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Epilogue - Wow! What a ride!

Before setting off on this trip, someone sent me an email saying he hoped that at the end, I would be keeping with the citation in my website:

 "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in the broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used, totally worn out, shouting "wow! What a ride" ", Hunter S Thomson

So here it is, especially for you friend: "Wow! What a ride!"

It has been the adventure of a lifetime. It has been incredible, tough, challenging at times, but also incredibly amazing. We crossed what I believe is  the most beautiful continent on earth, through deserts, jungles, mountains, glaciers and salt flats. We have been very cold or very hot, we picked stomach bugs here and there, had to face our biggest challenge in Brazil, with  the theft of my bike, but in the end, we were unstoppable. We did what we set out  to do, with few changes along the way due to my big crash and lost time.

Along the way we discovered the south american people, encountered incredible friendship, kindness and generosity.

It has not been an easy ride sometimes, I had to face up to my fears on difficult terrifying mountain tracks. My lack of off-road experience led to many small crashes at small speed. I did improve eventually, I had to. There was no choice.  When the tarmac runs out, what can you do but continue and hope for  the best!

Yes it has been quite a ride, but in the end, there is absolutely nothing I regret on this trip (maybe with the exception of my choice of bike: F*&%£&$ BMW!!!!) .

It has been up to my expectations, and sometimes way beyond. For anyone who is considering doing a trip like this, I would say: just do it! You will have a blast!

So it is the end. 

 We came back, found new jobs, rather easily and too quickly. We got back into the routine. Nothing has changed, but for me everything has changed. I have changed, there is no way back.

We slipped back into the work routine, as before, but our future will be very different. We had time to reflect and decide what we want from life and how to get there. The thought of working until we drop is definitely not the plan.

So it is the end of the road, for this trip, but it is not the end of the Franglais Riders. We will be back soon enough. We have big plans and big dreams.

I have already chosen more or less my future travel bike. The route is laid.. It is just now a matter of working some time for funding the next big ride!

So, wherever you are in the world, keep an eye for us, you may bump into the Franglais Riders sooner than you think!

Until then... as the argentinians say: "Suerte!"

Maria x
The End... for now!