I know nothing with any certainty but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”
-Vincent Van Gogh
Several of us early risers just witnessed the sun rise, yet again from the 100+ degrees geothermal heated springs water that originated, somewhere deep within the Earth’s interior.… it’s not even anywhere near six a.m. and the daylight woke us hearty souls. Everyone else at the Crane Hot Springs in Oregon is still enjoying, I assume the warmth of their sleeping bag. Add to the daylight the birds chatter and it’s doubly hard to stay put. This part of Oregon appears to possess unusually dark skies at night that makes for some awe inspiring skies and beautiful clouds and ever changing skies in the daylight.
Periods of solitude, from time to time I believe, can be essential for anyone; sort of a way to connect or reconnect with one’s soul and true self. In order to discover who you are at your very core, and to truly understand yourself, you should know that Solitude is a good place to go, to give your mind a chance to relax and settle in with yourself. And if you can add your passion of riding or walking then so much the better.
Explore riding a bicycle, a motorcycle or taking a multi day walk (camino) or hike on a long trail. The aspects of interacting with mechanical things are good for some people.
For the rest of you god made walking or hiking. Someone on a recent ride said that Americans on average watch television for a total of 15 years of their adult lives. I also wonder if anyone is already counting the number of wasted hours on that thing called a smartphone? Don’t be that guy or gal that recently died but, never lived.
Enjoy yourselves, live a little, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body.
“Keep your body active and alive, and I promise you this much; ……….I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” – Edward Abbey
So what is this thing called Loneliness? The internet describes it as a distressing experience that occurs when a person’s social relationships are perceived to be less in quantity and quality, than one desires.
It’s also highly subjective; because an individual can be alone without feeling lonely. Plus they can also feel lonely even when they are with other people. So, loneliness is actually a state of mind. So, to change that state of mind we learn to love ourselves and then we learn how to expand our social networks.
I recommend YouTube for seeing what people with video are up to like for example a British guy traveling from South America to around the world on a Kombi; another British guy (Ed March) showing the motorcycle world that you can do everything from the transAmerica trail to the Dalton Highway on a Honda C90. I know I know, these are extremes but, don’t we usually need someone or something to give us a little inspiration or ideas for our own journey?
And just so you don’t go through life thinking this is something new; after WWI, another British guy by the name of Max Reisch completed two expeditions, one on a motorcycle and another on a motor car.
Steyr works in 1935 offered Max its newly-developed motor car the Steyr 100 Type for the purpose of riding it from India to China. The success of that expedition led to a round-the-world trip. After a journey of 19 months, Max Reisch and the Steyr 100 arrived back in Austria, safe and sound, in December 1936. (An Incredible Journey by Max Reitsch)
The American team below after winning the New York to Paris race before there were roads connecting the two places.
Trawlercat Personal Blog Chronicles 