I'm back

March 24, 2009. Life is so diferent from what it once was. It's almost laughable, how i thought things were going to be vs how they really pan out to be. laughable. Sometimes because I sold myself so short, and other times because i really believed that the laws of impermanence were not going to apply to things/people/places that I was SO attached to.

Life is a dream. Life is so circular sometimes. When I actually look at it that way. Isn't it awesome that our perceptions so greatly shape our realities? It's just trippy really. try it, change your view about something and then see how that change of view leads to a change of feeling. And that change of feeling leads to a change of reaction. And that change of reaction leads to a whole new reaction from the other side, new possiblity...maybe. Try it and see.

and what do you dream of ???

So as I look over this blog and think back to the days of dreaming, I almost can't believe how good my life is some times. So I wonder was it you dream of? What is it you want to do with this life while you have this body that is on loan to us for some time between our mother and some maggots (the eloquent words of Ani Difranco) But it is the truth, we are all just a temporary collection of causes, conditons, and circumstance. What next? What's brewing in the dark, adventurous, frightened corners of your mind saying I'd really like to......

A smiley start at the MN border

When I say a start I mean: part two of the journey, I'd already made my way up from the furthest corner of New Mexico, it took four days to reach my old home in Duluth Minnesota, 1,800 miles. I was scenery strolling through Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and a little spa in Northen New Mexico called Ojo Caliente. Really you have got to check that place out sometime. Nothing could have felt better to me after 8 hours of desert riding than to sit in a natural mineral bath hot spring! It's $21 for camping (not advertised too much) which includes the use of the entire spa. Really gotta check it out! www.ojocalientespa.com

another rock in colorado

getting near the four corners area... notice the amount of gear i decided to take with me. . my jacket and two helmets bulk up the load. the nice thing about traveling light is avoiding the daily pack/unpack hassle. i had enough to get by, KOA usually has a laundry facility to help me feel new again. although next time i will bring SOMETHING that is not black!

a girl and her motorcycle

me, my motorcycle, and a big rock in Colorado.

A Note From Flagstaff

August 18th 2005 : Flagstaf Arizona. This was not in the original plan but here I am. Adventures have to unfold of their own energy. I guess if it happened any other way they would not be so adventurous. I bypassed Sturgis and missed my friends in Montana due to time closing in on me. I decided to cross the midwest - AGAIN! I've never been very inclined to see so much of Kansas, but there I was day after day, eager to get to through the gates of God's Country Colorado. No matter how long the wait was in those little corn communities of Kansas, Colorado is always worth the wait. It was about the fourth morning out that I finally returned to the mountatins. Like my home away from home, earth that i crave, air so crisp, thin, and clean; curved roads doing their best to compliment the contours of their mountain home. A lovely ride. So good in fact that BMW has called the ride on 550 from Montrose to Durango one of the best rides in the counrty. I must agree, and I didn't even get to make the complete loop back up thru the neighboring range to Telluride, but I will return for this ride again in the future. But then again we don't truly step in to the same river twice.

the ride, a memory of 2004

i achieved a life long dream. i took the ride, the risks, the advice of no one. On memorial day of 2004 i set out from my cozy stable home in duluth, minnesota to live on my motorcycle for 6 weeks and see some of this land of the free, home of the brave, america.
First let me share a snippet of my past. i had your slightly worse than average dysfunctional upbringing and i've made it through sufferings that some only see on t.v. and in movies,... i had a moment of clarity in 1995 that has sustained 10 years of sobriety and renewal of spirit on the level of miracle.
i had quit making dreams for my life by the time i was 16, i had no reason to believe in them, everyday life was just about avoiding pain and getting numb anyway i could. i was a spiritually dead. how i ever got the audacity to pull myself up and thrive is still a mystery to me, but i did. and as i looked in the mirror everyday and faced the pains i'd spent a lifetime trying to avoid, layers of shame were lifted and the real person i was meant to be began to emerge. i was resurrected and so was my capacity to dream about the kind of life i really wanted, which included owning my own motorcycle. the dream continues to grow as i have put thousands of miles on my bike including a nearly 6,000 mile solo motorcycle trip last year. i love to ride, it's one of the few things in this life that feels right, and as i ride i don't do it just for me but for all the women who paved the way before me and all those with the glimmer of possibility lighting up their eyes. as i gear up for another summer on the road...i've got to throw out some deep love and gratitude to all the predecessor moto maidens and those yet to come ... "this ride's for you."

a map

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2 wheels and a prayer

I'm sizing up the highways through yahoo maps as i make my schemes for a summer of soaring through the country on my motorcycle, on my own. don't get me wrong i'd like to have company but so many can't or won't take the time to just go out and ride, ride, ride. it's hard on the ass, it's dangerous, and it costs some money. i'm living by the i'll cross that bridge when i get to it philosophy or maybe living on 2 wheels and a prayer sums it up better.
so i'm thinking I'll leave the southwest and head up to colorado, maybe hit the ladies run in fairplay as i make my way to minnesota, the old homeland. once i've had my fill there i am headed for the big momma of all motorcycle rallies - the ineffable sturgis. Say what you will : overpopulated, sell outs, wannabes, commercialized...bla bla bla the soul is still there The Black Hills are a sacred place and once being there how could you not understand why people have been flocking there by the thousands for years, even centuries. well that's another story for another time. i'll be crossing the big sky country of montana, to visit some old beloved friends and travel companions. Then it is down the coast; riding the infamous west coast highway to another adventure in San Francisco.......