Taste the World by Palate Lead from a Motorcycle
Forks: A Quest for Culture, Cuisine, and Connection. Three Years. Five Continents. One Motorcycle.
Allan Karl hit the road with a quest for more of life. More culture, more cuisine…more! He prepared for his 3-year long journey with family and friends warning him not to go. It was more out of their fear and concern for him; they were worried that he would get sick or hurt or worse. But Allan saw the world a little differently. He imagined a World of friendly people as eager as he was to learn, to share, and connect. "I hoped to and did, prove them wrong. My quest was to explore, to discover the beauty of our world and its Humanity. To uncover truths about them both and to find and learn more about myself."
So he sold all he owned and hit the road for three years alone on the motorcycle down the unknown road and expansive landscapes. He quit the job in the company that he founded and began to do an exploration of the world we live in, but an even more in-depth exploration of self.
As a fellow solo traveler spending over a year on the road on my bike alone, I realize the loneliness that others worried about is what opens you up to such a beautiful array of cultural experiences because you're not a threat because you were alone. When asked how Allan felt about being a solo traveler he talked about the lessons that he learned over the three years and "perhaps the most important thing, is that even though I set off on this journey alone, I was never alone. Whenever I found myself lost, lonely, or hungry, I would just turn around and find somebody always there."
When you set out on two wheels, the world is open to you in a way unlike any other. I've talked about it in many of my past blogs and it may seem like a reiteration of the beauty in the world that surrounds us, but it is precisely that and because motorcycling opens you to a world that is experienced very differently than from inside a car, then from inside walls. This level of exploration and cultural connection depends on when you begin to break bread with those around you. Crossing Borders with Limitless communication, not allowing language to be a barrier but opening the door to experience through bread, through joy, you can feel Alan's passion throughout the book. It is evident that this is how he chose to share his travel story because this is the way he experienced it, he saw through photographs and tasted through food, he wanted his book to be dinner with friends. " I remember the connections I had made with new friends over the meals and stories we had shared together."
Share in the connections, or dive into one of the 40+ recipes for savoring. Find more at www.allankarl.com and www.forksthebook.com
Written by Danell Lynn, Guinness World Record Rider –www.danelllynn.com, @danelllynn Photography copyrights & Images: Allan Karl