Just Go

Here it is a year after my Big Ride. Almost a year to the day. Of course this sets me to thinking back on the trip and putting it into perspective.

Now let's get one small thing straight to start with. This is not for the UberAdventure types. Those of you who have your gear dropped out of the back of a plane in Uzbekistan and vanish for a year commando-style already have things wired.You have created lives for yourself that support such behaviors. That is admirable, commendable and even envious. I too dream of vanishing into the misty regions and exploring all those countries ending in "stan", "ania" and "avia". But many of us face other, harsher realities. So this isnt for you guys. You guys go play in your circle and compare scars.

 
This is for the rest of us. Those of us who have chosen to have families, jobs and mortgages. Those of us who think we can't possibly enjoy such adventures far from home on our bikes.

 
The operative word there is "think". Because we think we cant do it, we dont ever try. Because we think it is too expensive, we never save for it. Because we think it is a bad thing to indulge ourselves like that, we never even raise the subject with our families. And so instead we stay home, read books, read forums and maybe once ins a while get away for a weekend to a nearby bike rally. It is discomfiting for us. We dont fit in with the sport bikers, because for us it isnt about speed or wheelies. We dont fit in with the dirt bikers because we are about travels, not rooster tails. We are incompatible with the cruiser crowd because we dont care about the show, just the go.

But you can, my friend. And you must. You must voyage. If not now, then never. You must find a way to no longer sniff at the bakery door; but to step inside and truly enjoy one entire fresh baked roll all to yourself.

 
For me it came when I received a small windfall. I struggled with it for some time. I could fix the crumbling porch on my house. I could invest wisely for future money. Or I could invest it in myself. Invest in my spirit.

 
When I approached my wife about it, she simply said "Oh Mid-life crisis already? I suppose it is better than a Corvette and a stripper". And that was the easy part. I believe it was due in no small part to her knowing I have wanted to do this for a long long time.

 
So with permission secured I began planning.

Money is the first concern. Not just for the trip; there had to be enough to take care of bills while I was gone. I had enough vacation saved to go for three weeks. The rest of the time would be on my own dime as a leave of absence. So I needed at least one paycheck in the bank for that. So I had a small portion of each paycheck diverted via electronic transfer into a separate account. It didnt take much. And you know what? after the first couple paychecks, I pretty much forgot about the money.

 
There you have it boys and girls - Tip the First - save your dimes. Find a way to creatively add to your trip fund in a way that doesnt bother you. Take the whole budget and dump it into a CD. Heck just pull it off a low interest credit card and spend the year paying that off. The CD will earn a few bucks in interest and you will be motivated to leave it alone. And if you cant manage to pay of the card in the year you are spending on the savings period - pay it off with the CD and try again. The point is - you can do it.

 
I already mentioned the time frame a bit. I selected a month. I ended up being gone for 5 weeks. No that is no year long circumnavigation of the globe. But for me it was exactly the right amount of time. I wouldnt recommend anything less than a full 30 days. Why so long? Because, for me at least, it takes a full week to ten days just to adjust to the notion that my only thoughts are: where I am riding to and where I am sleeping. See we spend almost all of our time getting somewhere. We have to get to work, get home, get to the store. Then when we vacations (IF we vacation) we have to get there before we can start vacationing. It takes a fair amount of time for us to adjust to the idea that there is no destination and that the going is the vacation.

So Tip the Second - Give yourself time. Make the journey out and in part of the whole experience. You can be so consumed with planning, gear, money and destinations that you forget entirely to enjoy the experience. I nearly did.

Where to go? This was easy for me. I wanted to roam my own country. I had been here. and there. and over there too. But I had always arrived by plane. Essentially teleporting from one airport to another. I had never gone to those places; I had only arrived at them. Now I would never presume to tell you where to go; but if you have not ever really spanned the US on a bike, you must. At least once. Yes I know you have dreamed of surfing moonlit playa on your bike in the Sahara. Yes I know you imagined yourself, bare chested and bloody fighting off packs of rabid Ice-Weasels in the Yukon. But c'mon gents; that just plain isnt reality for most of us. And if you keep your sights there, a big stack of books is all you will ever have. And, in my humble opinion, you are missing the point. You are only focusing on the surface. You are playing to the crowd. You are looking for affirmation from others. The adventure is inside. It is in between your ears and in your guts. And in the end, the motorcycle is just the means. You could set out to walk your adventure and nothing can take away from that. Adventure is, when distilled to its basest component; putting yourself into unfamiliar surroundings and opening yourself to newness. it is stepping off your own beaten path. never mind that you arent leaving arbitrary borders and needing to negotiate visas. You are leaving your comfort zone. This is a huge country. A man can spend a lifetime driving every single road passable by man or beast and still find wonder if he is open to it. Trust me, a thunder storm in the Grand Escalade is very different from a storm in the Appalachians. You will find yourself crouched in the shade of a gas station in Texas talking with a local and learn just as many new things as you would doing the same thing with a Kalahari bushman. If you let it happen. If you stop looking at the familiar golden arches and look for newness. The exotic is anywhere you havent been.

Lesson the Third - open yourself to adventure - People love to talk to travelers. Motorcycle travelers are particularly curious. Always let yourself be engaged in their conversations. Sure sometimes you might be shocked. But more often you will be fascinated, delighted and educated. And you dont have to get a passport to do it.

Planning. In a a word, don't. Or at least do as little as possible. If you set yourself up an itinerary and then try to stick to it, you will end up just doing a really long commute. You have to give yourself permission to alter your plans. Oh yes I had lots of fun designing routes on my computer and looking for interesting spots to stop. I had lists, diagrams, schedules - and then when I left, I wadded them up and threw them in the trash. Sort of like Peter Fonda in Easy Rider tossing his watch. I had a date to lauch. A date to make the East Coast and a date to be home. That was it. everything in between is open. Over planning leads to frustration. And even with that I was frustrated by weather and some mechanical difficulties. It took me hitting a low point in Tennessee where it just couldnt get anymore ridiculous and I had to just laugh. And I dont mean a polite head shake and a chuckle. I mean twenty minutes of gasping, soul-quaking, universe-echoing roaring laughter. From that point on, nothing fazed me. The trip had finaly become a joyful journey.

On camping - sure. If you like. I had wanted to camp as much as possible and just hit a hotel for a decent shower and a bed every once in a while. But here is the reality - in the USA it is more difficult and nearly as expensive to camp as it is to find a hotel room. Gentleman touring - rise with the sun. shower. get a bite. Hit the road. Maximum riding time. Maximum time hanging around interesting spots. Camping - get up. pack up everything. tent. bag. gear. bathe if possible. ride. then halt before the sun fades. find a campground - if it is the summer, pray it isnt full. (sorry folks the days of sleeping under bridges may be largely gone)rig up all of your gear (usually in the dark) feed yourself. pack up the food gear so animals dont get to it. crawl into the bag. In short you lose at least two hours a day to finding, setting up and tearing down your living quarters. Now that doesnt mean it isnt do-able. And it may well be a big part of what eases your mind. I know when I voyage closer to home, I love the camping part. But I simply could not have enjoyed as much of the country and wandered as I did in the time I had if I had exclusively camped.

Friends - we all got 'em. We all love 'em. And in the internet age, we got 'em all over the place. I had to be a bit of a hard ass about being noncommittal about visiting folks. If I had accepted every invite, I would never have had any time for me. I would have been dashing from house to house. believe me, I was more than grateful for the offers. I wanted to take them all up. But the simple logistics arent practical. This is why when people tell me they are going to be in my area, I make the offer and let them decide if they want to take advantage of it. No pressure. What you should do though, is make a list of contact info. having someone within a hundred miles to call if you need to is a great safety net. And it is nice to have the option of taking advantage of a home cooked meal and a couch now and then.

Axiom the Fourth - no planning. let it happen - Letting yourself get lost is a big part of the adventure and fun. Let destinations pop out at you. I stopped in Maxwell, california because that is my son's name. I found that on a rainy cool day I was near Gettysburg. I went down a side road so I could see what the underside of the Lake Ponchartrain Bridge seemed like.

 

Interesting things happened to me on my ride. Not just the obvious new to me destinations. But inside. In my head. I found that when I rounded the bottom end of California on the last week of my trip, that I was suddenly, achingly, homesick. I desperately missed my wife and son. I learned that without knowing it I had set out on my last big blowout trip for a while. There would be no more long rides for several years. When I thought of my son, I realized that he was eight. Soon, all too soon, he would he halfway to striking out on his own life. And I had been squandering that time with work and motorcycles. I had spent his entire life focusing on when I could get away on my bike again. I had spent the entirety of my marriage doing the same. in just a few more years, I figure when he is 14, he wont be son interested in vacations with family. But in the meantime I had been riding steadily for 20 years. Once he is grown, I figure that, fates willing, I will have another 20 to go. And there was that crumbling porch on my house. The neglect of my home physically represented my neglect of my family. And so I returned home, exhausted, but very happy and calm. I was also filled with a resolve to be more of a father and husband. And I have. House projects slowly progress. I took a long road trip in the car with my wife and son this summer. And I havent really ridden my bikes in a year. The old guzzi still needs a tranny fix. The new Guzzi still needs a new wheel. But I havent really regretted it. The ride seems to have burned away my need to be away so much. The perspective of a few years home bound doesnt bother me. And so in the end, my ride was beneficial to my family as well as me. Not a bad way to spend a midlife crisis, no?

yes interesting things happen in your head and heart while you watch your windscreen become a bug-encrusted Jackson Pollock. But I dont regret hanging closer to home. And even now, long after the Pollock has been cleaned from my bike, the jeweled bodies of mashed bugs still paint my mind. I'll be back. But not for a while.

 

Just go.