HAPPY NEW YEAR! & a discovery

If you ride a motorcycle and you're reading this, and happen to reside in a place where you put your bike away at the end of fall, it means that you survived a full season of riding. Celebrate being alive and vow to keep it that way.

I became reflective this morning, thinking about all the 'cycle trips I want to take in the summer of '07. In addition to circling Lake Superior, I want to ride east to visit friends in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. I'd love to go south too, to see folks in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Time limits me severely, so I have to make choices. It's times like these that I regret (sort of) my decision to eschew a career in academia. Had I, I could spend the whole summer traveling via motorcycle. But I didn't and I don't and that can really tick me off if I let it.

After circling all the great lakes, I want to do a perimeter trip around the USA. So, I did a Google search to see if other motorcyclists who have done so had written about it. Almost immediately, I came across Mark Logsdon's site. Not only did he take such a journey, he did it for an extremely good cause. He did it to heightened awareness of ovarian cancer, a disease that caused the death of his beloved wife and motorcycle riding partner. I've only read some of his blog but plan to read it in its entirety. I had the idea to ride the Superior trip for a good cause too but abandoned the idea because I didn't want to put any undue pressure on myself. I'm willing to reconsider that now. I have some charities in mind and should at least find out how a trip I'm going to take anyway might also benefit others.

Here's the link to Mark Logsdon's blog. Check out his ride story--I think you'll find it inspirational. You know how sometimes you just get that feeling that you are destined to meet someone? I felt that way while reading Mark's blog. More than likely we'll never meet beyond his words, but reading them made me feel as if I know him a little.

Only one win-win resolution: I resolve to do all I can to ride safe, and stay safe, to ride always with confidence and within my skill level, to pay attention to the angels' voices who whisper cautions to me as they sit on my shoulders during rides. And always, always, ATGATT!