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Praise for keith Thye’s books
“I was honestly a bit surprised at how hard Moto Raid was to put down. I think it only took me two sittings to finish it. If you’re interested in adventure travel stories (motorized or not!) check this out for a good read.”
– Beth, 3Up Adventures “Thye's writing style is innocent, yet captivating and at times you feel like you're riding alongside of Jack Keurouac on a BMW. Thye captures the people and places, the colors and the textures of the many third world nations he traveled through and how they appeared in the 60s.” – Tom Mehren, Sound Rider, Horizons Unlimited “Drawing it’s title from the Chilean word for “motorcycle ride”, this book like many other travelogues tends to get the reader thinking about the road. While the book may not be a blueprint for your own travels it is a fun and easy read of the type of adventure waiting for you when travel through foreign lands. Thye stays away from the overly philosophical ramblings of other world cyclists, instead giving us a clear view of travel in Central and South America during the early sixties. Of the book, round-the-world rider and author Ted Simon says this, ” What you read between the lines is the incredible joy and satisfaction they experienced riding the Andes and discovering a world few North Americans know.” I couldn’t say it any better.” – Victor Wanchena, MN Motorcycle |
Book Review: 50 Years Apart
Northwest buddies take two motorcycle trips to South America.
Read more here...
– Northwest Prime Time / September 1, 2017
Northwest buddies take two motorcycle trips to South America.
Read more here...
– Northwest Prime Time / September 1, 2017
Book Review: In 1963 Keith Thye and buddy Dave set off from Oregon to Chile on a pair of R50 BMWs.
It wasn't until 1999 that the story made it to paper. Now, contemporary recollections of historic overland journeys often go one of two ways: a blow by blow travelogue taken from diary entries and now lacking context, or a wildly over dramatized interpretation of the author’s memories (or fantasies).
Interestingly, MotoRaid manages to be an edited version of the former but written in a manner that does contextualise the whole experience of riding the PanAmerican Highway before it was sealed, or even properly demarcated.
It begins slowly enough and although not a ‘page turner,’ managed to draw me in as the pace quickened. The writing doesn’t metamorphose, but the experiences the lads are having certainly do. The longer they are on the road and the more their funds deplete, the more their attitudes change and thus the more exciting it all becomes.
This is interesting because it is being written 35 years after the event and yet Keith hasn’t tried to sex it all up in hindsight. It’s not a literary masterpiece and there isn’t attempt at adjective overload, but it somehow remains a really good read; an honest recounting of an amazing experience which I was in fact sad to reach the final page of. And what a finish! But I won’t give it away.
It’s adventure riding from way before the term existed and before GPS, Gortex or disc brakes. From a time when the ambassador could get you out of jail and strangers let you walk on the bed of the Panama Canal... It’s great stuff.
– Paddy Tyson / Overland Magazine / August 26, 2017
It wasn't until 1999 that the story made it to paper. Now, contemporary recollections of historic overland journeys often go one of two ways: a blow by blow travelogue taken from diary entries and now lacking context, or a wildly over dramatized interpretation of the author’s memories (or fantasies).
Interestingly, MotoRaid manages to be an edited version of the former but written in a manner that does contextualise the whole experience of riding the PanAmerican Highway before it was sealed, or even properly demarcated.
It begins slowly enough and although not a ‘page turner,’ managed to draw me in as the pace quickened. The writing doesn’t metamorphose, but the experiences the lads are having certainly do. The longer they are on the road and the more their funds deplete, the more their attitudes change and thus the more exciting it all becomes.
This is interesting because it is being written 35 years after the event and yet Keith hasn’t tried to sex it all up in hindsight. It’s not a literary masterpiece and there isn’t attempt at adjective overload, but it somehow remains a really good read; an honest recounting of an amazing experience which I was in fact sad to reach the final page of. And what a finish! But I won’t give it away.
It’s adventure riding from way before the term existed and before GPS, Gortex or disc brakes. From a time when the ambassador could get you out of jail and strangers let you walk on the bed of the Panama Canal... It’s great stuff.
– Paddy Tyson / Overland Magazine / August 26, 2017
Book Review: Ride On: A Tale of Two Journeys
Former Lake Oswego residents relive 16,000 mile motorcycle ride to Pucon, Chile, 50 years after the original trek.
Read more here...
– Sam Stites / Lake Oswego Review / July 21, 2017
Former Lake Oswego residents relive 16,000 mile motorcycle ride to Pucon, Chile, 50 years after the original trek.
Read more here...
– Sam Stites / Lake Oswego Review / July 21, 2017
I just now had a chance to read your Moto Raid II, your adventure to South America 50 years later.
I started late last night, and finished a couple of hours ago. I could not put it down! It was informative, interesting and written in a way that I thought I was right there with all of you. I have visited some of the Central and South American countries you drove through, climbing Machu Picchu, stopping in Cuszo, Lima, Guatemala, etc. it brought back wonderful memories. Yes, quite a courageous adventure you took on, particularly at that point in life!!
– Marlene Collins / July 21, 2017
I started late last night, and finished a couple of hours ago. I could not put it down! It was informative, interesting and written in a way that I thought I was right there with all of you. I have visited some of the Central and South American countries you drove through, climbing Machu Picchu, stopping in Cuszo, Lima, Guatemala, etc. it brought back wonderful memories. Yes, quite a courageous adventure you took on, particularly at that point in life!!
– Marlene Collins / July 21, 2017
Book Review: The Whole Story: An epic tale of two motorcycle trips 50 years apart
I had first heard a wisp of Keith Thye’s story from one of the service guys at my local shop, South Sound Motorcycles, of which Keith is president and his wife Ann is the owner. “Make sure someone important knows where you are. Have you heard Keith Thye’s story?”
Read more here...
– Marcia McGuire / BMW Owners News / June 2017
I had first heard a wisp of Keith Thye’s story from one of the service guys at my local shop, South Sound Motorcycles, of which Keith is president and his wife Ann is the owner. “Make sure someone important knows where you are. Have you heard Keith Thye’s story?”
Read more here...
– Marcia McGuire / BMW Owners News / June 2017
Adventurer of the Week: Ruston man writes books about motorcycle trips to Chile
He rode the Pan American Highway before it was paved. He spent three days in a Peruvian jail. His motorcycle broke down in Mexico. Canned sardines were a regular meal. Keith Thye of Ruston loved the adventure so much, he decided to recreate it 50 years later.
Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/article150071602.html
– Craig Hill / The Olympian / May 11, 2017
He rode the Pan American Highway before it was paved. He spent three days in a Peruvian jail. His motorcycle broke down in Mexico. Canned sardines were a regular meal. Keith Thye of Ruston loved the adventure so much, he decided to recreate it 50 years later.
Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/article150071602.html
– Craig Hill / The Olympian / May 11, 2017
Book Review: “The Whole Story” “Moto Raid” & “Ride On” (Moto Raid II) by Keith Thye
Same author, same trip, two very different books. That’s because Keith Thye took one trip in 1963, the other in 2013. They both begin on the West Coast, and they both end up at the tip of South America.
Back in January of 1962 Thye was in college, caught the travel bug, and decided he wanted to ride a motorcycle down to Chile, no mean feat in those years. He convinced a friend, Dave, to come along with him, so they both bought used BMW R50 models, spending the rest of the year earning money and preparing to take the trip. In January of 1963 they took off from Lake Oswego, Oregon, with a temperature of 25 degrees. And some minimalist camping gear; the photos of their decrepit pup tent show what these boys lived in. Their destination was Pucon, Chile, Lake Oswego’s sister city.
A couple of months later they were knocking at a cafe door at 11,300 feet in Costa Rica—on a very bad dirt road, probably the worst stretch of the Pan-American Highway in Central America. Thye describes the road as “similar to driving along the bottom of a swift creek, without the water. Already they had been subjected to sickness, accidents, breakdowns, and genially corrupt border guards. They get to Panama and find a ship that will take them to Buenaventura in Columbia.
Then things got interesting. More bad roads, bad weather, motorcycle problems—but these are two young men having the time of their lives. And did they look for the easy roads? Nope, they headed for the more interesting, like Peru’s infamous Central Highway in the Andes, much of it a one-lane dirt track. “Leaving Ayacucho, we covered 45 miles in just under five hours.” Later they got lost in the wasteland where the Peruvian, Bolivian, Chilean borders come together and were arrested as drug smugglers.
They were greeted warmly in Pucon, but were pretty darned broke. Fortunately they had prepaid tickets to get back to the US, leaving the Beemers to be shipped later. Six months after they left, they were back in Oregon. And 25 years later Thye decided to write a book about their trip; Moto Raid was originally published in 1990. He and his wife bought a BMW dealership and 20 years later he starts thinking about repeating his 1963 trip. His old riding buddy, Dave, is up for it, too. As are a few friends, who figure to do the 16,000-mile trip in 100 days.
Six people on six modern Beemers meet up in San Diego in January 2013, and head south, though not on the same roads as 50 years before. Familiarity comes at the Guatemalan border, with less corruption and far more bureaucracy. No camping for these upscale folk, as they are staying in nice hotels. And have GPS to guide them. A new restaurant is up high on the Costa Rican Pan-Am, as the old one had burnt down…and the road is now well-paved.
From Panama they fly themselves and their bikes into Bogata, Columbia, where customs keeps them held up for half a day. Traffic has increased greatly, and Latin drivers are not known for caring about the rules of the road. Minor accidents occur, nothing major. South of Lima, Peru, five of them decide to stay on the coastal Pan-Am Highway, while one heads off on the old Central Highway, which he describes as “three days in hell.” In Bolivia they visit places Thye had not been to 50 years before, but the goal was again Pucon—now grown into a major tourist destination with more than 100 hotels. This time they are going to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to fly home. Eight days before departure Dave loses to a truck while in a traffic circle, and spends several days in a hospital, the only major injury of the two trips. But all fly home, and bikes are crated and follow. Good fun, good reading, and might convince a few people to head south. The two-book set, in a sleeve, is $24.95 plus shipping and handling from keithsrides.com.
– Clement Salvadori / Rider Magazine / April 7, 2017
Same author, same trip, two very different books. That’s because Keith Thye took one trip in 1963, the other in 2013. They both begin on the West Coast, and they both end up at the tip of South America.
Back in January of 1962 Thye was in college, caught the travel bug, and decided he wanted to ride a motorcycle down to Chile, no mean feat in those years. He convinced a friend, Dave, to come along with him, so they both bought used BMW R50 models, spending the rest of the year earning money and preparing to take the trip. In January of 1963 they took off from Lake Oswego, Oregon, with a temperature of 25 degrees. And some minimalist camping gear; the photos of their decrepit pup tent show what these boys lived in. Their destination was Pucon, Chile, Lake Oswego’s sister city.
A couple of months later they were knocking at a cafe door at 11,300 feet in Costa Rica—on a very bad dirt road, probably the worst stretch of the Pan-American Highway in Central America. Thye describes the road as “similar to driving along the bottom of a swift creek, without the water. Already they had been subjected to sickness, accidents, breakdowns, and genially corrupt border guards. They get to Panama and find a ship that will take them to Buenaventura in Columbia.
Then things got interesting. More bad roads, bad weather, motorcycle problems—but these are two young men having the time of their lives. And did they look for the easy roads? Nope, they headed for the more interesting, like Peru’s infamous Central Highway in the Andes, much of it a one-lane dirt track. “Leaving Ayacucho, we covered 45 miles in just under five hours.” Later they got lost in the wasteland where the Peruvian, Bolivian, Chilean borders come together and were arrested as drug smugglers.
They were greeted warmly in Pucon, but were pretty darned broke. Fortunately they had prepaid tickets to get back to the US, leaving the Beemers to be shipped later. Six months after they left, they were back in Oregon. And 25 years later Thye decided to write a book about their trip; Moto Raid was originally published in 1990. He and his wife bought a BMW dealership and 20 years later he starts thinking about repeating his 1963 trip. His old riding buddy, Dave, is up for it, too. As are a few friends, who figure to do the 16,000-mile trip in 100 days.
Six people on six modern Beemers meet up in San Diego in January 2013, and head south, though not on the same roads as 50 years before. Familiarity comes at the Guatemalan border, with less corruption and far more bureaucracy. No camping for these upscale folk, as they are staying in nice hotels. And have GPS to guide them. A new restaurant is up high on the Costa Rican Pan-Am, as the old one had burnt down…and the road is now well-paved.
From Panama they fly themselves and their bikes into Bogata, Columbia, where customs keeps them held up for half a day. Traffic has increased greatly, and Latin drivers are not known for caring about the rules of the road. Minor accidents occur, nothing major. South of Lima, Peru, five of them decide to stay on the coastal Pan-Am Highway, while one heads off on the old Central Highway, which he describes as “three days in hell.” In Bolivia they visit places Thye had not been to 50 years before, but the goal was again Pucon—now grown into a major tourist destination with more than 100 hotels. This time they are going to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to fly home. Eight days before departure Dave loses to a truck while in a traffic circle, and spends several days in a hospital, the only major injury of the two trips. But all fly home, and bikes are crated and follow. Good fun, good reading, and might convince a few people to head south. The two-book set, in a sleeve, is $24.95 plus shipping and handling from keithsrides.com.
– Clement Salvadori / Rider Magazine / April 7, 2017
The Whole Story - Moto Raid I & II
PNW rider, Keith Thye repeats his 1963 Trans-Americas ride and shares both in a new collection
Prior to the 1970's very few Americans had ever ridden motorcycles from the Pacific Northwest, through Central and South America. In fact, Keith Thye and his riding partner Dave Yaden were some of the first fully documented riders to do so, riding 1958 BMW's from Portland Oregon to Pucon Chile.
This was four decades ahead of the coined term 'adventure-riding'. There was no Touratec, Klim, Aerostich, Jet Boil or Redverz. Instead you put on your blue jeans and leather jacket and did the best you could to get 200 miles a day across unmaintained dirt roads. To sum it all up, Thye released his first book, Moto Raid at the turn of the century. The book featured black and white photos alongside his well-documented diary and thoughts of the ride. At the time of the books release, Thye put together a well laid out slide-show presentation and shared it several times with customers of his wife's Ride West BMW shop and the local Washington State BMW Riders club.
As 2013 approached, Thye started thinking about what it might be like to relive the adventure and enlisted five other riders, including Yaden to partake on a replay of the journey. After months of preparation, the sextet departed Seattle and headed south. Throughout, Thye once again photographed and documented the journey. Upon returning home, store customers were once again treated to a slide show about the reprisal ride, with Thye sharing photos from 50 years ago, alongside current shots in a sort of A/B process.
But he wasn't done yet. In 2016, he hatched a plan to release a new book alongside the original book. The new book would include detailed notes and all color images from the 2013 ride and the old book would be rebuilt from the ground up with all color imagery as well. The result - 'The Whole Story' is a collection of the two books, 300 days of adventure touring spread between fifty years.
Whether you're planning a multi-country trip on your motorcycle, or just like to live vicariously through other people's adventures, The Whole Story provides enlightening facts of what it was like to travel by motorcycle 50 years ago, and now.
Several differences noted are that most of the roads today are paved, big towns have gotten bigger and communication happens a lot faster now.
But there are similarities that can't be denied as well. Most small towns have stayed small and are impoverished today as they were then; some roads still deteriorate to near impassable, and there's still plenty of monkey-business at play during border crossings and shipping of bikes in third world countries.
Even if you own a copy of the original Moto Raid, you owe it to yourself to buy the set so you can upgrade to color and get the rest of the story.
Look for appearances from Thye around the US this year, most notably during the BMW MOA Rally in Salt Lake City this July.
– Sound Rider! / March 17, 2017
PNW rider, Keith Thye repeats his 1963 Trans-Americas ride and shares both in a new collection
Prior to the 1970's very few Americans had ever ridden motorcycles from the Pacific Northwest, through Central and South America. In fact, Keith Thye and his riding partner Dave Yaden were some of the first fully documented riders to do so, riding 1958 BMW's from Portland Oregon to Pucon Chile.
This was four decades ahead of the coined term 'adventure-riding'. There was no Touratec, Klim, Aerostich, Jet Boil or Redverz. Instead you put on your blue jeans and leather jacket and did the best you could to get 200 miles a day across unmaintained dirt roads. To sum it all up, Thye released his first book, Moto Raid at the turn of the century. The book featured black and white photos alongside his well-documented diary and thoughts of the ride. At the time of the books release, Thye put together a well laid out slide-show presentation and shared it several times with customers of his wife's Ride West BMW shop and the local Washington State BMW Riders club.
As 2013 approached, Thye started thinking about what it might be like to relive the adventure and enlisted five other riders, including Yaden to partake on a replay of the journey. After months of preparation, the sextet departed Seattle and headed south. Throughout, Thye once again photographed and documented the journey. Upon returning home, store customers were once again treated to a slide show about the reprisal ride, with Thye sharing photos from 50 years ago, alongside current shots in a sort of A/B process.
But he wasn't done yet. In 2016, he hatched a plan to release a new book alongside the original book. The new book would include detailed notes and all color images from the 2013 ride and the old book would be rebuilt from the ground up with all color imagery as well. The result - 'The Whole Story' is a collection of the two books, 300 days of adventure touring spread between fifty years.
Whether you're planning a multi-country trip on your motorcycle, or just like to live vicariously through other people's adventures, The Whole Story provides enlightening facts of what it was like to travel by motorcycle 50 years ago, and now.
Several differences noted are that most of the roads today are paved, big towns have gotten bigger and communication happens a lot faster now.
But there are similarities that can't be denied as well. Most small towns have stayed small and are impoverished today as they were then; some roads still deteriorate to near impassable, and there's still plenty of monkey-business at play during border crossings and shipping of bikes in third world countries.
Even if you own a copy of the original Moto Raid, you owe it to yourself to buy the set so you can upgrade to color and get the rest of the story.
Look for appearances from Thye around the US this year, most notably during the BMW MOA Rally in Salt Lake City this July.
– Sound Rider! / March 17, 2017
