Riding High: The Stories That Jupiter's Travels Didn't Tell

by Ted Simon

Book Overview

Riding High is packed with untold episodes from the Jupiter journey of Ted Simon's book Jupiter's Travels: his confrontations with a murderous military in Chile, his farcical arrest in India, bizarre customs in Thailand and Malaysia, his hilarious entanglements with a bottle of bad Dubonnet in Ecuador, and many more. Simon contrasts them with the touching and turbulent events that followed his return to domesticity, and explains what became of him...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965478513
• ISBN13: 9780965478519
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Jupitalia Productions
• Length: 316 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Untold stories,

How can one possibly expect someone to tell a 4 year journey in one book? Well that's why Ted Simon wrote a "second" Jupiters Travel. If you enjoyed Jupiters Travel, dont hesitate to buy Riding High. It gives you more insight into how Ted travelled, what went on in his mind and life. Especially that he shares his "settling down" years made the book a good read.

Excellent follow-up to Jupiter's Travels

Point to ponder: Ted Simon muses that "The interruptions ARE the journey". This book causes one to think about priorities in life and what drives them. Ted writes from a British perspective and humor and provides an insightful description of the real world as he passes through it. He describes his travel brilliantly as penetrating life's mysteries. He has been robbed, imprisoned, threatened and hospitalized. He has gone from ecstatic to despondent, but continued on, speaking to the therapeutic effects the motorcycle had on him (and his digestion). He showed keen insight into his fellow travelers as well as the indigenous peoples he observed in the many locales visited. I enjoyed his command of language and appreciated the level to which he writes. I scrambled for my lexicon and index of foreign phrases, for I enjoy the chase of literature. I was mindful of the BMW Anonymous tradition in which a rider can always find help due to his association with the marque. Ted created his own contact list as he moved along. It seems that we are really on a very small planet. I enjoyed the lessons in cultures such as the four Indian groups and an understanding of the caste system from which escape is impossible. Also, Ted provided valuable and interesting tidbits of history and cultural mores which some might find distasteful but are fascinating to me. This book fills in the gaps left by the first book "Jupiter's Travels. It continues to be an account of contradictions and inner struggles of wants and needs, both real and preceived as he marries and attempts to settle down in California. This is a real guy who suffers like the rest of us and shows us grit. I am envious of his experiences for I know that sharing them vicariously is as close as I will get. Read the book!

For the gypsy in all of us (not just bikers) - a must read!

I read this book... oh! so, so many years ago as a fresh undergraduate in England and,twenty years hence,is among the handful of books I remember vividly. I was drawn to the book simply because I had planned a similar trip in 1975(hitch-hiking) and never got to do it. Being from the East I can vouch for a number of his Asian narratives and some of his Mid-Eastern stories (I was later based in that region). His free-wheeeling (no pun intended) style of story telling is punctuated with enough humor and philosophy to make it a wonderful read. Highly recommended!

Jupiter Rides Again!

Riding High is a wonderful companion to JupiterÕs Travels. In it Ted Simon elaborates upon his four-year trip around the world and he also tells us about how hard it was for him to come to terms with journeyÕs end! Settling into married life in Mill Valley is a far cry from living a constantly changing, exciting life in the glorious here and now for four years! Ted makes us feel his struggle to adapt. He does this very tellingly by interspersing some domestic scenes with on-the road scenes. For myself, I felt claustrophobic when I read about his domestic life and longed for him to be on the road again. However, I think these scenes help us understand his dilemma: how can he reconcile a longing to be on the move with a yearning for the simple life in one place? It becomes apparent that Ted, although a compassionate and friendly person, is at heart a bit of a lone wolf! All the travel scenes are great, particularly those in India and South America and the book is full of fascinating information and insights, all of which Ted shares with us in his usual honest, articulate and engaging way.