Father

Father (Larry) started riding mini bikes in the 1960’s. Before he graduated from high school he had raced more than a hundred events, won dozen of trophies, earned local sponsorships and competed on more than a dozen different motorcycles. He competed in many kinds of off-road motorcycle competition including motocross, enduro, observed trials, desert racing, TT, flat track and hare scrambles. This early passion for motorcycle riding never diminished.

Larry grew up as an Army brat so he was accustom to frequent moving. Following high school, he moved several times as he attended and graduated from Arizona Automotive Institute, Pepperdine University and The School of Theology at Claremont. His early passion for traveling and education never diminished.

Larry worked as an automotive mechanic to help pay for his educational expenses. While at seminary he was ordained and worked as a minister for seven years. He then went through his first retirement and pursued his interest in technology. That sent him on a rapid career taking positions with a Fortune 50 company, a couple Internet start-up companies, his own technology company and a stint teaching college courses. Along the way he earned a couple of patents and spent more than a decade working on cutting edge technology. His interest in technology never diminished.

In 2006 Larry retired from the corporate world to spend more time with family, growing his own business and a heighten involvement with Adventure Travel. Larry found that Adventure Travel was a perfect outlet for combining his life long interest in motorcycling, travel and technology. Throughout the last four decades he has logged more than a million miles on more than a hundred different motorcycles riding in four continents and more than a dozen different countries. Many of these motorcycle experiences have been fully shared with family members.

After two brushes with death in the last few years Larry has pledged to ride more, travel more and commit to at least one international motorcycle adventure annually as long as he is able. As the song says, “live like you are dying.” Larry has been doing that for several years now. He thinks another twenty to thirty years is still in order.

The “likefatherlikedaughter” tour is a natural extension to Larry’s numerous travel adventures. However, this tour will be a little different in two ways. This will be the longest continuous motorcycle adventure he has completed to date and it will include a passenger, his daughter, for the entire duration.

Daughter

Daughter (Clara) grew up riding motorcycles also (what a surprise). From the time she was old enough to hold on, Clara rode on the back of her dad’s motorcycle as he led groups of solo riders through long, challenging routes. One of her frequent expressions on the trail was, “Go faster, daddy!” She would often return from their rides and ramble on about the experience to others in great detail. Once she proudly pulled her helmet off showing off the new scratches and proclaiming with excitement, “Look what we went through!”

Of course, Clara also developed her own love for riding and has logged many miles off-road through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the sand dunes of California. She is a great rider and has competed in several motorcycle events. Currently, she is trying her hand at kart racing. In just her first year of racing she has a couple of wins under her belt.

On this adventure, she will be riding two up with her dad for a couple of reasons. First, it will be half as expensive taking only one bike. Being on the back will allow her to be more relaxed and more easily take in the scenery and experiences. It will also allow for easy conversation while in route.

Clara has graduated from college and will soon be taking on lasting responsibilities as she begins a career and family. One of her reasons for taking this kind of adventure now is knowing that it will be more difficult to do so in the future for some time to come.