1
0
Howdy Folks!
Did I ever tell you the one about a man who decided to quit working, calling it an early retirement so the generalized others could understand. A man who chose travel over work, chose to explore & adventure by motorcycle over work. A man who chose to shed the societal shackles, going against the grain, to live free of the vain.
Adventuring throughout the United States, visiting all the lower 48, crossing Continental Divides & Borders into Canada & Mexico. With no planned routes, never doing anything like it before, just going, living day to day, making up as he went along his unencumbered way. No…well, I’m gonna tell ya about it, ready, here I go…
A yarn about a boy who grew to a grown man-child with childlike heart & spirit, seeing all in awe & wonder, life’s splendor not being wasted on him. Beating to his own drummer, can you hear it? No, most didn’t, unable to hear or see the world his way, but, that never bothered him.
He realized life is his own, to live his own way so each & every day was a new beginning & so beautiful in its own way. It’s a tale about living in dreams, just going & doing it, not contemplating, not making excuses to avoid living.
A true freedom rider!
By the way, did you figure out the person I’m speaking about is me!
I’ve always been a motorcycle enthusiast, ever since I can remember, I’ve been mounting steel steeds, all sizes, though never ones as big as the 1988 Honda Goldwing I choose for my cross country adventures. Did I care?! No. I just did it, I didn’t fear it. I looked until the right ride spoke to me & in no time I heard it calling to me. A classic, wing of gold, to embark on an epic, life changing adventure.
All motorcycles are not created equal, nor, are they the same. Style, design, ingenuity, balance, handling, comfort, storage, & yes, size does matter! Especially when it comes to riding open stretches of highways at high speeds, traveling long distances, riding through all kinds of places, climates, elevations & surfaces.
Too, the amount of gear I could comfortably pack was essential, & this motorcycle was second to none I’ve ever owned.
So, after my Great Aunt died as I sat by her side reading to her, playing her favorite song as she took her last breaths on her 99th Birthday, I knew, I had to go & do it now, not later. I heard her echoes ringing in my ears over the years of life lessons shared, ‘Randy, go, live your way, go Get Lost like we used to do when you were little!’
I didn’t want to put off for an uncertain tomorrow what I had the desire, ability, health & passion to embark on today. Why wait?! Life is short, no time like the present! The decision was made in that instant & I began preparations to embark.
Besides, who doesn’t love Getting Lost!
My Great Aunt taught me to always work & play hard. Too though, to earn & save so that I would be able to have means to do & live out dreams. She taught me in my observations of her, each & every day, to remain young at heart, live for the moment, travel, see the world & never to fear change or the unknown. ‘To each their own’, she’d always say.
I heard her messages & went out, found a great used motorcycle, got it ready for the open road, bought gear, loaded up & hit the road.
I chose to ride as free-spirited & natural as I could, a modern day hunter-gatherer, an Indian, a Cowboy, a Nomad, Pandit, a Ghost Riding, Getting Lost with Randy, Wanderer, with only a desire to adventure.
Free of plans, free of destinations, free of worries & fears, free of burdens, free of cares & troubles, free of schedules, free to just be in the journey, in the moments. Free to choose where & when to go, or, not! Free to experience, free to stay & play, free to do what I please, when I pleased with no time constraints, cares, worries or woes.
A freedom rider!
A Polymath by natural selection, a Renaissance Man by choice of interests & passions. Freedoms to me are living without hindrances or obstruction. Learning, living, growing in awe & wonder as I wander each & every day in my own unique way. ‘I’m all right, the world’s all wrong’ Just another song of my Great Aunt’s life’s lullaby’s.
Married only to my mind, body, spirit & life’s possibilities, in awe & wonder I stand until I choose to wander.
Getting Lost in my own thoughts, my own mind’s eye, a happy man, contented man, simply living life without a plan.
Left, right, strait, back, head East or go West as I’ve always heard it’s the best, ‘The West is the best’, thanks Jim. Fitting, as all The Doors that are just waiting for me to open that lie ahead, my youth collectively reemerging.
Maybe North or South, stay awhile, that road or that one or that one, that door, who knows which way my hearts spirit will direct me today.
To Mountains, Deserts, a quick dip or long swim in the Ocean, play on the Beach, maybe camp or a Motel or ask a Farmer to use his land, who knows. Not me, I’m just happy to shed my shoes & feel the grass, dirt & sand between my exposed, vulnerable, breathing toes, free of the confinement of shoes, no confinement burdens at all.
Roads less traveled, my own beaten path allows for more growth in whatever may come today. Hum, which way today, what to eat & where to rest my head, the only choices spread out on my bed where they lay. Carpe diem!
I realized that there were not many people in the world able to do what I was doing & the way I was doing it. & that, most certainly, my experiences were unique to me & maybe completely singular, as is my, & each their own, uniquely magnificent! This, my experiential existence on this spinning, floating, circling rock we call Earth, around a Star, we call Sun.
Motorcycles have always been a way of life for me, not a weekend warrior thing, or, a way to look cool, or, think myself neat, no. Rather, riding is like breathing, just a natural state of my being, almost like an appendage, the motorcycle is just part of me. People don’t ask me if I’m going to ride today, or, over the weekend, no. They simply ask, so, which motorcycle are you taking out today! Gleefully, I’d giggle, ‘whichever one I feel’
I ride to work, I ride to shop for groceries &/or whatever I might need around the house, I ride to the gym, I ride pretty much every & any where I go. I ride in the rain & through storms, I’d ride into & through most any element nature blew my way. Though, I have to honestly say, I choose not to ride in the extreme cold & snow only because I’m not a fan of being cold. Cold to me is uncomfortable, too invasive for me to relax & just enjoy the ride. Warm weather riding is like a favorite blanket, it hugs me just right. A bedtime story as life tucks me in at night.
So, I just ride, I prefer 2 wheels over 4 & 4 over 3, for 3 has never felt comfortable to me. I’m not a Trike kind of guy, I’d rather have a convertible, a smoother ride than 3 feels to me. Unable to lean or sit comfortably, cornering just doesn’t feel right & its all about feel to me, if it doesn’t ‘feel’ right, I don’t do it. 3 feels ‘fat’ in the backside, I don’t like big butts, & I cannot lie.
I often think back to the decision I made to not wait, to not hesitate. Cause if I would have waited until today, living in today’s world, if I’d have chosen not to go I wouldn’t have been able to do 98% of what I did. Not cause I was afraid of the lies in attempted fears they’re trying to sell, no. I just didn’t want to be inconvenienced, nor, compromised. I know all this nonsense will pass, as all things in situations & zeitgeists do. Though if I’d have waited, I wouldn’t have been able to do, see, hear & experience all I was able to go through, celebrate & do.
I wouldn’t have been able to do most all of what I did, what I saw or people I met, not food eaten or festivals or most of the experiences that forever changed my life. If I had waited, hesitated, doubted, made excuses, I would have regretted to the end of my days choosing to live as most others do, making excuses & not doing, living in fears denying their passion plays. Nope, I did it my way!
Everything has always worked out for me because I just free flow, letting whatever may be, be. Allowing ebb, allowing flow, bending, adapting, realizing that the only hindrances are our own, so, choose not to have any of in my garden, grown.
We are our own worst enemies because we believe the lies of the autocracies, for the only American dream is not to have one because the American way is never done. Always elusive. Enough is never enough. We have way too much stuff. Why live for another’s contrived ever evading illusions of what’s a ‘dream’.
One’s dream, another’s torture.
Live your own way, find your passions, don’t wait for approval or listen to those who say ‘nay’. Surround yourself with true family in friends who celebrate you by saying, ‘yeah!, you be you, do it your own way, perfect just the way you are!’
No matter who those people are who tell you not to live for yourself, shed them for those who support who you are, kindred spirits. For no one knows what’s best for you than you, don’t be another’s puppet in their play, do it your way. Pull your own strings until your heart sings, endless the possibilities independence brings!
Live for today, no one knows what tomorrow holds. Life is what passes those by who just keep waiting for their Dream.
Life didn’t happen to me, I happened to life!
‘Why fit in when you were born to stand out!’ ‘Be who you are & say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter & those who matter don’t mind’, ‘Oh, the places you’ll go!’ – Dr. Seuss
Think about it!
Peace & love, awaken, until next time, au revoir…
