Inspirational motorcycle trip stretched from Alaska through South America

For over a year Texas Rider News has followed the remarkable journey of a Texan man, Alex Chacon who just completed a 503 day motorcycle ride from Alaska to the southern tip South America this spring - and met several inspiring people along the way. (Modern Motorcycle Diaries: Man captures his 500 day trip across the Americas)

The 26-year-old completed his 82,459-mile journey in April, which he documented in a film "The Modern Motorcycle Diaries."

The El Paso Texas resident told the Daily News he planned the trip for years before deciding to sell everything he owned - except for his Xbox — and hopped on his Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle and traveled down to South America.

"This had been a lifelong dream for years," he said. "Enough dreaming can get you to a lot of places in life."

Chacon started his journey from El Paso to South America and blogged along the way. But he said he ran out of money by the time he reached Peru. But then sponsors and people who were following his progress began making contributions so he could continue.

"I did a lot of couch surfing and I would sleep in peoples' yards," he said. "People would find me online and tell me to stay with them."

He eventually rode back to North America and made it all the way to Alaska before turning around and heading back home to Texas.

The movie shows clips on his journey through various roadways including dirt, meadows, cliffs, water, sand, bridges populated with people and one very narrow rock wall.

He also shows some local communities he encountered in Latin America.

There were some cultural differences that struck Chacon — such as the treatment of the mentally ill. Chacon said in many communities people who had mental illnesses were shunned from their towns.

“A lot of them were scapegoated,” he said. “The people there just didn’t understand mental illness.”

The motorcycle enthusiast also began using his newfound fame to raise awareness for charities that helped impoverished children in the region. Chacon did not accept the donations himself so he doesn't know how much he raised in total but said it should easily be thousands of dollars.

Chacon took his trip after graduating from the University of Texas with a degree in BioMedical Sciences. He plans to pursue a doctorate, but right now his dreams may be taking him to new places — he has plans for similar motorcycle trips in Africa and Asia.

The major things Chacon said he'll remember is the people — especially the generosity of the children he met in Latin America.

"They were so happy and giving and generous," he said. "Some of the poorest people I encountered were also the most generous."

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Source: Daily News (Landau, 11/20)

The Modern Motorcycle Diaries

Take the daydream of every rider who has sat in the saddle, add in a famous book, movie and slice of history and you'll arrive at today's Clutch and Chrome video spotlight.

Created by Alex Chacon from Texas, 'The Modern Motorcycle Diaries' not only shows a biker living out the dream of an ultimate road trip, but the rider ingenuity as he films himself on this two wheeled journey is quite incredible.

Alaska to Argentina in 500 Days, the sights and roads of a motorcycle journey, a one man video documentary of the craziest, most beautiful and intense roads the Western World has to offer.

Follow Alex Chacon from Texas, as he navigates through the dangerous and exciting Pan American route through the Americans on motorcycle, an Epic continuance to the famous motorcycle diaries with Ernesto Che Guevara.

Everyday Clutch and Chrome scours the internet for interesting motorcycle-related videos. Okay, many will see this as goofing off on youtube, but its all a matter of perspective.

We look for everything from classic commercials to excerpts from movies and even interesting videos posted by everyday riders.

Clutch and Chrome is happy to feature these motorcycle related videos. The video remains the rights of its respective creators.



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Source: Clutch and Chrome (AP, 7/20)

Modern Motorcycle Diaries: Man Captures His 500-Day Trip Across the Americas

If you feel feelings of wanderlust and jealousy easily, you might want to stay away from the story of Alex Chacon. He’s a guy who recently completed a 503-day solo journey on a motorcycle. He rode 82,459 miles across 22 countries in both North and South America. Chacon also captured photos and videos throughout the journey in order to document his experience.

Here’s a 9-minute video Chacon put together after returning to his home in Texas. It shows highlights taken from over 600 hours of video, and has gone viral with hundreds of thousands of views in less than a month:

The journey started shortly after Chacon graduate from the University of Texas with a degree in biomedical sciences. Prior to starting his graduate school studies, he decided to follow through with his longtime dream of exploring the world adventurously while supporting a worthy cause.

Starting from his home in El Paso, Texas, Chacon rode south until he hit Ushuaia, Argentina, the “End of the World.” He then rode up to Brazil, then all the way up the Americas to Alaska before finally riding home to Texas.

Chacon says he sold everything he had prior to embarking on this ambitious journey — one that was inspired by Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries — and used the trip to raise awareness and money for the charity Children of Uganda. To raise money, he worked for two months, sold his car, sold his clothes, gave blood, and took every opportunity he could find to make and save money.

Over the course of the trip, Chacon passed through interstates, highways, dirt roads, no roads, mud, rivers, through hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, rain, hail, sun shine, snow, ice roads, and more. Every night he would stay at whatever shelter he could find: gas stations, parks, couch surfing, hostels, or anyone willing to take him in. His meals would often consist of various canned foods.

As his story began spreading on the Internet, fans became donors and contributed food, money, and gas. Even the bike company Kawasaki contributed $1,000 toward a new bike, and GoPro joined in as a contributor as well.

Video and images during the trip were captured using a Canon DSLR, GoPro camera, and a special monopod Chacon designed for himself. The GoPro would often be fixed to the side of his helmet and the side of his bike.

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Source: PetaPixel (Zhang, 5/10)