The Longest Ride: My 10-Year 500,000 Mile Motorcycle Journey
  Hopping aboard the Black Princess, his 1980 Honda Gold Wing, Emilio Scotto set out on a record-breaking world tour that lasted more than a decade. He bagan by exploring his native South America, followed by Central America, Mexico, and the United States. From there he went to Europe, from there to the Soviet Union, and from there on to Africa.
The list of countries Emilio toured in the following years—Tunisia, Libya, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone (where he was set upon by cannibals), Liberia, Congo, Zaire, Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia (from which he escaped from an old freighter), Petra, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, China, Tibet, Singapore—is practically endless, matched only by the list of adventures he had during his journey.
With more than 200 photos, The Longest Ride takes the reader along on Emilio's ride as he relives this amazing, record-breaking adventure of a lifetime.
Table of Contents
- Guinea, West Africa, Bijagos Archipelago
- In the Beginning
- The Journey Around the World Begins
- Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn
- The Wrath of God
- The Priest of the Despoiled Village
- The Amazon
- Manaus
- El Dorado
- Soul of the Lowlands
- Central America—Small Land, Big Hell
- War Along the Pan-American Highway
- Gateway to the Past
- The Land of the Big Hats
- Into my First First World
- On the UFOs Highway
- Flying Over the Atlantic
- Third Continent—Europe
- Fourth Continent—Africa
- Black Africa
- Dakar
- The Swamp Where the World Ends
- Into the Covas
- Trucking
- Something to Forget
- Liberia—The Lower Level of Hell
- Congo
- Down in the Dark
- The Cameroon Trail
- Equatorial Guinea—And Macias Was God
- Down with Malaria
- Mongomo
- The South of Africa
- The East Coast of Black Africa
- Mombasa
- Somalia
- War! Ground Zero
- The Gobwein
- Khartoum
- Goodbye Africa
- Arab Peninsula
- Reunion with the Angel
- Marrying an Angel
- Second Journey Around the World
- Mongolia
- Silk Road
- U.S.S.R.
- Second North American Tour
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
For his eighth birthday, Emilio Scotto's mother bought him a world atlas. He told his mother that he would make a route that would pass through all the countries of the world. As an adult, through a melding of fate, karma, and luck, he got his hands on the most amazing machine: a black 1100 Honda Gold Wing motorcycle. "This will be my ticket to see the world," he said to himself. With no money or credit cards, and zero travel experience, Emilio bid farewell to his family, hopped on his motorcycle, and headed into the unknown. This began a decade-long journey that landed him in the Guinness Book of World Records. This book chronicles Emilio's journey of a lifetime.
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