Homestretch and Reasons Why

I just crossed over into Oregon only one state away from home. In a van, I've done Tacoma to San Jose straight through, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Umatilla Oregon Welcome Center folks seem preoccupied and not very welcoming, so I'll write about something more important. Why this bike? Why this trip? Why now?

Why this bike? It's not a classic like the Norton. It's hard to get parts for. It's old. But, it represents a time in my life that was very different from the 25 years since I sold the one that I had that was just like it.

That time was more spontaneous, more outdoors, and it covered a lot more ground. I think, because this bike is the model I had before Katherin was born when my wife and I had many shared adventures, it was symbolic for me of a part of my life that hadn't received a lot of attention for quite a while.

Why this trip? Novelty and spontaneity were central. There were only three planned stops and no date commitments from July 1 to now. That hasn't been true in my life for a very long time. And there's the bucket list piece that I have now been in all 50 states and all 10 Canadian provinces. Going north of Lake Superior and getting to Glacier National Park had also been long held ambitions. That's the reason for the route. But there are also big pieces about not having obligations to anyone else and getting into the back country. I was able to do the second a little and the first a lot.

Why now? At the age of 63, I feel my future is in many ways more opaque than it was at 30 or 50. Not because I don't know where I'm going or what I'm going to do, but because I'm more aware that my time is finite. I want to see as much as I can and learn about as many people's lives as I can. But the clock is ticking. It's not going any faster than it did when I was 50, but I'm one major health issue away from being off motorcycles and/or out of the wild. The bike was there. The time was there. It was time to go.

Speaking of which, having lost an hour or two to the headlight issue (see earlier posts from today) I need to be going as well. Wonder what the pie situation is between here and Bend?