Tracks and Horizons: 26 Countries on a Motorcycle

by Carlos A. Caggiani, Ed Caggiani (Translator)

From 1964 to 1966, Carlos Caggiani travelled to 26 countries on a 1947 Indian Chief motorcycle with hardly a penny to his name. At 24 years of age, he embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. He spent time with everyone from poor natives in the Andes mountains, to rich families in the United States. He crossed rivers without bridges, suffered famine, intense heat and cold, guided his motorcycle through rain and snow storms, rode on dirt and cobblestone roads, was chased by the FBI, was shot at in Bolivia during a revolutionary war, and had a serious accident due to a mechanical failure in Panama that left him hospitalized for 17 days. The experiences in this book demonstrate a human being's tenacity and triumph in the face of adversity, and shows that anything is possible. There is always something more just beyond the horizon...and as the horizon expands, our limits disappear.

Genres: Travel, Motorcycling, Motorcycle

244 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2009

About the author

Nació en Montevideo, Uruguay el 30 de junio de 1940. Estudió en el Colegio de los Padres Pallotinos, y tecnología mecánica en la UTU (Universidad del Trabajo del Uruguay).
En 1962 creó y patentó el calentador instantáneo conocido como SUN ("Soy Una Novedad"), para calentar agua.
Actualmente jubilado, fue empresario e ingeniero, carrera que estudió en Estados Unidos. Escribió varios libros "Deshojando recuerdos" (1998), un libro de poesías con memorias de su niñez y juventud, "Un nuevo Martín Fierro" (2000), que fue una recopilación de su vida de aventurero escrita en verso, y "Huellas y Horizontes" (2009).

Reviews

[David Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when people write about their experiences, they get so deep into the meaning of every expression they see on someomes face or every play of light shinning throught the trees onto a quiet lake. Carlos makes reading this account of his experiences between 1964 and 1966 an easy read with a ligh,t straight forward narrative. Using excerpts from the journal he kept during this long ride, I got to know what it was like to travel with a friend on a heavy old Indian Chief motorcycle through 26 countries including the United States. There were times I thought he was crazy and times I wished I could have ridden with him on my motorcycle. It didn't matter really as I always wanted to get back to the story.

[Pat Loughery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine adventure travel memoir written by a 26-year-old Uruguayan who rides a 1947 Indian motorcycle around the world in the mid 1960s. I*t has the romantic sense of Che Guevarra's journey but with very different outcomes.

I wish that the author had spent more time near the end talking more about his decision to abandon the trip. Many long adventures like this have a moment or a season of hopelessness, and some folks push through that to find a new zest. This author had other (financial, health) challenges, so it's understandable why he chose to do what he did. But I'd have loved to hear more about his thought process there.

I would call this 4.5 stars.

[Ed Caggiani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally written by my father, Carlos A. Caggiani, in Spanish and I recently translated it into English. So I'm obviously biased when I say this is an amazing true life story of a man and his old motorcycle travelling around the world in the 1960's.

[Spyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just traveled to most of these places, I really enjoyed the narrative. I had to keep reminding myself that this journey took place almost 45 years earlier. Even still the observations hold true. I'll be rereading this one soon.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but a really good travel book

[Sumit Shinde · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best travel books I have read so far. This book clearly demonstrates that travel does not mean expensive. It's never about the money. It's more about the will. How far can one go to achieve his goals. There are rewards and there are downsides too. This books clearly shows that. Hats off to Carlos for pulling 26 countries with hardly any money in the pocket.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a good number of memoirs. I enjoy reading about other's lives and what they have learned or the adventure they go on. I always walk away with something. I kept waiting to see what I would walk away with from this book. While, there was a definite sense of adventure, I felt it lacked something. I'm not 100% sure what was missing - I think perhaps some sort of redemption or a sense of how he changed. Perhaps there was none of that and it was simply an adventure. I mean, he did make a large change after, but I'm just not sure.

I did enjoy hearing about his adventure, but I felt the emotion was missing from the author's voice. It was kind of flat in places. Perhaps this was lost in the translation, I'm not sure. I think it really needed more of what was going on with the author's mind and perhaps it would have also done well with a more fleshed-out epilogue, giving us less of the travel and more of what happened in his life after.

I did really enjoy learning about the places he visited and people he met, it was a nicely written travel journal. For that reason, I'd recommend this book more for people looking to read an adventurous travel journal.

[Ed Caggiani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally written by my father, Carlos A. Caggiani, in Spanish and I recently translated it into English. So I'm obviously biased when I say this is an amazing true life story of a man and his old motorcycle travelling around the world in the 1960's.