Riding the AlCAN ... A Long Held Dream...

Was 38 summers ago... May of '72, just before Memorial Day that year. A punk kid was coming home from the army... and had his head screwed on all kinds of wrong...

The Dream he had just then was to take a New Motorcycle... and make a ride on the ALCAN to Homer, Alaska... Solo... and points beyond... for as long as it took... to to get his head screwed back on right... a true case of hungering for the Healing Power of the Open Road.

Well... that summer... that 19 year old kid got ambushed and the Dream he'd held got blown away... followed by one summer after another... of events and life conspiring... with his acquiescence... to keep him from making that ride... and pursuing its' purpose... 'till now, that kid is a puss gut, bald headed, 57 year old... grumpy ol' Cowboy Biker...Still... harboring that same, treasured Dream...

The events in my world... over the last year or so... have pushed that old Dream... back to the forefront... and has the "Kid" ever more needful of that Healing Journey.

Now... this next part... right here... is likely to stir up a storm amongst "Some" folks... close around me... :o) 

But... With the agreement and support of my Lady... It's my intention to Roll that Red, Star Raider Motorcycle, SOLO, up that Ribbon of Highway that separates... Homer Alaska on the Kenai... and Fort Collins, Colorado... taking at least a month... and maybe a few days more...

There's things in the way this year... just like all those past... but... You know what? I am tee total... completely, 100% weary of all the crap obstructing my road... THIS YEAR  by God! THIS YEAR.

That Bike and I are makin' this run... or... whooooeee... there's likely to be some noise... :o)

The Lady and the Cowboy are planning on rolling our rig to Ouray for a couple weeks in late July... then back to the Front Range... from where I'm planning to put my Knees in the Wind, long about the 25th of July... running that Ribbon of Highway North! :o)

This is not intended to be a luxury resort ride. I'll be using few motels... My camps will be made, as opportunity presents and the road reveals, likely spots along the way... There is no hurry... no real schedule or plan... Just ride... and breathe... and LIVE.

It is also not intended as an Iron Butt endurance test... there will be few four or five hundred mile days... if any.

My Hope and desire, which is difficult, if not impossible to explain... is to engage the intangible, yet Plain as Day Real, Healing Power of the Open Road... to help my head "capture" an elusive "Thing" its' been chasing since that 19 year old kid came home. Its been right there, I could always feel it... yet it evades me, just out of reach, and has, for all these years...

Yet, that "Thing", always feels so much closer, still just out of reach... when I'm on that bike... with the Wind in my face...

What I'm riding to achieve... is to, once and for all, run hard enough, long enough, in that way that can't be explained, to catch up and shine a light into a darkness I've carried around... to put down a burden of which I'm weary.

... and so... another example of why "You don't find motorcycles parked in front of a psychiatrists office!" :o) 


Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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