World Travels With Arlene

by Arlene Liska
Issue #92—April 2007

Ed. The following are some thoughts about world travel by the esteemed Arlene Liska. For those not familiar with Arlene Liska, she and her late husband, Danny, circumnavigated the globe on a BMW motorcycle. They accomplished this feat in the late '50s and early '60s with little more than a dream and determination. The first half of their journey was chronicled in their book Two Wheels to Adventure. We are very honored to have her thoughts featured on these pages.

On with my story. When we cycled throughout Africa, upon reaching Cape Town, South Africa, we saw lots of BMW cars but no other BMW cycles. In the African interior, some of the priests traveled by BMW cycle. After learning this, we would smile as we “blessed” walking tribespeople who would stop and kneel as we rode up.

Adventurers seek other adventurers, right? Right. We were invited after meeting and visiting with Dr. Christian Barnard to lunch at his house in Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant. I thank him still for his unquenchable search for knowledge of heart problems. His stories about his successful transplants and his history-making procedures are immensely interesting. His research paved the way for the procedures that continue to benefit us today.

M.M.M.