There are many books that have influenced me and my adventurous nature. Perhaps the most important of these has no motorcycles and is not by a man.
West With The Night by Beryl Markham is the autobiography of a woman published before I was even born. Beryl grew up in Kenya as a bit of a wild child. Her playground was the Serengeti and her playmates were Masai tribesmen who taught her the ways of the wilderness.
Not content to marry and stay at home, she went to the world with confidence and poise. She was a successful race horse trainer who followed her father's trade. After that she learned to fly and became the first woman with a commercial license in Kenya.
Building on this second career as a bush pilot she went on to become the first person to fly non-stop from England to North America - east to west. Charles Lindbergh flew from west to east helped by the tailwinds. Beryl did it the hard way against the headwinds.
She writes with simplicity and clarity. Lions and tigers were not story book characters but real and dangerous. Her character comes through not as bravado but as confidence in herself and her abilities. She writes about the wonders of her life with a purity and innocence that conveys the reader into her world. One wants to jump into the passenger seat and go for a ride.
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