Kirjahaku

The story of a journey is not always just about the journey. Sometimes what prompts a ride is part of the story. These two journeys were responses to a black wall of stress and depression that threatened to overwhelm the author. The first ride (Northeast) became a journey that reawakened faith in humanity and restored a balanced view of the world that had been slipping away, and the second (Northwest) was a preventative measure to fend off a return to that darkness and retain the progress made by the first. This ride across the North American continent revealed the overwhelming beauty of the natural world and the goodness of people along the way. Stress may return, but the great wide world is always out there, waiting to restore and reaffirm the value of life in it for anyone who takes up the challenge of experiencing it.

On the heels of a catastrophic eye injury, multiple eye surgeries, and recovery over several years, on a dark night on the Blue Ridge Parkway, finally back in the saddle of his motorcycle, the author's return to riding grinds to a crashing halt. In an instant, there's a deer in his windscreen. Everything goes black then he wakes up on the pavement. Wrist surgery is followed by more recovery...then another setback. On the eve of his return to riding, the sight in the good remaining eye darkens at the edges--a detached retina. The next day he is in surgery again...and recovery...again. In his mid-sixties, the time left to ride to all the places he'd dreamed about now seemed limited, but he vows to himself he's not done yet. By October of 2021, doctors say he can ride again. Between then and the following October, 24,000 miles roll under the wheels of the new Tiger he'd bought to replace his wrecked Bonneville as he explores the United States. These are the stories of that year in motion.