Smell The Roses

There is a lot of ebb and flow on the Motorcycle Journey.  The ebb of the road and the flow of the weather.  The ebb of settling in for the night and the flow of getting up and packed for the morning.  The ebb of stopping for gas and the flow of starting up again.  The ebb of the country and the flow of its grandeur.  The ebb of what you know and the flow of what you are about to learn.

If you were to ride the Interstates, you can cover a lot of miles at a very fast pace. If you were to ride the backroads, you see this magnificent country we live in.  Riding 322 West from PA to Ohio was just the Motorcycle vision I dreamed of.  (Mike and Rich both said it was some of the best Motorcycling they have  done.)  We drove through the city of Cleveland on July 4th - it was empty - a perfect pass through for us and a fortunate time to be flowing through.

We are now in Jackson, MI and thinking we will see and touch the Great Lakes.  We saw Lake Erie yesterday and hope to make it to Lake Huron.  But hey, you never know, the wind may blow us elsewhere.

We did stop and smell the roses.

Mountains, Interstates, Rain, Tolls (like going thru for the first time), Sun, Friends, GPS, and the best and coldest beer ever

This morning when I got on the motorcycle, I was stiff, nervous, and anxious about the ride.  Mostly about the rain and how would I do?  Would the cases be watertight, would the gear hold, and would I make it to Hazleton, PA?  It seems all the above would be a YES.  And finally at 5pm, we pulled into the Hotel and there was Rich, waiting for the rest of the Road Trip party to arrive.  We hugged, smiled, and talked about the trip each of us just took to make it to this point.  Fortunately, there was a Damon's restaurant just in front of us and the Hotel.  We didn't check in, just walked right to Damon's and made it in time for happy hour and Third Shift Beer.  Delicious and cold.  And I learned something today, my motorcycle has a 6th gear.  There is more possible than we ever imagined.