An Alberta man riding through Mexico has been located after his family grew concerned over a period without any contact.
The word went out over several social media sites last week, as well as news outlets: Keith Riddiough was missing. Or at least, his family didn’t know where he was. Riddiough had left Carstairs, AB, in December to ride his Honda Varadero to Acapulco in Mexico, and his family hadn’t heard from him in a couple weeks and got worried. They alerted the Canadian embassy and spread the word they were hoping to find him.
All that hubbub worked – someone spotted Riddiough gassing up his motorcycle at a Mexican gas station and told him to call home. He did, and his family seems relieved. Riddiough says he was out of cell reception for a couple weeks, and nothing was wrong, which makes sense – he was unable to check in every day, like he usually days. Hey, that’s adventure riding.
If you follow sites like ADVRider.com, the Riddiough story isn’t a big deal – people often drop off the map for a few days during trips. What’s more interesting has been the general public’s reaction. In news stories about the incident, the comments section quickly fills up with people criticizing him for riding in Mexico, calling him irresponsible for not phoning home, and more. Seems like more than a few lily-livered Canadians think we shouldn’t venture anywhere outside the reach of our mama’s apron strings.
Zac, I like your article but felt compelled to contribute. After 15 days of no news in an area where a year ago to the day of our last contact ( Jan 24) another young Motorcyclist was found dead after an extensive search. ( See Harry Devert) AAh no brainer lets locate him. I must say we were completely overwhelmed by the assistance we got locally in Mexico which is what we hoped for when we started the search. . What we were not prepared for was the incredible power of the internet when it goes viral. The speed with which the various news organizations got on board was incredible. That took our simple wheres Waldo approach to unexpected levels. We thank everyone that got on board and helped us locate our friend. He has some health issues that are hampering him now and contributed to the out of touch scenario. He is headed to the US cutting his trip short so we hope it is not too debilitating. We will go on FB with updates. Sorry Zac not your usual “Adventure ride”.But certainly a ride with adventure. Thanks from all of Keith’s Family and friends.
Glad you guys found him, Ian.
I just finished Glen Heggstad’s “Two Wheels Through Terror”. And for those who’ve read this book have a unique appreciation for what can happen when adventure riding. So glad everything turned out well.
Ride on!
Your point was photobombed by the Related tags right below your write up.
“Missing adventure rider found dead”.
I’m glad the story ends well, the consensus seemed to be split between two opposing camps.
One had him holed up with some local seniorita, and the other had him six feet under at the hands of desperados.
Can’t help the photobomb, unfortunately. Yeah, I think he is likely just annoyed at everyone.