Ed's Motorcycle Adventures

7/24/2012 : Change can happen in the oddest ways or read Goethe "Until One is Committed"

Back to the 50 year dream.

Since I've been retired for several years and physically active and always have' my passport in my back pocket', I just assumed I'd do this motorcycle trip to South America, however, it wasn't happening. Thinking about preparation always involved renting my house and to do that meant preparing the house to rent which mean doing a big clean out of all my 'objects of affection' so someone could move in without being overwhelmed by my 'stuff'. In my mind this necessary step seemed overwhelming and when I get that feeling, I usually put those dreams to the side and look for something with more 'immediate payoff and less work'. So the dream stayed dormant occasionally getting a kick to see if it was still alive.

Somehow the process of aging sends a message about paying attention to how you spend your time and whether it is being well used. At 69 I know that some plans or dreams can't be put off any longer because of what they demand to bring them to fruition. I also know that I won't be any stronger or physically able to undertake a solo trip when I'm 70 so...

A sense of creeping age was like a kick. 'Crap or get off the pot'. Do it or stop holding on to a useless dream. Let go of it. It's served it's time. Forget it. These kicks sent me into renewed mental effort to address what I needed to do. But each time I would shrink back from this difficult task of going through all my stuff.

Finally I took a different approach and that was to just go out and buy the motorcycle I would need for the trip. I had held the belief that getting the motorcycle would be 'down the road' in the list of things I'd need to do, namely get the house ready,etc. What really happened was that once I bought the bike and made the commitment to the trip, my house got rented immediately and without having to interview anyone. My how Providence seemed to say "YES".

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffective. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, Power and magic in it.  William Hutchinson Murray (1951)

Since mid April, when I bought the bike, I have actively moved toward the hurdles that had previously stymied and frustrated me. I have looked at, held, caressed and thrown out countless objects I was attached to. Everything from file cabinets of large black and white photographs, to clothes, to furniture, to books have been jettisoned. And do I feel liberated!

I love stuff. I collect stuff. Maybe it's like comfort food but like food that is held for a long period of time, it's usefulness become limited and we wonder why we still hold on to that stuff.

So a liberating feeling accompanies this journey. I leave in a couple of months. Will I be prepared? I think 50 years is a long enough incubation period, the rest will take care of itself.

7/01/2012 : The Back Story or "Why would Ed want to go to the tip of South America"?

Often times when we think backwards we can see a dimly lit trail with hints and incidents that lead us to a conclusion rightly or wrong of how our love for something got started. Perhaps the original idea to do such a trip was inspired by armchair travel literature popular in the 50's which told of explorers undertaking new adventures among the most remote parts of the world with little in the way of backup or support. In my case these tales caught my interest and I read a lot of books about travel in South America when I was about 12. In high school I did the required reports and usually chose a topic having to do with South America and by the time I was 16 I had already planned a motorcycle trip from Seattle to Tierra del Fuego. I can easily recall sharing my maps and idea with three friends who were about to graduate from High School. They turned to each other and said:"Why don't we do that trip this summer after graduation?" They did start the trip and got as far as Panama. Still no small feat 50 years ago.

Since they 'did the trip and stole my idea' I wasn't going to do it. So, in 1963 I travelled in Mexico in a Morris Minor convertible with plans of selling it in British Honduras, now Belize. Since that trip along with wonderful experiences like flunking out of college and failing Spanish, Anthropology and Philosophy, three subjects I returned to major in, all were very formative in my 50 years of travel in Latin America.

So, jump forward to 2012 I am still carrying the dream of going to Tierra del Fuego by motorcycle. The next blog will be a lesson in change or how it worked for me.