Pursuit of Happiness: Baja Motorcycle Adventure (Part 2 of 7)
Published July 06, 2021 · 12:51 · 113,442 views
About This Video
Part 2 of the Baja series covers the leg from Virginia to Texas: the long American stretch before the border crossing that will define the trip. Van's birthday lunch at Keller's Farm, March 22, 2009. Steak, mixed vegetables, sweet potatoes, popcorn, checkerboard birthday cake. The pursuit of happiness referenced in the title isn't Thomas Jefferson's abstraction but the road itself: the physical act of pointing a motorcycle south and watching the landscape change.
The twelve-year gap between shooting and editing gives this footage a double timeline. Van is simultaneously the younger man on the motorcycle and the older filmmaker deciding what that younger man's journey meant. The result is a road narrative that reads forward as adventure and backward as autobiography: every mile driven toward Baja is also a mile measured against who he's become since. That's the real distance.
Transcript
all right so you got to open the gate and then you got to close it because he has horses right now but he see right
[Applause] there [Applause] out [Music] first stop keller's farm incredible what's the kid driving cowa zach morris that's my ride welcome happy
birthday nice bibs got this for you read that out loud van's birthday lunch 2009 orange springs farm souvenir menu steak mixed vegetables
sweet potatoes popcorn checkerboard birthday cake happy birthday van march 22nd 2009 ask about our overnight stay
incentive package beautiful we're gonna ride through india style on the phukets
but we're going downhill everybody on yeah all right here we are welcome thank you color wow what oh my god it's the holy bible the word of the lord
oh my goodness is it the new or the old or both and that's it [Applause] never ever had a problem never never did you screw down your thing
yeah okay i've never had a problem starting the bike [Applause] went too yes man what you don't need to go so fast it's like getting up out of that
[Applause] this fight's gone i didn't take my wallet out it looks like there's a sniper over here that's just picking you off
on this time wow animal wow good work boys [Music] so what do you think about day one well we all learned a valuable lesson well
you have the best bike basically despite what you may think or how you may feel do not ever question the superiority of
the klx 650 [Music] [Music] eunive just bribed the waitress and we got casey his birthday present his birthday's in three days
waffle house coffee mug not for sale [Music] she began to alternate between lucidity and confusion okay our first problem on the road trip clutch
doesn't seem to be engaging we're not sure what it is but we did find that this seal is missing this gasket is missing
and uh just tightening it up [Music] apparently there's some dirt trails around here and even i are going to go for a ride
[Music] we're on the top of a mountain in virginia the mechanic's fixing our car i had my first crash but everything seems fine thanks for your help neve we went for an hour ride and the truck's
done if you ever break down in clifton virginia this is the place to come clifton tyron auto service 125
about the same price as two tanks of gas an hour to fix moral of the story by american
we make great stuff in this country kentucky just passed into kentucky just as good a place as any there's plenty of room over here the whole highway is gonna start slowing down
nice dude okay let's get to the bottom of this should i go into the dirt a little bit no no don't because you got the trailer
and it's about a one like a six or eight inch drop just be careful opening your door and stuff this is a highway
i just think if the thing's running let's just go they're working
[Music] this out every morning starts and it's such a pain in the ass [Music] nice [Music] [Music] [Applause]
that oh man what's wrong i heard that it was loud a little damage to our blinker what just happened i just backed into this guy's car that was a straight shot but it wasn't
the [ __ ] pump is out of order [Applause] drive the truck for five minutes and i [ __ ] bashed right into that guy first accident ever no oh yeah i had someone i was like he
doesn't seem to care they may not even report it which is great what if they're going to try to get money off me though i mean it's like a work you saw that
thing it's already [ __ ] up yeah it's a work car he said i'll probably just let it go yeah 15 years without a car accident now
we broke the light bulb i broke the light lightbulb
[Music] just [Music] it's huge crossing the mississippi never been to arkansas and now i've been to arkansas
spreading cash [Music] we're somewhere in arkansas [Music] come on man i was only kidding i was just kidding man get back in the car [Music] seriously dude we're nowhere near we're not even in texas yet [Music] texas [Music] you
Products & Tools Mentioned
- KLX 650 uses — Kawasaki KLX 650 motorcycle used on Baja trip
- Waffle House mentions — stopped at Waffle House during trip
People Referenced
Mr. Slice