How motorcycles, failure, and faith gave birth to Kingdom Adventure Tours

EDITOR NOTE: I met Harrison Vaughan via our mutual friend Neale Bayly, who upon hearing of Harrison’s new venture, Kingdom Adventure Tours, informed him, “You need to meet my friend Rob Brooks…” We met for lunch one day, and his story so intrigued me, I asked him to write about it for us. This is Harrison’s account of his epic journey to launching a faith-based adventure touring company, including the often winding roads that lead us to our dreams. We hope you enjoy his tale, and plan to join him on a tour soon.

Have you ever experienced “imposter syndrome”? It’s that moment when you finally arrive somewhere you’ve dreamed of, and instead of certainty, it feels unreal. Your nerves are up, your heart’s racing, and anticipation sits heavy in your chest— the kind that only shows up when you’re stepping past what’s comfortable. It’s the same feeling as sweaty palms right before you throw a leg over a motorcycle you’ve never ridden. There’s an inner tension that holds two truths at once: I’m not sure I’m supposed to be here, and this is exactly where I’m supposed to be. You wonder if everyone else can tell you’re new, if you belong at all. Then, after a few conversations, a couple weeks of just doing the thing, it hits you— I am definitely supposed to be here.

Breathtaking beauty, whether at sea level or elevation.

That’s exactly how I felt within the first six months leading up to the inaugural pilot of Kingdom Adventure Tours. For two years, I threw around ideas. I was told by various friends, “You just need to try it.” My eventual “kick over the cliff” came from my good friend, Thomas. Imagine being in Guatemala, working with a foundation, handing out food bags to local villagers, and then getting a phone call saying, “Hey, I am launching your business.” You can imagine my response. “What do you mean you’re launching ‘my’ business?” There was no business yet— just an idea. But after Thomas literally felt a prompting from God to create a logo, he put a name and a description into ChatGPT and built a logo for what would become the greatest calling of my life. He then launched it to a group of 150 men at a conference on my behalf before I knew anything about it.

Remember, there was no business yet— just an idea!

Kingdom Adventure Tours is an adventure travel ministry. We take groups of men and women (mostly men) all over the world to experience riding motorcycles in unbelievable locations. By doing this, we have the chance to experience the presence of God like never before. It’s a time to ask the tough questions, seek God for direction, and maybe even talk about it in the community of other riders. If that isn’t enough, through our global ministry partners, we also have the opportunity to serve by being the “hands and feet” of Jesus. We are able to do this by going into communities to deliver food, pray for people, engage in global discipleship, or whatever else God calls us to. We believe that adventure, seeking the Lord, and service are elements you can’t just find together anywhere.

Typical travel in central America- intermittent blue skies and rain.

This brainchild of “KAT” was the result of half-listening to the call on my life for three years and then finally surrendering to God’s push. I had a career in commercial construction. I led a team of four project managers and 16 field guys. With 150+ projects a year while in my mid-20s, managing millions of dollars burned me out.

My mom passed away in 2021 from cancer. It goes without saying that her passing reframed my life. So what would any logical person do? Drink the sadness away, yell at God for a while, move to Costa Rica, buy a Honda CB190R for $1,100— barely running, bent front wheel, tire tube in a tubeless tire, cracked racing fairing. And let me tell you, it made my max speed of 65 km/h (about 40 mph) with my 220-pound frame look blistering. Then, after some months of living in Dominical on the beach with some friends, surfing almost every day and getting my bearings, I visited a good friend on his coffee farm. Two months later, I was moving to Monte Verde (the jungle mountain cloud forest region) to partner with another friend and start a business process outsourcing center from scratch. Only that’s partially what happened. We worked for nearly eight months in the mountains in Monte Verde, trying to make the BPO work. Our model seemed promising, but without warning our first client, financial backer, and key to success suddenly backed out.

The CB500X I picked up in Costa Rica.

So what would any smart person do? Buy a new Honda CB500X, mount fog lights on it, install Givi hard bags, stay in Costa Rica for six more months, moping around while I rode tens of thousands of kilometers seeing every corner of the country. I sat on beaches, rode in the type of pouring jungle showers where your rain gear asks for rain gear, experienced puddles on the road that might as well be ankle-deep dirt rivers, full of all the beautiful things found in the gutter of a developing nation. And of course, the pungent aroma of all things forgotten, mixed with trash lazily disposed of in the streets. The remote sand beaches of Playa Minace, only accessible with four-wheel drive or enough two-wheel determination to manage not to dump the bike over in the deep water.

Sporting my homemade stainless steel trunk platform that coincidentally perfectly fits a cooler, I rode through mountain passes near Arenal Volcano, was forced to traverse through Tilarán, with “paved road” conditions normally reserved for an active war zone, featuring bowling-ball-sized chunks of asphalt and concrete that resemble the aftermath destruction of a roadside IED. Picture pitch-black night rides through the cloud forest, two-foot visibility through high-altitude jungle fog, 60-degree inclines and declines woven between the mountain curves, missing guardrails only interrupted by single-lane suicide passes on the outside ridge of a poorly marked hairpin turn. These single lanes test the resolve of the most experienced rider, nerves on edge praying you aren’t about to try your fate against the front end of a bus headed up the mountain. I took a few rides two-up in flooding tropical rain for seven hours, crossed rivers, dropped the bike, bent a slider, broke a wheel on a canyon-sized pothole 100 miles into a 300-mile journey, and then… eventually moved back to the U.S.

Some challenging terrain in the Arenal Volcano National Park, Costa Rica.

Oh, and then I joined a medical startup. Again, it seemed promising. What’s more reliable than working with the government to supply medical devices to soldiers? Turns out, that was the wrong question. Eight months later— making sales, networking, growing the territory from zero to 12 clinics— we get a letter. In summary, the letter essentially states, “We don’t pay for your products anymore, and we’re backdating your contracts. Good luck. Take us to court if you want your money.”

—Love, Daddy Government.

So after over 2.5-ish years, two business attempts, and hundreds of thousands of dollars from savings later, the wise thing to do would be to go back to my corporate roots and get a reliable middle construction management job. Instead, the Lord, through friends and too many stories to share here, led me to the most reliable business of all: adventure travel ministry. Can you think of a group of words that sound more stable? And yet, what I didn’t account for was that in the background of all these things, God allowed me to travel to 33 countries over six continents, join ministries and foundations to support humanitarian aid efforts. He also taught me how to lead small groups and develop my 16 years of riding skill into something that could be used to glorify Him.

Wisely testing puddle depth before attempting a crossing.

Fast-forwarding to today, Kingdom Adventure Tours has gained more support and momentum than I could’ve ever dreamed. And it’s because of God and His graciousness. He has opened doors, brought riders from all over, filled trips, and blessed the last five months of building far beyond anything I could have imagined. So if God gives you a dream and it feels crazy, the question shouldn’t be, “Is it too crazy?” but rather, “Is God really calling me to this?” If the answer is yes, the only thing that’s crazy is waiting so long to act.

Because if God is for you, then who can be against you?

You can find us online (link below). Why don’t you join us for a trip? We have trips being planned all over the world, and our 2026 feature is a partnership with some great friends in Guatemala, riding Husqvarna Norden 901 motorbikes. Being a believer is never a prerequisite. But if you want an excuse to ride in incredible places, want God to meet you, or maybe have never really met Jesus, I encourage you right now, where you are sitting, to ask Him to speak to you. Ask Him what is next in your life, because I wish I had been willing to listen two years ago. And now, if Kingdom Adventure Tours helps one person have an incredible time saddled up in an exciting place and discern the Lord’s words, then every part of this journey has been worth it. And what I have learned is this: if you don’t feel like an imposter, your dream isn’t big enough.

And if the dream is from the God, then get ready for the greatest adventure of your life— dare I say, a Kingdom Adventure?

Harrison Vaughan

Kingdom Adventure Tours