.
From a standpoint of riding,it's an island.
(24:54):
It's not that big.
There are only a couple of areasthat is mountainous.
So most of the rest of it ispretty flat with some very bad
pavement, lots of potholes,really bumpy.
So from a standpoint of riding,I would say we do a 10 day trip
there and that's plenty.
You could do seven days.
If you just want to get afeeling for the history, you
(25:16):
could fly into La Havana.
You could do a couple of daysthere, which is a cool and
interesting town.
You could go up to the tobaccoregion and you could go down and
see the Bay of Pigs and maybe gofurther south and go down to
Trinidad and so on, if you'renot in for the beach vacations.
So from that standpoint, I wouldsay anywhere from five to 10
(25:36):
days is what you need to see theisland.
SPEAKER_05 (25:39):
Did you go up into the mountainous region at all?
That seemed Did we have sometwisties and some interesting
things to see up there?
SPEAKER_01 (25:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
We go up in the tobacco regionand ride the mountains up there.
It's very nice.
But again, the road condition ispoor.
So you don't want to lean toohard in on the curves.
So it's hard to like really,really enjoy it.
And it's not dirt.
So it's not like you're on areal dirt adventure trip either.
(26:08):
So you're kind of like inbetween bumping around and just
like taking in the the brokeninfrastructure of the country.
But it's spectacular, beautifulup there.
It's really nice plantations androcky formations and caves you
can go into and you can evensail inside some of the caves.
And so there's a lot of stuff tosee and try out for sure.
(26:31):
But from a writing perspective,it is a few days of good writing
and that's it.
SPEAKER_05 (26:36):
Often the writing brings you to things that are
interesting.
When you were in Havana, it usedto have this reputation of this
cool and interesting party town.
Is that reputation still holdingtrue or is that all gone as
well?
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
It's a happening town in the sense that it's
obviously a tropical island andit's warm weather.
People are out on the streets.
You have music on every corner.
People playing and, you know,doing the salsa and, you know,
street restaurants and so on.
But it's a crumblinginfrastructure.
(27:09):
So all the beautiful oldcolonial buildings from the
Spanish empire and so on arecrumbling you have tubes
sticking out of the wall andsomebody taking a shower on the
third floor and the water justcomes straight onto the street
and like it's just it's like inSouth America they call it
barrios it's like theunderdeveloped parts of town
where it's just kind of likeslum type of but of course they
(27:31):
have some areas that arehistoric and that is taken more
care of around the main squareand so on but if you go around
the small streets it's crumblingpeople are poor they are begging
you for like they ask you if youdid you bring medicine to me and
it's like what medicine do youuse because i didn't bring
anything but i i mean they justwant anything that they can get
(27:54):
give me your shoes do you haveclothes to me that i can have so
it's like it's it's it's i meani must say i have been there
several times and this last mayit was really sad to be back and
see how how um yeah how needythe population is of everything
from fuel to electricity to fooduh just, just shampoo for their,
to wash their hair.
(28:14):
I mean, it's, it's, it's prettysad.
SPEAKER_05 (28:16):
Yeah.
You wonder what the motivationof the embargo is, is to just to
hurt the population and, and,and then, you know, how much
more can they take, but youknow, I'm not a, I'm not a
politician on and I'm, and I'mnot very smart, so I don't
really know what the motivationis, but that is the actual
result.
And, you know, I recently spokewith Ted Simon and we talked
(28:37):
about, you know, going to theslums in India and traveling
slowly and becoming part ofthese communities and
unfortunately the same whetherit's India or if it's Cuba you
know that is the reality of itand I think a motorcycle is a is
a bit of a time machine it canit can take you in into these
experiences and you're not in atour bus with with 40 other
(29:00):
people you are immediatelyinside the population mixing
with them and whether it's youknow shiny and pretty or a
little more gritty the wayyou're talking about it it is
most definitely definitely a wayto connect with the people.
Do you find that to be true,whether it's Cuba or any of your
other adventures that you go on?
SPEAKER_01 (29:18):
No, absolutely.
I mean, this is the point of whywe go on a motorcycle is to meet
the locals where you would neverbe able to meet them with any
other means of travel.
Even when we did the travelswith my parents in the Land
Rover, we were in this bubbleand we had everything we needed
inside the car and could carryeverything.
Once you're on the bike, you'reexposed and you absolutely have
(29:40):
to make use of the locals,whether it's to help you find
the way or find out where's thenearest restaurant or where can
you park the bike.
And no matter where you park, ifit's a gas station or in front
of a restaurant, everybody comesup to you to find out who are
you, what are you doing, whereare you from, why are you here,
and everybody is helpful.
(30:02):
And that is my experience now,having ridden motorcycles in 110
countries around the world.
People are people everywhere.
So no matter what you need,people will It's the authorities
in each country that will setthe tone of the country, but the
people are just working toimprove their lives, to raise
their children, put food on thetable, and they will always help
(30:23):
a stranger in need.
So this is what I love aboutmotorcycle riding and just being
in it.
Like you say, you feel thetemperature changes, you feel
the weather and the wind, andthat's what I love about
motorcycle riding.
So yeah, that is a time travelstraight into the heart of each
nation.
that we visit is being on thosetwo wheels.
(30:44):
And I would never change thatfor a bus or a car.
SPEAKER_05 (30:47):
You know, most of us have read Che Guevara's The
Motorcycle Diaries.
And if you haven't, youabsolutely should.
And, you know, there's thisinteresting nexus between his
story in The Motorcycle Diariesand all those amazing
experiences riding through theAmericas and your time in Cuba.
(31:07):
You know, he says the same thingand all those interesting
stories because he was on amotorcycle.
He had a little advantagebecause he was able to speak the
language.
Do you speak Spanish or do manypeople speak English?
SPEAKER_01 (31:18):
Yeah, so I've lived 17 years in Colombia and my
wife's Colombian.
My two daughters are Colombian.
So yes, I speak fluent Spanishnow.
So this is, of course, a hugebenefit traveling in Latin
America.
And just to comment on the Chestory, actually, it was a nice
connection in the sense that inBolivia, we traveled to the
(31:40):
little village in the mountainswhere he got shot by the
Bolivian army and then actuallythe Cuban government brought
back his remains and they havebuilt this big monument for him
there Mausoleum in Cuba that wego and visit on the trip and
that's actually one of thehighlights because it actually
shows pictures of him and themotorcycle and his life and his
(32:00):
connection with therevolutionaries there and
everything so that's one of thehighlights is actually seeing
that Mausoleum there with him soyeah 100% I mean, if you speak
Spanish, you'll get so much moreout of traveling in Latin
America.
And Latin America is not knownfor having a lot of English
speakers.
So it's very good to have aSpanish speaking translator,
(32:23):
whether it's the local guide orsomeone like me on the tour.
SPEAKER_05 (32:27):
I know right now you're preparing for a trip to
Iceland.
Perhaps you can tempt us with alittle of your plans for
Iceland.
SPEAKER_01 (32:36):
Yeah.
So, I mean, we basically, mywife and me decided to move.
from Colombia after thepandemic, which really hit hard
in Latin America and basicallyalmost killed off our business.
We had to sell off all therental motorcycles.
We had almost 50 motorcycles, 17employees.
We had a ton of tours goingaround in Colombia, down through
(32:58):
Ecuador, Peru, all the way toPatagonia, through Brazil.
And we had to sell all of thatto pay back banks and just
survive during those year and ahalf that Colombia had their
borders closed almost a year anda half down there.
So it was very tough situation.
And we kind of looked at eachother.
Do we want to start from zeroand build up again?
(33:19):
Or do we want to go home?
And our daughters are nowteenage daughters.
So we wanted to give them, youknow, a better opportunity for
more personal freedom and bettereducation and so on.
So we actually came back toDenmark two and a half years ago
and are now establishingourselves over here.
So what we're doing right now issetting up some Northern
(33:40):
European tours, which includeinclude Iceland, Norway, around
the Baltic Sea, stuff like that.
And I'm heading to Iceland nowon August 1st to do our first
trip up there, 10-day tour,where we're going to go around
the island and in through themiddle and basically just check
out all the moon-lookinglandscape up there.
SPEAKER_05 (34:00):
Last June, I shipped my GS to Europe and all the
listeners know we just can'tstop talking about our time in
Norway.
And I can only imagine that...
iceland is just as just asinteresting i i did a bunch of
off-roading there a few yearsago but the whole time you're in
a vehicle you know chuggingalong getting everything thrown
around your car i'm like if ijust had a motorcycle this would
(34:22):
be a lot better
SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
yeah absolutely i mean again uh yeah why traveling
anything else but a bike i meanit's uh it's hard to bring the
family of course but uh but it'sthe way to see definitely if you
want to see nature and and getthe big experiences of of the
scenery and so on you want to beon a bike and you can reach
those places you can't reach inany other way.
(34:44):
So yeah, I'm super excited forIceland and also Norway.
Norway is one of my topdestinations from a scenery
standpoint.
Extremely expensive place totravel, but it pays off.
SPEAKER_05 (34:55):
Yeah, that place is wildly expensive.
But I think we paid 20 somethingdollars for one beer in Oslo,
but we can complain about thatat a later time.
I'm actually shipping my GS backin October and I think it will
just live there.
because there's so much to do inyour neck of the woods.
And I'm looking forward toexploring the area again.
(35:17):
And perhaps we can have a beerthe next time I rip through
Denmark.
SPEAKER_01 (35:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
You're welcome.
Mi casa es tu casa.
SPEAKER_05 (35:26):
And where can people find out more about your tours
and perhaps get a hold of youfor an adventure?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Well, so basically everything we do is on our
website.
We don't have an actual physicalstorefront, so everything
happens online.
So you You can just GoogleMotoDreamer Tours or
MotoDreamer.com and everythingis right there.
SPEAKER_05 (35:46):
Great.
I will put in the show notes thelinks and I'll also put the
links to your YouTube channel.
If you just want to go on asmall adventure from your couch,
you do a great job of showingwhat people can experience on
one of your tours.
And with that, thanks for comingon the show and hopefully in the
future we can talk about one ofyour other adventures.
SPEAKER_01 (36:04):
I'd love to.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for havingme and hope to see you sometime
for a beer.
SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have
your I've just been handed anurgent and horrifying news
story.
And I need all of you to stopwhat you're doing and listen.
SPEAKER_04 (36:25):
Cannonball! And we are back.
The interview
SPEAKER_06 (36:49):
was really interesting in that I love the
fact that he took a month to todo research on his location.
It turned out that Cuba ended upnot being a place where he could
actually continue with histours.
But I love the fact that he putso much time into that.
They're really dedicated to itand they obviously do a great
job with their tours.
This is probably one of thereasons they're so successful.
SPEAKER_05 (37:10):
Yeah, and I like his tours because they are a
cultural immersion and not justlet's go tear up some tarmac.
And he does the same thing.
I just noticed he was doing someresearch for the Nordic areas.
And he's on his way to Icelandto set up tours in Iceland.
So there's a lot of work thatgoes into a motorcycle tour that
(37:33):
is not just ripping through atown.
So we're going to stop here andwe're going to check that out.
I really found it interesting.
I didn't know that Che Guevara'sbody was exhumed from Bolivia
where he was executed.
and brought to Cuba.
And I didn't know that.
And as I was doing someresearch, I saw this great
picture of Che Guevara, FidelCastro, and Hemingway fishing
(37:56):
off the coast of Cuba.
And, you know, I've read a lotof Hemingway.
So even like Old Man of the Seawas written during that time.
So there's a strange confluenceof all those stories.
And it's a real good historical,uh, nexus with riding ADV bikes.
So it was fun.
SPEAKER_06 (38:14):
Yeah.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Interesting.
How the, um, you see bits ofhistory showing up in, uh, in
modern day things.
SPEAKER_05 (38:21):
Yeah.
And it was interesting, I'msure.
And I'm sad that I wasn't ableto take the tour with them, but
to get the Cuban perspectivefrom the Bay of Pigs invasion.
So, uh, my hat's off to, uh,Mike for putting together a ADV
tour that is, uh, you know,culturally immersive.
SPEAKER_06 (38:40):
Very cool.
Very cool.
Let me ask you shift gears for amoment.
Do you have any ADV cannonballnews you want to share?
SPEAKER_05 (38:48):
I sure do.
For 2026, Alexander from NewYork has signed up and wait for
it.
He is on a X max scooter.
So our first zany motorcycle orscooter sign up for 2026.
And I emailed him and I said,Alex, Alexander, you know that
(39:08):
this isn't the scootercannonball.
This is the badass ADVcannonball.
And he goes, yep.
And he says, this is a 400ccscooter and I can do highway
speeds.
And I said, you realize you'reprobably not going to arrive to
the hotel before dark.
And he goes, I'm ready to be abadass.
So welcome to the 2026 ADVcannonball
SPEAKER_06 (39:27):
rally.
Fantastic.
As you're saying that, I'mwondering if he heard about this
from the interview where youinterviewed the scooter
cannonball.
SPEAKER_05 (39:36):
Yeah, so I had noticed in the last 48 hours,
there's some people who signedup for waitlist.
And now I ask people what theirhow they heard about us and what
their resume is.
And there's four or five people.
So there's a chat or somethingthat people were talking about
the ADV cannonball in the arenaof scooter cannonball.
So I'm really thankful thatthey've kind of embraced us.
(39:57):
And we're looking forward toseeing more people crossover.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_06 (40:00):
fantastic.
That's great.
And probably vice versa as well.
SPEAKER_05 (40:03):
Yeah, for sure.
You know, it's very easy to do acannonball on an ADV bike,
especially if you're sticking tothe paved sections, the safe
sections.
But I think it's even harder togo do it on a 50cc scooter going
across the country.
It's a long, hard day, you know,cruising along with your little
two-stroke scooter, they callit, on the pipe, and you're just
(40:24):
ripping across the country.
I think that's even moredifficult.
So yeah, I hope to see morecross-pollination between the
two rallies.
SPEAKER_06 (40:32):
Yeah, it's also, that reminds It's a bit like
Mally Moto.
It's like Rally Moto, Mally Motoon those scooters because the
actual rally takes longer thanthe service interval of one of
those machines, right?
So halfway through, you're doingyour own oil changes and
changing belts or whatever.
SPEAKER_05 (40:46):
Yeah.
And they're always breakingdown.
It's not like a big GSA where Ican do 10,000 miles and never
even touch except for an oilchange.
These guys are constantlybreaking things.
And yeah, so my hat's off to allthose guys and welcome Alexander
to 2026.
Yeah.
Fantastic.
Any
SPEAKER_06 (41:03):
2025 news?
SPEAKER_05 (41:03):
Yeah.
Number 15 dropped out.
So Dion Earnright from Westovertook over his position and
another first, he is on aCan-Am.
So we have a lot of firsts.
We of our first Can-Am, sowelcome to 2025.
SPEAKER_06 (41:34):
And he's like, yeah, I might get out there.
Anyway, nice to see that we gotone in the mix.
SPEAKER_05 (41:38):
Yeah.
And then Roberto from Ashevilleon a 1200 GS is now waitlist
one.
And he's a convert from thescooter cannonball.
So welcome to waitlist one,Roberto.
Fantastic.
SPEAKER_06 (41:50):
And you have any shipping available?
I know that your shipping wasfilling up pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_05 (41:55):
Yeah.
So there's some space for 2026,but I just wanted to tell
everyone for 2025, there is onespace available from the finish
line.
So if anyone is looking forshipping from the finish line,
preferably, you know, Georgia,North Carolina, New York kind of
area.
Please reach out to me and wecan fit you in.
Fantastic.
(42:15):
All right.
Yeah.
And I just want to mention thenext episode, we have Danny
McGee.
Danny McGee has a fantasticseries on YouTube called
Southbound.
So if you want to study up forthe next episode, everyone go to
YouTube and look for Southbound.
It's a great ADV adventureheading southbound.
SPEAKER_06 (42:35):
Fantastic.
And then one of the things thatI'm sure we can put in the show
notes is on Mike Thompson.
He actually, one of the reasonsit made him so easy to actually
interview is the fact that heis, he has all the equipment.
He is, he has a channel that heputs a lot up on YouTube.
So he also has a lot of goodcontent as well.
SPEAKER_05 (42:53):
Yeah, I will put all those links in the show notes.
SPEAKER_06 (42:55):
And kind sir, I believe that is a wrap.
Roll the outro.
SPEAKER_03 (43:02):
Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast.
Please give us a five-starreview on your preferred podcast
platform.
That really helps us with thealgorithm gods.
All hail the algorithm gods.
You can buy us a coffee onbuymecoffee.com slash ADV
Cannonball.
Or directly help save thissinking ship for the price of a
(43:23):
pint at patreon.com slash ADVCannonball.
Follow us on all the socialswith the handle at ADV
Cannonball.
If you'd like to send us aquestion or Thanks for
listening.
(43:47):
And remember, don't be an ADVweenie.
Keep your right hand cranked andyour feet on the pegs.
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