4 Days – 10 Hours – 50 minutes and the journey begins.

After a weekend of standing on my feet for 8-10 hours a day, talking with prospective clients (and a few past and current ones) this coming weekend will be the extreme opposite – sitting in the “saddle” for 10-12 hours a day with only my own thoughts. Since the first three weeks of my Roadtrip will be solo I will have lots of time to either think, reflect or or just “zen out” 🙂 I type this post while I enjoy the last of my favourite cigars – a Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary – which in itself gives me a certain “zen-ness”. According to a recent issue of Cigar Aficiionado, a good cigar is “experienced”  – but I digress.

My beloved Harley is almost completely packed, been mechanically checked and simply awaits a full tank of gas while I anxiously count down the hours (106.5 as of right now) before the odyssey begins. For long distance riders, this trip is something many want to do but may never have the opportunity and I have received many comments from envious well-wishers across the USA and Canada who will follow my journey through this blog and on Facebook.

I hope my experience will encourage these and others to pursue their “dream ride”  or possibly just their dream, whatever that may be. I don’t know who said it but “if you can think it you can do it” is a quote I read recently and it certainly applies to this Roadtrip. I thought about it almost two years ago and it was just a dream – but then it became an optimistic idea and then an ambitious goal and finally when I said it aloud to a friend it became a real and true plan. A colleague, and teacher- whom I respect greatly, cautioned me (and others in his class) to be careful about repeating a goal or plan to many others. His reasoning was that it is easy to “milk” all the good feelings to the point where you no longer have to actually fulfill the goal because your brain becomes convinced you have already completed it. And this scared me a little because I had already imagined some of the roads I would be riding like a downhill slalom to the point I felt I had been there. But as I continued to tell more friends and family and clients and colleagues I knew I had to do it (or look like an idiot?). And luckily I married the most wonderful woman in the world who thought this would be a great way to celebrate 25 years of marriage! I just wish she could make the whole trip instead of just half of it.

So if you are following this blog I hope you enjoy the ride, the photos, the videos and my ramblings.You will get to meet the new friends I make and some of my friends whom I have not seen in years.  It should be fun – and a whole lot more interesting once the rubber hits the road on Saturday. Please leave comments, suggestions and requests. I already know one thing for sure – I won’t look back from my rocking chair and say, “I wish I hadn’t done that”.