Thoughts From The Road

The past year has been a very busy time here at the BikerTrash Magazine offices. The normal challenge of keeping the site current and planning new features for our readers, the frustration of being involved in some energy-sapping litigation and the sadness of attending too many funerals in too short of a time span all conspired to make me wonder "is it worth it?"

The danger of publishing a magazine about Bikers is that you get too busy to be a biker and you find yourself writing about other peoples trip, about events that you don't have time to attend and seeing the dream of taking that long, special road trip get start to fade.

When I recently got the opportunity to make a 4-day, 1500-mile bike trip with a friend of mine I thought of all the reasons that I shouldn't go;

1. I can't be out of the office that long.
2. It's not in my budget right now.
3. I am not sure my bike is up to making the trip.

Four days before the planned trip a friend lost his life in a motorcycle accident while on a trip to Big Bend, Texas.

That was almost the very thing that would stop me from going - the realization of how quickly a great trip can become your worst nightmare.

With all of this on my mind I decided to go ahead with the trip, even though my level of enthusiasm was at rock bottom. The night before leaving was the visitation time at the funeral home for the friend that had been killed. There is nothing quite like touching a friend's casket just hours before leaving on a road trip to focus your mind on safety.

My riding partner and I discussed some basic ground rules for our ride; first we did not need to set any speed records in getting to our destination. Secondly, we would take breaks whenever we felt tired and we would take the "scenic route" whenever possible.

Lastly, we agreed on a maximum highway speed that we would adhere to regardless of which of us was leading.