Recently I took a couple of days to drive from Denver to Northern Virginia. I did 16 hours the first day due to all the closed rest stops. Didn’t mean to, but finally found a Pilot gas station that I could safely park in and catch up on some much-needed sleep.
As I climbed into the back of the truck I realized I was a human tuning fork running on the last of my caffeine and adrenaline fueled high. The following day was a much easier 6 hours.
The simple reason I love a good road trip is to see this nation I love. It still amazes me how much undeveloped and farmland there is. Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia by varying degrees presented their natural beauty. Then a 24 hours later it was Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Why drive 24 hours only to prep motorcycles for a day then drive another 6 hours to upstate NY? To race dirt bikes at a historic and nationally known track, of course.
It rained hard while we were in the New Berlin area. The tracks were a mud fest which made for interesting/challenging racing for this dusty desert rider. That’s code for slow and all over the place LOL.
Besides getting where I want to go, my number one goal on a road trip is to meet people from these different parts of our great country, get to know something about them and the area and possibly, just possibly make a new friend.
I did this in NY. Some Canadians snuck across the border. I sold one a dirt bike and had lots of laughs with his buddy’s, who thankfully egged him into buying the bike.
Then there was a group of engineers and millwrights that work at the nearby Chobani yogurt plant and at some of the pharmaceutical manufactures in Norwich. Their vintage dirt bikes were immaculate, and they had built copies of the “high speed” parts of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Almost all of them keep bees, and I was given a bottle of creamed honey. Nice guys and funny as heck. In their 60s and 70s and still cracking up like they were in their 20s.
It was all good fun, but the best part of the trip was falling right back into the good-natured ribbing and laughing at each other and ourselves with my friend who enticed me back into vintage dirt bike racing.
It’s a Monday when I’m writing this, and tomorrow I fly back to Virginia. Why?
To road trip my truck and motorcycles back to Denver.
I flew home for the launch of A Warrior’s Path – Thank you for your support by the way!!!!
I will take it a little easier this time. A 6-hour day. Then a 12, ending with a 5-hour day.
But guess what… I get one day of rest then jump in the car with my wife, daughter-in-law, and grandson and head to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon…
Am I crazy, oh heck yes! Do I love my family and this nation, heck yes!
Sing it Willie
On the road again
I just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again
Everybody sing
On the road again
Like a band o' gypsies, we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
Is on the road again
I just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again