Just Simply Riding Around the World — Jess and Greg Stone

Jim Martin (0:01)

Jess Stone isn't someone who particularly enjoys being the center of attention. In fact, she'll admit that having the dog on the back of her motorcycle gives her somewhere to redirect all that attention when people come over to talk, kind of hide. Which is ironic, really, because Jess is the one that decided that she and her husband, Greg, were going to ride around the world by motorcycle with their dog and make the whole thing very, very public. And this wasn't some carefully planned lifelong ambition. This decision came about in what I would say is rather amusing circumstances. You'll know what I'm talking about when you hear the story. And it also tells you something more about Jess.

She's a determined person, maybe even a little stubborn. She's also quite open about how she feels about riding motorcycles and particularly her anxiety when it comes to riding off road, especially with a heavily loaded bike. But apparently being uncomfortable with something isn't necessarily a good enough reason for her not to do it.

They set off in 2022 expecting this trip to take about 18 months. Now, four years later, they've ridden to the Arctic Circle all the way down to Ushuaia, while somehow managing to keep their business running from the road while they're doing it. And they're still going with Africa next on the itinerary.

Somewhere along the way, they've also discovered something that they hadn't been looking for, and maybe likely didn't know existed. Jess and Greg talk about finding what they call moments of home. These brief times when despite being thousands of miles away from anything familiar, they feel completely and utterly at home right where they are.

Now I've spoken with Jess and Greg before here on Adventure Rider Radio. They're back with more stories from the road and with another enormous stretch of journey still ahead of them. I'm Jim Martin. This is Adventure Rider Radio. Stay with us. We got a good one for you.

Greg Stone (1:58)

Hi, this is Charlie Borman. Norah Lee Schumacher.

Jess Stone (2:00)

Sam Manekham.

Greg Stone (2:01)

Dustin Vance.

Jim Martin (2:02)

Grant Johnson.

Jess Stone (2:03)

Jocelyn Snow.

Greg Stone (2:04)

Ted Simons. Simon Paley. Jimmy Lewis.

Jim Martin (2:06)

Lyndon Buskett.

Jess Stone (2:06)

Tiffany Coates. Chris Burch. Simon Thomas.

Greg Stone (2:08)

Lisa Talbot.

Jim Martin (2:09)

Graham Jarvis.

Jess Stone (2:10)

Quentin Smolt.

Greg Stone (2:11)

And you're listening to Adventure Rider Radio.

Jim Martin (2:18)

Green Chili Adventure Gear offers American-made heavy-duty luggage systems for all types of motorcycles. You can turn any dry bag into luggage using their strapping system. And of course, Green Chili Adventure Gear is tested in extreme weather and terrain to withstand the abuse that adventure riding gives it. Tough, reliable gear. greenchiliadv.com.

Experienced riders choose the cycle pump tire inflator made by Bestrest products for one reason because they can count on it when they pull that out of their pannier no matter what. They're so tough, they're warrantied for life. Bestrest has loads of other motor-specific products like the Hex Wrench, which is a combination of tire iron slash wrench, and they're known for their top quality tire plugs and patch kits. More at cyclepump.com.

Jess Stone (3:04)

Hi, I'm Jess. I'm from Toronto, Canada, and I run Go Roughly Around the World.

Greg Stone (3:10)

And I'm Greg. I'm Jess' also. I am from Los Angeles, and also with Roughly.

Jim Martin (3:27)

Jess and Greg, welcome back to Adventure Rider Radio.

Jess Stone (3:30)

Thanks for having us.

Greg Stone (3:31)

Great to be with you.

Jim Martin (3:32)

So nice to have you guys back on the show. Now, what I want to do is I want to go back to the start. What exactly have you guys been doing?

Greg Stone (3:41)

Well, a few years back, Jess had the pretty simple and straightforward idea that we should basically promote our and showcase kind of our canine moto cockpit and roughly Craftsman gear by just simply riding around the world.

Jess Stone (3:57)

Just simply.

Greg Stone (3:58)

And managing the business as we go. So really, nuts and bolts, straightforward stuff. And so she threw us into that and I've lost hair, it's all gray now. I've lost at least three inches of height.

And probably about 10 years off the end of my life. But it's been all worth it and a huge fantastic ride.

Jim Martin (4:21)

I can't help but hearing, I think it's your mom, Greg, saying, Greg, just because somebody jumps off a bridge, do you have to jump off a bridge as well?

Greg Stone (4:29)

I think my mom's a pretty big fan of Jess's, much more so than she's a fan of my own.