The recounting of the failure of one man to cast off his honor and leave a partial trail of misinformation on three continents found an interested but small audience for a book to be published to recoup some of the lost costs by the guide and businessmen. A decision was made to let the previous posts reflect that failure and those falsehoods stand for free, serving the greater good for educational purposes.
However, some clarifications were suggested.
While Livermore claimed he did not want the ‘round the world ride to be about money, in the end several people/businesses were stung by his not meeting agreed upon financial obligations, by his falling back on his claim of not having signed contracts.
A pseudonym for Richard C. Livermore was thereafter proposed that incorporated some humor: “Dick,” short for Richard (or as one follower suggested short for a dick****), middle name “See,” being short for C., and “Nevermore,” as in “I want to see him never more,” or “I never want to see more of Dick.”
One reason Livermore submitted for not meeting his final financial obligations was his having rated of aborted adventure: “the experience as below expectation.” While Livermore never specifically addressed his expectation(s), he did initially task the journey to be designed to be as soft and easy as possible, taking the easiest routes, and that he would be paying for first class airline tickets and upscale accommodations. It was Livermore who would approve daily routes and driving distances (sometimes 10-20 miles, all on pavement), destinations (he did not want to try to reach Ushuaia in southern Argentina because some of the route was off-pavement, on gravel roads), and cancelled the proposed Florida-Cuba-South America route because he claimed to be worried about not being able to ship/fly the motorcycles out of Cuba to South America.
Dr. G later wrote in reply to Livermore’s “blustering, obfuscating and lying” excuses not to meet his unpaid REMITTANCE REQUEST:
“If he had been looking for the hayride and hoedown at the accommodations he chose, that ‘bunny adventure’ was his fault, not mine. I repeatedly told him, ‘Todo, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,’ when he expressed his fear of wild animals on our route (we saw none in South Africa other than dogs, a few monkeys and birds), but I could read and smell his fear when he wanted to take routes and gated hotels well away from the well beaten truck routes. If his expectations were to be sitting around the campfire behind the gated and walled Hilton Hotel singing Kumbaya, I can see how his ‘expectations’ were not met.”
More blustering, obfuscating and lying was Livermore’s claim of “There were a number of incidents such as entry into Argentina where you should have known the requirements or at least researched prior to the trip.”
Entry into Argentina was attempted February 1, 2016, when it was discovered Livermore had not secured the required Reciprocity Fees. In April, 2017, Livermore was trying to support his claim about lack of research and entry requirements. Dr. G wrote in a CONFIDENTIAL FACT CHECK to Livermore and copied to Dr. G’s attorney:
Dr. G stated:
“Let's get this lie cleared up.
On March 29, 2015 I sent the following e-mail to the client, clearly showing I had done the research and knew the requirements re: Reciprocity Fee and specifically Argentina:
'Since 2012 Argentina has been requiring US Passport holders to pay a
Reciprocity Fee when entering Argentina by land or air. It is not a visa, it's a fee of $160, good for a year. It cannot be paid at the border, has to be ordered online, paid with a credit card, and the receipt printed with it's bar code. The receipt is presented at the Argentine border. This does not apply to the vehicle, but to the person….
1) Go to https://virtual.provinciapagos.com.a.../Registro.aspx
[End of May 29, 2015 e-mail section to client]
“Frankly Richard, upon arrival at the Argentine border I was surprised that with all your digital devices you could not connect with the Internet to make the purchase, that I had assumed you had already done. Rather than rag your ass about not having done so earlier or the night before, I dealt with the problem by being nice to my Immigration Officer versus the way you dealt with yours, ending up like a lost man, told to ‘go away,’ ‘not my problem,’ until you wimped over to me at my window and my IO [sic Immigration Officer] accepted you and your problem with mine, eventually leaving her post to accompany us across the street to use the government Internet access.”
“The night before (when you dropped your motorcycle in front of your room at the motel and your broke the windscreen), during dinner, I reminded you then for the need for the Reciprocity Fee at the Argentine Border, to which you responded, "Yep." Maybe it was "Okey dokey." Either way, the "Yep," or "Okey dokey" implied you'd taken care of the payment on your credit card or were going to that evening - not my credit card or my responsibility.”
“So, clearly, you are not being honest in your claim of April 26, as support for not paying the REMITTANCE REQUEST under our agreement, saying that I had not known the requirements or researched such prior to the trip. Note that I wrote you in March of 2015…..
‘Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken.’ Or, in Indiana farm boy English, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.’"
After Dr. G was abandoned in Capetown (blog update posted May 17, 2017) he had time to reflect on numerous aspects of the short comings of his riding partner and wannabe adventure motorcyclists in general. Some of those reflections are alluded to in articles published by CITY BIKE Magazine, where Dr. G is The Chief of the World Adventure Affairs Desk. The published articles can be found at www.citybike.com home page under Back Issues, and include:
SOFT BUTT ADVENTURE RIDE (May, 2017)
NO EXISTENTIAL ADVENTURE RIDER (June, 2017)
ADVENTURE RIDING BUNNY (July, 2017)
XANAX ADVENTURE RIDER (August, 2017)
Mr. ADV DUMB AND DR. ADV DUMBER (September, 2017)
ADVENTURE MOJO ECLIPSE (October, 2017)
PROVOCATE ME! (November, 2017)
LOCO ADVENTURES IN SPANISH (December, 2017)
The conclusion of considerable thought was there was little economic recovery by the publishing of a book focused on the failures of a motorcycle owner to become something he was not. As one publisher said, “No one wants to pay money to read about some hopeless yokel loser who was far from being a Phileas Fogg or Carl Stearns Clancy. Look at the other books out there. The good ones are about winners.”
Dr. G agreed with advisors and others stung by a customer reneging on promises and payments and set aside plans to massage this blog into a book, preferring to leave it free.
However, a much bigger project presented itself as the result of consultations and analysis of successful adventurists, men and women, leading to a film script and published adaptation, a novel titled THE LOST MAN, a 2018 publication.
Dr. G, seen above, researching THE LOST MAN
This post first appeared on RTW Adventure Motorcycle Tour Rally, please read the originial post: here
