To Renew the Dream...

... and Drink the Wind...

The last year has been the best... and it's been the worst, but really, how can I complain?

In the past year and a half, I've ridden my Raider to Alaska and back. I've rolled her along the Pacific Coast Hwy in Oregon, and on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. I've run the twisties of the Goin' to the Sun Road in Glacier Nat. Park up in Montana... Twice! She's been through Yellowstone, over Lost Trail Pass in Montana, and into Flagstaff for some BBQ!

She's taken my to Mt. Shasta, Payson and over Mingus Mtn. to Jerome. We've ridden the Flaming Gorge country of Utah...

I've run to the Black Hills, and over the Beartooth Pass on the Chief Joseph Hwy. I've ridden Hwy 12 on the Escalante and Arches National Park in Utah.

I've toured Yosemite, the Arizona Desert and the High Rocky Mountain Skyway of Hwy 550 through Silverton in Colorado. 

It's been a hell of a year...So... How can I complain? Aw, I ain't really! ;)

The thing is... lately, the negative, downer crap that seems to be piling up in the world faster than a man can shovel or outride it, seems to have caught me, a bit... and run me off into a rut. It's sorta contaminated my thinking. It's something we all need to fight off... and Keep Living! We all need to Keep it in the Wind!

I live in a way that I'm sure many riders find enviable. I work for no 'Bosses' any more... just myself. If I want, any time I want, I can just step outside the rig, climb on the Raider, twist the throttle and ride!

But... the feeling that I Need to take care of business has wormed its way back into too commanding a place... once again. It's regained some power I thought I'd taken away from it some time ago.

I worked myself into the lifestyle I live now, 'cause workin' for the man, Slaving for the man, was just no longer a tolerable way of livin'. I managed to build my two websites... which led to the publishing of my fiction... and they are a major part of what keeps me on the road... and a major and growing thing that supports the Freedom that I get to live in.

... and THAT... is where the rub comes...

Without meaning to... that Freedom I've enjoyed for more than a year now... seems to be getting a bit tarnished by that pressure and worry to Take Care of that Publishing Business... that contributes a heavy % of our living.

That pressure has come, I believe, from the doubts that the world around us can infect a mans head with. It's come from the unending drone of bad news everywhere you look.

That's the dicey part... Finding the balance 'tween maintaining the Freedom of the Road... and Taking Care of Business... so that I can STAY, on the road... in the face of all the Damn doom and gloom that we're beaten down with...

If a fella isn't careful he falls back into the same old trap of workin' all the time... and not Living. It happens so slow you don't see it coming until one day you look up and you're gettin' full circle, falling back into the same rut you worked so hard to climb out of.

To avoid that, a guy's got to pay attention to the Dream too! He's got to use just as much discipline to protect what he's workin' FOR... as he does, takin' care of the work he does for the necessities of life, that supports that Dream.

Work should ALWAYS be secondary to LIVING. It's only a TOOL... to provide what's needed to LIVE.
If the Dream and LIVING... starts having to be sacrificed to take care of secondary "Business"... then it's my opinion that I'm doin' it wrong and I need to back off a step and take a fresh look... and figure out how to do it right! I need to put a fresh shine back on the Dream.

So... the next few weeks, as I finish out this year, and start off in the new... are to be spent re-evaluating what I'm doin' and how... for the purpose of putting things back into a better balance...

... so that the next year... sees as many, and hopefully more miles splittin' the Wind with the grin of Freedom decorating my ugly bald cowboy biker brain pan, as the last...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share...  Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
*Tell us about your...  Great Motorcycle Roads

Just Realized I didn't Post the Motorcycle Ramp Video I Promised

A couple of posts back I mentioned that I'd changed how I load the bike a bit... I have to load it, 'cause I live/travel full time in a fifth wheel. Either I load my Raider or leave it... and Leaving the Raider behind... ain't an Option!!!

Though it's been on my You tube channel for a short while I hadn't linked the loading update video here... OOPS! Bad Biker Cowboy! No Beer!

If you look at the first video and this latest one you can see the changes I've made on the truck bed as well that have things quite a bit snugger and more crowded, which doesn't simplify anything. ;)



Everything I thought of to "fix" the problem seemed expensive and to tell the truth, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that money on more mods to this old truck...

As it turned out... very few dollars for a couple of planks and a bit of cheap hardware and my problem loading the Raider is all fixed!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Return to the Home page of Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road
Visit our sister site goin' RV Boondocking

Share your stories and opinions;
*Tell us Which you think is the... The Best Touring Motorcycle
*Share...  Your Personal Motorcycle Philosophy with us!
*Tell us about your...  Great Motorcycle Roads