The following list is culled from various friends, relatives, and complete strangers and is by no means comprehensive, but I have certainly heard them all at least a dozen times.

1.  Isn’t Africa dangerous?

Certainly parts of it, but so are parts of the US and Europe.  Africa is a HUGE continent, and not homogenous in any way, shape, or form - just like there are vast differences between Americans that may live a mile away from each other (try Harlem and the Upper West Side).  There are plenty of neighborhoods in East Brooklyn and East LA that many Americans won’t set foot in - does that make America dangerous?  Like everywhere else in the world, Africa requires commonsense, self-awareness, and a ability to change with your surroundings.  Ignorance of Africa is no excuse for bias.

2.  Why do it on a motorcycle? 

Why not?  Doing it in a 4×4 is boring, slow-going, more expensive, and enables you to pack everything from (pulled from 4×4 travelers’ websites):  a bread oven, water heater, expandable roof tents, large amateur telescopes, mountain bikes, and flatscreen TV’s.

And considering the roads (or lack thereof), there’s no way to do it in a Prius.

3.  Why do it all?

Why not?  It’s a serious adventure, I have both the means (savings) and the opportunity (time off between job/grad school/whatever, and traveling in so many countries by motorcycle allows you to experience both a whole lot more than backpacking the same old tired tourist routes or flying in to some artificial resort.

4.  What are you trying to prove to me/them/yourself?

Nothing.  Seriously!  It sounded like a great adventure and way to explore a part of the world I hadn’t seen, and it (usually) still seems like a good idea.

5.  Do you like the monotony of breaking camp, packing a motorcycle, riding it all day, setting up camp, and repeating?

Not really - it actually gets boring after a while, but it’s a necessary part of survival - and the quicker you get in "survival mode" and the mundane becomes automatic, the more you appreciate the rest of the trip.

It’s also an important life lesson for me about taking care of the basics and doing the "little things" that I often have a problem with managing and remembering.

6.  What’s wrong with you?

Apparently a whole bunch of things - but really, I am not the first person to do this nor will I be the last by any stretch of the imagination.

7.  How much stuff did you send back home after your first week on the road?

At least 20lbs worth of crap - from extra clothes I didn’t need (if you don’t wear safari-type shirts at home, you ain’t gonna wear them in Africa), books (a little light reading becomes not-so-light after it’s on your back for a week), French homework (yep - really!), extra toothbrush (every little bit counts), and some other junk.

8.  How is the bike holding up?

Eh - could be better.  After 2 weeks, I had a melted fan relay (which required 4 days of patient waiting in Windhoek for a part that never arrived and necessitated a little electrical hack job), a bunch of missing bolts, a wobbly carrier deck (fixed), a leaking cylinder cover gasket (replaced - probably a result of pushing the bike too hard), a snapped cylinder bolt (my fault - stupidity), a missing handguard expansion bolt (fixed with a hack job using an allen bolt, some large washers and bolts, and a lot of lock-tite), and probably some other things that I haven’t noticed yet but will when it’s probably going to be a royal pain in the ass.

9.  How are YOU holding up?

Fine - each new country and new set of terrain and climate takes some adjustment - things can be hard mentally at first, especially when you have all day in the sun sitting on a bike to think about it, but it is amazing how quickly one adapts.  Something that would have set me off (blown bolt, discovering $2000 US of fraud on your main credit card, etc.) gets dealt with quickly and calmly - I’m learning a hell of a lot about myself and dealing with what in some circumstances would be major problems.

10.  When are you going to end this ridiculous trip of yours?

When I feel like it.  Seriously.  If I get to Ghana and I want to go home I will.  If it’s Morocco, or Israel, or Sudan, or Joburg on the way back ’round - I’ll quit when I’ve had enough. 

…But until then…