I have started to load all 56,000 pictures on my Big Mac. It's a monster compared to the poor "Little Mac" laptop. 16 processors, 12G memory, Dual Monitors... bla bla bla... I should have some of the panoramic photos out on my duanebeyer.com site in a week for sale help raise funds for JDRF.
Everyone, as expected, has asks me how was the trip. It's hard to explain. It would be like asking Neil Armstrong what it was like to walk on the moon. He could describe it to you, but it really the kind of think you need to experience.
First you have to understand the person you are asking to know why they did what they did, to understand why they liked it or not, and how that relates to you. For example, before I can walk on the moon, I have to strap myself onto a experimental rocket that will shake and rattle me apart as it launches me into space. Then I have to endure the vacuum of space, knowing on the other side of the 1/8" thick tin can is death. After I concur that, I have to deal with living three inches from two other folks who are using up my food and oxygen. Only then, can you really know what it is like when you ask me what it is like to walk on the moon.
So, lets look at me:
I love to go fast, I love the feeling of being on the edge, but I also try to know my limits so I'm around to do more. Additionally, I have no problem wearing a lot of gear just in case I misjudge my limits. I also live with the consequences of not knowing my limits, loosing the use of my right ankle, and having no regrets. That was one fun ride back in 2000. But, I have always been that way. In the fire department, Scuba diving, the risk was worth the challenge, load me up.
Second, I'm boarder-line ADHD and OCD. I love things that change fast to hold my attention. I love to plan, (the ocd), but, when it is time to execute, I have no problem if the plan falls apart, I adapt. I only obsess over the planning. So, flat tires, nearly freezing, wrong turns, to me, they are all part of the journey, I embrace them.
Third, if you have never road a motorcycle, snowmobile, jet ski, been in a power boat, or even a fast ride on a bicycle, you can't understand the feeling of being part of the environment around you. You can feel the temperature change as you go up a hill or down into a valley, passed a large body of water, or dip in and out of the shade. Sometimes only ten feet change in elevation will have a massive change in temperature. The smell of a corn field compared to the wheat field you just passed, or the newly plowed wet field. Some smells you will never forget, some you wish you never encountered. You can even smell temperature change.
Forth, concentration - On the bike, most of my brain is occupied keeping you on the road. What is left, I use to take in the sights and smells. That leaves nothing for all the daily stuff, and that's a really good thing. I could spend between 5 and 10 hours on the bike a day without a radio, just the wind in my ears, and I was never board. Even on the longest paved road with no turns or hills, my brain was full of what it needed and nothing more. Here and there, something may slip in, but it would be gone before I had time to be affected by the thought.
Five, I'm and extravert - almost to the point of being annoying sometimes. Every though that passes through my brain comes out of my month - long before it has had time to be processed. Poor Miranda has the same issue. We call her DM, for Diarrhea Mouth. So while I am still figuring it out, you have to hear each conflicting thought that passes through my brain until I come to a conclusion.
Six, I love to talk to strangers - which sounds weird, because I am also shy, but they are not mutually exclusive. I talk to strangers to hear their story, not to talk about me. So, it's ok to be shy, it's about them, not me. I am also very open - I don't care what you believe in, or what you don't. I don't care if you are narrow minded or also open. I want to hear your story. Where it goes once I get to know you, well, that is my choice.
Seven, I love alone time - I could go weeks, maybe even months, without seeing a familiar face. It just does not bother me. And when I see you again, I pick up right where we left off. Some people find this strange, but that's me.
That's what makes me tick. So, for me, the trip was awesome, freeing, inspirational and zen like. For you, not sure. So when I say I loved it and can't really describe it, now you know why. We each walk in different shoes, and mine fit well for solo motorcycle travel.
If I did not have family and work commitments, believe me, I would turn around and do it all again tomorrow. But I know that can't happen this week. But maybe again in 2016 with a journey to the Arctic Circle. We will just have to see.
I think I best expressed my trip in a letter I email to the library board. I was not able to help out one of the Library Committees, so I wrote this.
Intro removed:
That said, I have a
wonderful trip. I would not have traded it for anything. If not for
the Pacific Ocean, I may have kept on riding. It was inspirational,
enlightening and zen like at times. I would spend between 5 and 12
hours a day on the road with no radio, just the sound of the wind in my
ears. I was able to smell something new at every turn, feel the
temperature change from one mile to the next and see some of the most
incredible sites. Many times I would turn around and get a completely
different perspective of a passage just by approaching it from the other
direction.
Being on a bike and not in the car, I was able to stop almost
anywhere, take it in, snap a shot, go for a short walk and never
worry about a parking space. I would take unplanned off-shoots of 5 to
50 miles from my course just to see a fish in a tank, a fossil in a
rock, or a bridge off in the distance.
Each day, where I slept became less and less important, and who I
met became more and more interesting. I would love to do it all over
again tomorrow and spend much more time with the people I met. Their
were some sights I did not get to see because they booked up early, or
closed before I got there, but the things I encounter that were not
planned more then made up for them.
I have walked away from this journey truly appreciating the journey, not the destination.
Looking forward to seeing you all again soon,
Duane
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