The tour with a VW bus and an old BMW motorcycle type R 80 GS from Alaska over the longest road in the world to Tierra del Fuego is a dream that was created during my growing up.
The bumpy start.
The period after elementary school, documented by four changes of school, made me look for distance and support early on. I found the vastness in the middle of the seventies by buying an Interrail ticket, which was the ultimate satisfaction of wanderlust for the youth of that time. In plain language: for 31 days by train to 20 European countries for 235 German marks – under the condition that one was under 21 years old. For me this meant: once north to the North Cape. Once South to the island of Crete.
The summer of 1975 also passed, and a one-and-a-half-year voluntary service in the social sector of Caritas in my hometown followed. I was allowed to work in urkölschen streets; once on the left bank of the Rhine – Elsaßstraße -, once on the right bank – Rixdorfer Straße.
Looking for a foothold.
I have read a lot of Che Guevara, Jerome David Salinger, John Steinbeck, Heinrich Böll and other writers. One person, however, gave me strength many a time: Henri Charrière, who was unjustly banished by the French justice system to the Bagno in French Guiana for life. Henri Charrière's legacy, consisting of 13 exercise books, was published as a book on the. Film under the title "Papillon" to the world success. Halt suchen also means that I have read this work at least ten times, partly in the most diverse life situations and it has triggered the following in me: When nothing more goes, something still goes. Meaning: Always stand up more than you fell down. A bit of Cologne mentality is certainly helpful there too.
The life.
At the age of 20, my dreams went into the locker. Therefore we let the time span between the twentieth. The sixtieth year of life times disregarded. Thoughts that may occupy us, we have decided, should be recorded on the "leaflet for the journey.
The protagonists.
My wife Rita and I have been together for 20 years, even married and time is running out. Together we are 110 years old – generation, never tell a woman's age – and we decided to experience and realize my youthful dream together now.
The website.
Even we have no idea, is set up and maintained by my former classmate Heinz Massloch, whom I met again after more than 40 years at a class reunion. As name for the travel diary of our Panamericana tour we chose "Nordsüdfahrt", a road connection in our hometown Cologne, which has always been a topic of discussion since its existence. Yes, it connects North with South, but at the same time it separates West and East like our "Father Rhine". Our journey should not separate anyone and seen positively, just because there are road connections, which separate, there are also bridges, which connect as is well known.
The logo.
Enough of the paperback philosophy; a few words about our logo. Round, in the middle there is a butterfly as a reference to Henri Charrière's "Papillon", one wing of the butterfly as a tribute to our hometown Cologne with the city coat of arms and the other wing shows the American continent, "un dat wor et ald".