Fear Factor

C'mon, you've watched it for at least a minute or five. Two teams compete by doing or eating things that your mom spent 16 years telling you not to do or not to put in your mouth. But here's the slight of hand - before they do anything they put on pads and hook up to safety wires, and the audience knows that disgusting as the foodstuff maybe it has been sanitized and therefore is gross but harmless. So basically once the contestants get past the eeech or the yikes, they KNOW they are going to be OK.

Mark called last night. He had been tipped to the edge by well meaning advice from strangers telling him that banditos lurk around every turn, and police checkpoints are really just for revenue collection (ie las mordida - the little bite - bribe), and that two of us are more vulnerable than if we were in a large tour group. This is a true 'fear factor' for although we will wear helmets and riding jackets - there is no guarantee of physical safety, and who knows what will come off that street-side grill. And we'll have no 15 minutes of fame (that's a 30 minute show minus commercial breaks) to show for it.

Robert Fulton Jr traveled around the world in 1934 by motorcycle. Few roads, fewer telephones, no cell phones or faxes or computers, on a motorcycle which would be considered primitive by today's standards and without support vehicles or riding companion. His observations lead me to believe that a solo traveler, or pair, can be inconspicuous and travel quietly through a country. People were generally curious, courteous, and responded in kind to the treatment and attitude which they received.

It is an interesting issue on which to dwell, in the 10 hours of highway riding between here and Presidio. How many spares do you take, how safe is safe enough, and at what point do you put decorative iron grills over the windows and doors of your home. I've tried to deal with it all on what I call the 'reasonable man' level. I'll make sure my tires are in good condition, take a spare tube and patch kit and a pump. I check out my bike and make sure all is in correct working order and lubricated properly, take a spare for such parts as are vulnerable to breakage AND are critical to operation of the bike, tools to fix/replace same, and have the knowledge to do it. I know that carrying too much cash and displaying 'wealth' is a bad idea here, there or anywhere, and when the hairs on the back of my neck stand up I'll either stabilize the situation or remove myself far enough away to be comfortable again.

Put another way - there are those to whom riding a motorcycle into the Deep Elum entertainment district and leaving your helmet strapped to the bike with your personals in the tankbag unattended while you bar hop flashing cash until 3AM would seem like suicide. This compared with two sober, discrete travelers on the road during daylight hours or dining quietly in local restaurants with bikes in sight and removing bags into motel rooms each night in a foreign country.

Or I could stay at home at watch Fear Factor and 'eeech' and 'yike' with millions of Americans in the comfort of their living rooms with iron-work on the windows.