Raven’s Rides
Raven's Rides Motorcycle Blog

I had a love-hate relationship with this book. The story is amazing: I could not help but admire his courage, sheer bloody-mindedness and his soul-searching. His insights were deep and this was the aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most.

But the editing was terrible and the writing poor, with many spelling and grammar errors. It’s such a tragedy that the small publisher who put this book out could not have spent a little money on a professional editor. With one, this would have been brilliant: an insightful travel essay that flowed easily instead of choking on itself like an engine with carb problems.

Robbie was shot at, laughed at, and managed to inspire at least one person to leave a poor situation and change her life for the better. His descriptions of border crossings and corruption just serve to remind me that I’m not even remotely interested in doing this kind of trip myself. It’s good, then, that there are books like his to describe what it’s like. Remember that he did it unsupported, on his own savings, with no film crew and few guides.

I understand clearly how lost it is possible to feel when you come home from such a life-changing thing and realize that it wasn’t enough, that you want to do it all over again, and that nothing will ever be the same again.

I wanted to contact him and ask him some questions, but it appears that since the book came out, he passed away. :(

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