Do you think The Kids Of Today are all just slaves to screens? Not so—hard enduro rider Matt Spears is back with a new video showing his enjoyment of life, liberty and the pursuit of moto-happiness on a 1,000-mile ADV trip through the American west, with his girlfriend… on a Gold Wing.
I’m not super-familiar with the route they’re on, but the Magruder Corridor and Montana BDR are well-known to many ADVrider members. The scenery looks amazing, and Matt’s adventure appears to be the trip of a lifetime. Visiting ghost towns, eating camp pancakes cooked with fresh-picked wild blackberries, and dodging massive rainstorms the whole way. This is no luxury guided trip; Matt and his girlfriend are out there eating Kraft Dinner and hot dogs and cold clam chowder. But they’re having an adventure instead of being glued to their phones or chained to a desk.
It wouldn’t hurt Matt to start wearing actual riding pants before he loses a sizeable chunk of epidermis, although he manages to survive a spill or two here without needing skin grafts. But aside from questionable gear choices, I thoroughly enjoyed this 42-minute video. There’s none of the pretentious navel-gazing or self-righteous lecturing or privileged whining we see in so many travel videos: Just good old-fashioned fun from young people who are out there to enjoy life.
My favourite takeaway quotes:
“We didn’t get to the fire lookout, but that just gives us reason to come back with a more capable Wing!”
“Babe, this is what the Bozeman yuppies call overlanding!”
“Not suitable for passenger cars…Luckily, it doesn’t say Not suitable for Gold Wing!”