About me

I was born in Mozambique, a tropical paradise in Southeast Africa with the warm blue Indian Ocean gently caressing the beautiful sandy white beaches. A Portuguese colony until June 25th, 1975 when it gained independence, thus ending 470 years of Portuguese colonial rule. Within a year, most of the 250,000 Portuguese in Mozambique had left, some expelled by the government, some fleeing in fear. A law had been passed by the FRELIMO party ordering the Portuguese to leave the country in 24 hours with only 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of luggage. Unable to salvage any of their assets, most of them returned to Portugal penniless.

My father, always the wise man that he is, saw the writing on the wall and on December 1974, six months before the new communist government took over, packed our bags and moved our family with whatever we could carry to South Africa. I was 13 years old, didn’t speak a word of English when we crossed the border but at that moment my life’s big adventure was set in motion, I will never forget the day.

Two years later my dad was offered a job in Portugal, we packed our bags and moved again. Life didn’t go as my dad had hoped for and after a two year stint living in Portugal from 1977 through 78, we moved back to South Africa.

Ten years after I left Mozambique, after completing my education and getting married in South Africa, it was my turn to pack my bags and make a move to the United States of America. I was restless, I could see the writing on the wall to what was happening in Africa. In May, 1985 I boarded a plane in Johannesburg and flew to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport by myself with two bags, three thousand dollars in my pocket and a lot of hope, it was the beginning of my new adventure. Three months later my wife joined me and we never looked back.

Fast forward 40 years and now after having raised two wonderful kids, my son starting his life with a computer science degree and my daughter in college on the way to becoming a pharmacist, I have become restless again.

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences – Eleanor Roosevelt

I have worked in the technology field for most of my life as a computer engineer and technology consultant. I have also been a professional photographer for a few years. I have been lucky, I have had the opportunity to travel either as part of my job or on my own and that has fed the insatiable appetite for more travel.

I haven’t stopped during the past 40 years and have always been into adventure, always trying things on my own, always ready for the next adventure. I have traveled across the USA by car and have been in all 49 states. I have driven my Mustang Cobra on various tracks and have scuba dived in the Caribbean. I have ridden my motorcycle across 48 states, crossed the Arctic Circle by motorcycle and yet my thirst for travel continues to grow.

In December 2009 I started “Riding the USA“, a blog to document my trips. Since then I have ridden as far south and as far north as you can go on the east coast, all the way from Key West, Florida to Gaspe in Quebec. I rode from coast to coast, Atlantic to Pacific Ocean and all the way to Prudhoe Bay, as far north as I could ride in Alaska, yet there’s still so much to see and so little time.