Do I really want to keep riding through this deep, soft, hot, ugly sand on my loaded 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650?

Becoming a motorcycle schizophrenic was a possibility if I seriously accepted all the motorcycling names I read about myself over the last year. Some were fun, like my being called a "slacker" for not updating my "What’s New" web pages. When I was tagged a slacker I shrugged like a white king in the game of chess being checkmated. It was a direct hit and herewith I hope to shrug off the description.

I was beckoned by being called "Honey" numerous times, but there was little room on these motorcycling pages for recounting those adventures.

Then there were the critics using a wide range of descriptions. Fortunately my outlook on critics and wannabes was the same: both are like rectal polyps. I spent no time dwelling on their existence or ointments for their cure, both the non-existent polyps and their likeness.

At the other end of the spectrum were the fun references from respected ladies and gentlemen, professionals in their fields. For instance, Bob Henig of Bob’s BMW in Jessup, Maryland had a little fun with me when talking about putting my old ‘round the world riding gear on a mannequin to stand next to my 1981 R80 G/S which was on display in the BOB’s BMW Museum. I suggested to Henig I felt I could relate to Trigger after Roy Rogers stuffed his favorite horse when it died. Henig came back with his wry sense of humor and called me a dummy, in a sense, causing both of us to laugh. Henig actually said, "Look at it this way Greg: we’re taking the clothes off of one dummy, and putting them on another." It was good fun he and I were having with me.

And then there was Fred Rau, esteemed motorcycle touring guru and well known moto-journalist, who wrote that I was a "Total Fanatic" about motorcycling in his June column for MOTORCYCLE CONSUMER NEWS. Being a Total Fanatic was at the top of his hierarchy of the 1,000’s of motorcycling friends and acquaintances he categorized, starting with the lowest level, the Posers, next higher the Casual Enthusiasts, then the Enthusiasts, next the Fanatics and finally five of us WTF out there motorcyclists, the Total Fanatics. I was in good company in that select group of five: Mike Kneebone, Bob Higdon, Dale Walksler and Walt Fulton.

Paul Bachorz, writing his Touring Tips column in the April BMW OWNER NEWS, penned that I was "the renowned world motorcycle traveler..." and earlier he wrote that everyone should read my book RIDING THE WORLD. I accepted his recognition that I was a traveler and acknowledged it with a note thanking him, and sent him a copy of my latest book on motorcycle touring.

RIDER magazine referred to me as a "motorcycling great" in the same sentence with Ted Simon and Dr. Flash Gordon MD when announcing the Very Boring Rally II sponsored by Aerostich. Again I was in pretty good company, though surely the smallest of the greats.

In June the South East Arizona Touring Riders (S.E.A.T.) magazine editor not only wrote of me as a "great" like Max Burns and Ted Simon, but went on to call me a "legend in the making." I wondered after reading that how long I had to qualify as a legend. All of the motorcycle legends I had met were dead, motorcyclists like Steve McQueen and Danny Liska. I knew I wanted to be a legend in the making for a few more years.

RoadRUNNER Touring and Travel magazine, in their June 2008 Newsletter, wrote that I was a "writer, photojournalist and motorcycle adventurer extraordinaire" and I was "generally considered the ultimate authority on global motorcycling." It was pretty heady stuff for a guy who rides and lives a life of a poor scribe and one who usually pilots a dirty motorcycle, using low tech photographic equipment.

Later in the year I received an e-mail from some poster on the Internet challenging me as an "icon" to refute claims by critics on a website. After finding in a dictionary what exactly an icon was I realized I fell far outside that definition. I wrote the poster back that I hoped he and his yapping poodle pals were spelling my name right, and then used a quote Hemingway once wrote of critics: "All critics are contemptible. They are like eunuchs in a harem. They see the trick turned every night, but they will never be able to do it." I later wondered if his critical yappers knew what eunuchs were. Castrated male poodles were what I envisioned.

Other names and descriptions were tossed around during the year. Arthur Zawodny, motorcycle traveler and publisher, in his new book DTUGA WYCIECZKA (written in Polish) wrote that I was his mentor. Zawodny and I met on the road several years earlier as we were crossing Russia, then again in Thailand and later in the USA. Our mutual friend Dave Barr described me as "America’s #1 adventure rider" during an interview in October, 2008, bowing to my still being on the road, somewhere around the globe, while he was housebound.

Darwin Holmstrom, senior editor with the publishing company Motorbooks was quoted in a newspaper article as saying "Greg’s definitely the guy" when asked about other adventure riders. In the same article Bob Clement, well known BMW mechanic and owner of Bob’s Motorwerks in Robert’s Montana said, "Lots of people took off and did what Magellan did, but Magellan did it first. Greg’s the man." Being described as a guy and a man I accepted, but having sunk several self-built rafts and overturned numerous canoes I could not accept to being much of a sailor. Then in April of 2009 I got a handwritten note from the editor of a BMW club magazine which said, "Welcome home sailor."

Urban Moto, a motorcycle newspaper out of San Francisco, California, wrote I was an "acclaimed writer." I had to confirm my understanding of what acclaimed meant, and was rewarded with it meaning applauded.

United Airlines, in their in flight magazine HEMISPHERE, December, 2008 issue published an article by Robert Davis defining me as "a motorcycle adventurer and the author of five global motorcycle guides" when writing about motorcycling in Laos and north Thailand. I could remember telling Davis I had run four mornings with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, during the annual Celebration of St. Fermin, the Patron Saint of Fools. Davies had thankfully left out the foolish part of my life as a motorcycle adventurer.

In the winter of 2008 there was my being compared to Cher. Sev Pearman, in the MINNESOTA MOTORCYCLE MONTHLY, wrote that I was "to motorcycle touring what Cher is to musical touring." That description perplexed me. I looked in a mirror and saw no similarity. Some years ago my mother did some work with Cher, but that had nothing to do with my poor singing and dancing, nor Cher’s motorcycling. Back in the 1960’s I met Cher, with her then husband Sonny, in Philadelphia. I did not sing or dance then, and had not known Cher to have been much into motorcycles. Other than she and I both aging well and sharing some heritage, I suspected what we had in common was we had both kept on ticking.

Rodger Black of Westminster, MD had a little fun with me when he wrote in RoadRUNNER magazine, "At 64 years young, I don’t have many heroes. But following the Lone Ranger and John Wayne comes Dr. Frazier." After reading that quote I reflected on the earlier likening to legends. The Lone Ranger and John Wayne were legends, and both were dead, as was Steve McQueen and Danny Liska. At least Cher and I were still touring.

AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST magazine had an interesting description. They wrote, "Dr. Gregory Frazier is the rarest of motorcyclists - a professional motorcycle adventurer." That had been on my personalized letterhead and business cards for 30 years, the "Professional Motorcycle Adventurer." One German had copied the title 10-15 years ago, saying he liked it, but unlike Cher and me, he did no ‘round the world touring. He merely copied the title.

I missed my serious 15 minutes of fame while traveling in a country half the world away. Montana’s largest newspaper, the Billings Gazette, did a feature story about my global adventures. I assumed it would be printed in their travel section, a small piece buried in the back pages. Instead, they used it and my picture for the front page feature story of their Sunday edition. http://tinyurl.com/2nuovb and http://tinyurl.com/2v2u8g were where the "King of The Road" article was found. I did not see it until I returned to Montana in April, 2008, sadly, long after my 15 minutes expired.

Fall 2007 found me roaming back to Southeast Asia for more research and work on a film project, using as my base Chiang Mai, Thailand, to poke around Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, and the Philippines. Some of my adventuring research and filming was done on my own motorcycles, one being my 1988 Kawasaki KMX 200, known as the Cult Bike. It was small, only 200 cc, and a two stroke model, but did surprisingly well when loaded both on and off road. Other times I would fly into a country with my Nolan motorcycle helmet and riding gear, then rent or purchase whatever I could find, usually 250 cc or smaller. In the Philippines I found a 750 cc Yamaha Tenere to rent for the highway miles, then a 250 cc Honda XR for the off-road work. Burma (Myanmar) was the most challenging. Government rules prohibited foreigners from riding motorcycles into the country from neighboring Thailand, except for a short distance on a one day visa at the Tachilek/Mae Sai border in the far north. A few years earlier I had ridden across the border there, did some roaming inside Burma until I was caught outside the permitted day-visit area and was turned around at a road block, then escorted back to the Thailand border and out of Burma. Other government rules prohibited all motorcycles in numerous geographic areas, such as in and around the largest city, Rangoon, and other Prohibited Zones. My eventual solution was standing in line for three mornings, starting at 5:00 AM, to purchase a tourist visa for Myanmar at their embassy in Thailand, then flying into Burma with my riding gear and renting what I could find, starting in Rangoon with a Honda XR 250. That story can be found in the archives of MOTORCYCLE USA where I signed on as their Adventure Editor-At-Large in late 2007, and specifically at http://tinyurl.com/2b4flw.

Burma found me exploring some parts of the country on an older kick start Honda XR 250. We had to truck it out of the city and push it back in so it would not be confiscated by authorities. Motorcycles were forbidden from being ridden in an area about 25 kilometers around Rangoon. As a contributor and Adventure Editor-at-Large for Motorcycle USA magazine I submitted adventure motorcycle monthly columns. They ranged from what I considered to be the best adventure motorcycle to adventure riding tales from around the world. Interested cyber riders could (and can) sign-up for the free Motorcycle USA Ezine and received my treatments in their electronic mailbox via a monthly mailing. The magazine was right on top of everything from new motorcycle releases to worldwide racing results. My Road Tales were at http://tinyurl.com/d6bvje.

In the spring of 2008 a major publisher informed me that my best-selling book, MOTORCYCLE TOURING: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW, had been selected by the Motorcycle Riders Club of America. They were marketing it under the title ON THE ROAD: SUCCESSFUL MOTORCYCLE TOURING, with some minor changes. The publisher also informed me sales of the book had gone against industry trends and instead of tapering off after the initial release, sales had increased well past the normal run time. While I was riding in the jungles of Southeast Asia, often off the Internet for long periods of time, my latest book raced ahead of me. It was a pleasant surprise seeing the book for sale in a bookstore in Bangkok as I was leaving Thailand to return to the USA for the summer. The world of publishing still mystified me but I was impressed at how good publishers were able to market my works and photographs.

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