How did I not remember all of that, was I flying with the faeries all those years ago when I first read this, or did I just so admire what he had done that I forgave the last third of the book, or was I less critical 40 years ago. I shall never know. Don't get me wrong I still admire Ted Simon greatly, but pull yourself together man !! The relationships Ted formed and the time he spent working the land on the ranch in California had a huge impact on his life, so much so he later decided to make the Golden State his home. They met Ted Simon, and enjoyed an afternoon of story-swapping; my dad said this book made him want to take off across the world again. Knowing my own taste for travel and the edgy, dangerous, or uncomfortable experience, my dad lent me his signed copy of this book as a way of sharing something he cares about. The journey had little to do with motorcycles, which was really just a conduit for the narrative – a unique way of getting around that hadn’t, to my knowledge, been done before. As a method of travelling, motorcycles are very physically demanding; you’re completely exposed to the elements. Over the years, motorcycle travel has become something of a trademark of mine, and I’ve written several books about my two-wheeled journeys.

Jupiter’s Travels – America (excerpt 2) https://naxosaudiobooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Jupiter_America_extract2.mp3

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Jupiter’s Travels – Africa (excerpt) https://naxosaudiobooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Jupiter_Africa_extract.mp3 With the aim of discovering how the world had changed in the intervening 28 years, on 27th January 2001, aged 69, Ted embarked on a second journey. This time he rode a BMW R80 GS over 59,000 miles through 47 countries. which details his search for his mother's and, particularly, his father's roots in Eastern Europe. This time he mainly walked and caught public transport between Kaliningrad and Romania. This was not long after the Communist regimes in Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Romania had fallen.

In those days I played jazz clarinet, and a famous jazz musician gave me a note to a friend of his in Paris who ran a newspaper office. The friend gave me a job as a messenger boy, and that was how I became a journalist. No, that’s alright. I can’t begrudge the time. You know, the book has been important to me too. Obviously, it’s been not only a great source of income, but it has kind of validated my life in a way almost nothing else has.” To round out his travelogue, he actually comes to believe that he's a demigod. I'm serious...I couldn't make this stuff up. He thinks he's a god among ants. It's where the book title comes from. Jupiter is him. He even gave himself a god's name.

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His first book, The Chequered Year, or "Grand Prix Year" (U.S. 1972), was an account of the 1970 Formula One season.

I also enjoyed how classically 70's his story is - right down to that awesome photo on the cover. Ted Simon shared his thoughts willingly, and with honesty - there are some odd thoughts, some awkward encounters, and admittedly, that he could have edited those out to make himself look better. I liked that he didn't do that. They are different from other men, these road builders. Some kind of esprit de corps animates them, as though the roads and bridges they are making are only the physical symbols of a desire to help the world along." p. 108

What led to Jupiter’s Travels?

Try as I would to imagine a rosier future, I could see only ever-increasing numbers of people determined to seize on the resources of the earth and pervert them into greater and greater heaps of indestructible concrete and plastic ugliness, only to look and learn and retreat in penitent dismay before the next wave of 'developing' citizens. And there seemed to be nothing that I or any individual could do that would make it a jot of difference to the outcome." p.214 I didn’t have any problem thinking that I could ride a motorcycle because millions of people, including presumably millions of idiots, were doing it, so I didn’t see why I should have trouble. But, of course, I had no idea what it would be like to ride a bike in bad conditions. And, I had absolutely no idea what those bad conditions would be except that I knew there would be desert somewhere. I had no idea how to do that and I never had time to find out before I started. It would have been useful to have someone to tell me how to ride across sand, but I never had time to learn, or mud, or any of those things.” Oh tell me please, how does it go, the triple jump?" She pro nounced it tripee-el She had a way of pleading for things in her Brazilian English to make you understand that they were matters simultaneously of no consequence and of life and death. You could refuse, and nothing would be changed; or you could give, and earn undying gratitude. It was a great gift, which she had won by long effort and sorrow and laughter. It was the humorous residue of cravings which had once been corrosive enough to etch her face. If the book's conclusions are depressing, the writing is anything but. It is, at times, sparse, at others gloriously luminescent, but always self-deprecating. Simon's physical powers are diminishing, but his writing just gets better. The wonderful portraits of the people he encounters, often redolent of Bruce Chatwin, are sometimes so enticing that, were this a movie, you'd swear they were a plant for later on. But we never see or hear from most of them again and this, I suppose, is the essence of the journey. I rode forever on an astounding web of freeways, four or eight lanes wide, laid out like a never-ending concrete waffle over thousands of square miles, looking for somewhere to go, but found nothing.

I thought that would be a very exciting way to do it. It would be bloody dangerous I would probably get killed, but it would be worth the effort and it would make a good book. So that’s really how it all began. It took six months to get it going.” While those who choose to explore the world by motorcycle spend plenty of time planning adventures, big and small, nothing could prepare Ted for the challenge of returning home.I asked him what he was going to do with the money he earns from the books. His pension plan? “Not likely!” He replied, and so the other reason for the twinkle in his eyes came to light. The next project he has in hand is The Ted Simon Foundation. When I asked him to explain what it’s all about he pointedly replied, “It’s a way of saving journalism from journalists.” The choice of word just shows how narrow minded he is and it was not easy to read through paragraphs of him putting down the people around him and lifting himself up as this wonderful hero who is able to drive through Africa and with this tough man imagine. Reviewed as part of my ongoing saga to write a review for every book I've read and logged on GR. (Written March 2019) He went on to tell us, “One of the aims of The Ted Simon Foundation is to encourage overlanders to travel with the ambition to learn about the places they are travelling through. There is no better way to get to know people and their culture than to live and perhaps even work with them for a while. Most overlanders stumble across opportunities, but I want to encourage them to travel with intent.” He rounded that comment off with this, “The dumbest question I get asked is ‘why did you do your four year journey’? Why would you not want to know what’s going on in the world?”