No GPS, No Backup, Just the Ride
Book Review: “Jupiter’s Travels” by Ted Simon
★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)
As my readers may or may not know, my word of the year for 2025 is ADVENTURE.
In order to personally live this out, I’m taking a solo motorcycle ride later this summer from California to Montana to visit my son Jack. From there, I’ll loop through the Pacific Northwest and eventually make my way back home. But, this isn’t just a road trip, it’s a purposeful, soul-searching journey that I’ve broken down into three main reasons:
To see the open road and take on a route I’ve never traveled before.
To ride solo, with just my bike, the road and my thoughts
To reflect on where the first half of life has brought me and dream about the second half.
Earlier this year, I purchased my travel companion, Hobbes, which I have blogged about earlier (follow the link). And, in preparation, I’ve been doing some inner work and some outer research to inspire my trip. One of the books that landed in my lap is Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon.
Jupiter - Ted Simon’s Triumph 100 on display in the national motor museum*
Simon took a solo ride around the world on his Triumph Tiger 100, a relatively small motorcycle by today’s standards (a 500 cc motorbike he called Jupiter). I have included a photo of his actual bike in this post. This bike is very cool and Simon has commented multiple times that it’s never been cleaned since his trip. Full of dust and road grime, this bike is a thing of beauty, battered by the road and full of stories.
Jupiter’s Travels is a book which chronicles his four-year journey through 45 countries during the 1970s. That alone makes it fascinating. The geopolitical backdrop he wrote about was very real: rising gas prices, war zones, border crossings, and vehicle breakdowns in foreign cultures (without a Triumph dealer nearby). And he did it all without GPS, smartphones, or a production team. No comfy trailers or backup crews like you see in my fave Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman motorcycle series (Long Way Round, Long Way Down, Long Way Up and Long Way Home). Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love those shows (Kendra laughs at me, because she knows how painful it is for me to watch these two guys ride motorcycles around the world), but Ted Simon was doing it the hard way, alone and unsure where the next petrol station or dry bed might be.
“Ted Simon was the original. Without Jupiter’s Travels, there’d be no Long Way Round.”
In fact, Jupiter’s Travels didn’t just inspire me, it helped spark an entire generation of modern motorcycle adventurers. Ewan and Charley have publicly credited the book as a key inspiration, and during their journey, they even met up with Simon himself. It’s a cool moment in the series. Simon passing the torch to two new road warriors, proving that the spirit of adventure is timeless.
I listened to Jupiter’s Travels on audio, which was a great way to experience it. It felt like I was riding alongside him, getting caught in the rain, stuck at a border crossing, or meeting a stranger who offered unexpected kindness.
Simon later did a second trip and wrote a second book called Dreaming of Jupiter. In that book, he retraced his route decades later, reflecting on what had changed, both in the world and in himself. I didn’t read that book, because in full honesty: I had a hard time relating to Simon as a writer. His voice didn’t always land with me, and parts of the book feel dated. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth the ride. It absolutely was. His story scratched the itch I have for real adventure. Just him and the bike on an unplugged journey through the backroads of the world.
So, if you want a book with some real Indiana Jones kind of travel where the road is gritty and the main character undergoes deep transformation, this book may be right up your alley.
And if you're following along on my upcoming ride, Jupiter’s Travels is a big piece of what’s been fueling the fire. Stay tuned.
Quietly making noise,
Fletch
A Note About My Own Ride
I don’t plan to make my trip into some sort of public travel diary. This ride is personal—something I need to do with the throttle open, my head quiet, and my heart listening. That said, when the time comes, I’ll share glimpses here and there on Instagram for those who want to follow along.
If you're curious, keep an eye on the blog and the podcast—I’ll be talking more about the trip, the prep, and the thoughts swirling around it as I get closer to departure. This ride is part adventure, part reflection, and all about living the second half of life with intention.
* The photo of Jupiter was taken by David Merrett and used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license and was originally posted to Flickr, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 19 October 2011, 21:23 by Biker Biker. On that date, it was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the license indicated and has not been altered for this blogpost.
