It was a long wait for Ewan McGregor's Long Way Up, but was it worth it? - Roadshow
If you're a fan of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's Long Way trips, you've been waiting a long time for a third installment since 2004's Long Way Round and 2007's Long Way Down. As of Friday, Long Way Up is available to stream on Apple TV Plus, but is it worth your time?
The answer to that is a resounding yes. Long Way Up is quite a bit different than previous adventures, not only because Ewan and Charley are making their trek from Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of Argentina, to Los Angeles on modified electric Harley-Davidson Livewires -- though that does cause some problems, as you'll see in the first few episodes. (The first three episodes are available now, with new ones dropping every Friday.)
Instead, this time around, the two are a little older, a little more broken -- in Charley's case especially -- and the world they're traveling in is a very different place. The pair are also even more reliant on their corporate partners this time out, Rivian in particular, because there is no EV charging network to speak of in South America when the two initially lay out their plan.
Rivian -- in addition to providing the production crew with the first two driving prototype R1T electric trucks -- agreed to install a string of chargers along Ewan and Charley's route. That proved to be of questionable utility during the first part of the series, as you'll see. The prototype Harleys are also not without their issues where charging is concerned -- though thankfully, in my experience, H-D figured this stuff out for the production version.
Still, despite several ups and downs and near misses with scheduling and technology, the two still convey that same sense of wonder and love of motorcycling that made their first two adventures resonate so deeply with so many people -- myself included.
I'm genuinely excited to see what happens as they make their way up through the rest of South and Central America and see if they finally hit their stride with their somewhat unruly electric bikes. Still, I'm mostly excited to put on my riding gear and go out into the world on two wheels for a bit and pretend that Chile is just over the next hill.
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