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Letter from Ted Simon



Hi all,
	This nice little note arrived in my mailbox this evening, and I thought 
I'd share it with you all. I'm curious if anyone else has the itch to 
help Ted out...

- -------- Original Message --------
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 17:00:47 -0500
From: Ted Simon <tsimon@xxxxxxx>
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while, and I owe you an update.

Pulling this journey together is strangely unlike the experience I
remember in 1973 - strange because I can't quite figure out why it's so
diferent. Maybe writing this down will help to clarify it for me (after
all, that's why I became a writer in the first place).

In detective work, they used to say <italic>cherchez la femme,
</italic>on the assumption that there was always a woman at the bottom
of it. In these non-sexist days, it's safer to follow the money. And
maybe that's why I feel as though my plan is still incomplete.

I have the bike, and it's well supported (more on that later).

I have some definite writing assignments in the UK that will bring in a
monthly amount, but the commitment so far is meager - about $850 a
month. That's less than $30 a day.

I figure my total fuel consumption will be about 1500 gallons (US)
which, spread over 18 months, may come to about $5 a day. While there
are plenty of places where one can live on less than $25 a day
(sometimes much less) it doesn't leave much of a margin, and it
certainly won't cover big ticket items like shipping the bike, and
myself, across various oceans.

That's not the end of the story, of course.

There's a film production - German/British - that's looking very
positive (although of little immediate financial benefit to me).

And of course I'm still negotiating with magazines in the US, but I've
got to tell you that getting timely responses from most of those people
is like pulling ring nails out of teak. I won't speculate on the
reasons for this - that's an essay in itself - but it makes life
difficult.

They may come through - frankly I think they'd be silly not to - but
enlightened self-interest doesn't seem to play a large part in the
motorcycle industry's choices. For example, take Triumph. I think
you'll agree that "Jupiter's Travels" is a fairly major presence in the
literature of Triumph. I've been identified with the marque for 27
years. When I began to plan this trip, the new Bonneville was
announced. Well, given what's available today, that bike is probably
not the first choice for rough off-road travel, but it's probably as
suitable as the old '73 Tiger was. And in my mind's eye, I saw the two
bikes - the old Tiger, and the new Bonneville - sitting facing each
other in the museum in Coventry, and that alone seemed worth the extra
effort of pushing it through the Sudanese desert. So I sent the people
in Hinckley my best shot - you know, TV, movies, press, the book at the
end of it all, and of course, the picture in the museum. I assumed they
would  give it some serious thought. Maybe they did, but if so they
haven't told me. In fact they never even acknowledged the letter.

Does that make any sense?

Fortunately I have a bike which is really much better equipped to
handle the journey. It was handed to me on a plate. Extraordinarily
enough, TWO people have  offered to give me motorcycles, both BMW GS's,
and both very similar. One is an R100GS, sitting in Switzerland. The
other is an R80 GS, of recent manufacture, with 1000cc pots, waiting in
England, so I chose that one. It is fully fitted out with Tesch boxes
and all kinds of other goodies, and the donor has generously offered to
keep me in parts, so that's what you get for writing a good book 21
years ago. If I get their permission, I'll identify both these
benefactors on a later occasion.


One very important element in my plans has always been a really
effective and dynamic web site. I had hoped that this would be provided
by one of the aforementioned magazines, and it may still happen, but I
feel less and less like leaving it in their tender care.

I have now inspected a number of expedition-style web sites. The ones
I've seen have terrific designs and not much content. So I am wondering
whether this is something I should grasp more firmly. In all humility
(really!) I can't think of anyone doing anything on this planet right
now that offers more potential for good content than this thing I'm
planning. So I have two questions for you.

First, is there anyone on the receiving end of this epistle who could
design and maintain a top-flight web site with maps, pictures and
stories, changing more or less constantly for 18 months?

Secondly, would you be willing to pay, say, $5 a month for access to
it? There would have to be enough of a viewer base to compensate the
webmaster, and enough over to leave me free to put my best stuff into
it.

Some people say there's too much free stuff on the web for this to
work. Well,  I don't want to knock it, but the stuff I've seen is free
for a reason.

Anyway, let me have your response, positive or negative. I'll soon know
whether this will fly.

But whatever happens, one way or another, I'll be leaving the UK at the
end of January, and it's going to be a fantastic adventure.

Thank you for taking an interest.








Ted Simon

"The interruptions ARE the journey"

Check out <italic>Jupiter's Travels</italic> and <italic>Riding
High</italic> at http://www.jupitalia.com




- -- 
Blake "Dawgbert" Sobiloff <sobiloff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Burlingame, CA, USA


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