For Kix Marshall, there is nothing better than heading out on the open road and escaping to somewhere new and exotic.
The Red Deer writer, traveller and speaker hit the road for the adventure of a lifetime late last month as he plans to travel by motorbike from the City all the way down to the small town of Ushuaia, Argentina at the southernmost tip of South America.
“I planned this trip about four years ago. Some buddies had planned a trip to go around the world in vehicles but it didn’t really pan out, so I just revamped the trip by myself on my bike and made it as simple as possible. I just wanted to know if I could do it or not, really,” said Marshall, who plans to take about a year to make the journey, which is about 12,615 kms as the crow flies.
But by road, it’s a much longer journey as Marshall will have to travel through the U.S. and Mexico before traversing the whole of South America.
“Depends on who you talk to but there could be drug lords or banditos or getting robbed in your sleep. My parents listed off 100 things before I left but I was like well a couple of beaches and beers, so we had differing opinions about what would be concerns,” Marshall said about some of the challenges he might face along the way.
So why make the trip at all then?
“It’s way warmer than here,” Marshall laughed before adding that being from North America the two biggest road trips you can take are north to Alaska or south to South America and he decided on the latter.
“This is, essentially, the longest one I can pick from here so it’s going to be a good trip I hope.”
A veteran traveller, Marshall said he hasn’t done a whole lot of pre-planning for this particular trip.
“I just planned the destination point and that was it. I was like I need to make it to the southern tip and that’s it. That’s my only concern.”
This won’t be Marshall’s first time making the trip south; when he was 25 he drove down to Guatemala and came back. But this time he plans to take things a whole lot further. And as far as living accommodations go, things are going to be pretty spartan.
“Well I’ve got a tent in the back of this thing,” he laughed, gesturing towards his motorcycle. “And if I’m lucky there’ll be a hostel but I don’t see a lot of hotels in my future.”
But in the end, Marshall said he thinks it will all be worth it.
“This is like a test, man. I want to see if I can actually do it or not because it’s a lot of mental stuff if you’re on the bike all day by yourself. So I figure if I can do this, I can do anything.”
To follow his journey, visit www.kixmarshall.com.
zcormier@reddeerexpress.com
