Thurs May 19
This is it. The end of our adventure begins today as we wake, shake off the aches and pains, head for breakfast then pack up the bikes. Ed will stay behind and board the train around 2pm but by then we should be home.
There’s a lot of reminiscing, laughs and promises to keep in touch. I have one surprise left in store for these guys as we take our last picture together. Last night I wrote up some signs for us to hold during the last picture we would take before heading our separate ways. Check out my next post tomorrow to see it.
The skies today are cloudy but the forecast promises warm and sunny weather later on in the morning. The ride back to New Jersey should take about 4 hours and just one tank of gas. I load up the bike and tune in the radio, say my good bye to Ed and point the bike north for the our final run.
I do a heck of a lot of thinking when I ride. I go through thoughts of my life mostly. Marriage, job, family. I reflect on how I got here and where I will go next. Life has changed a great deal for me in the last three years and has given me time to catch up on the things I have missed out on and also the things, like this trip, that I had always dreamed of doing. They say getting old sucks but I say it depends on what old is and how you choose to live your life as you age.
My life turned a corner when I was roughly 40 years old. It has progressively gotten better since then. I met my wife during this time and my marriage has been a blessing, as she is very supportive in all I do, including encouraging me to take this trip. I recently rediscovered my parents and what it is like to be their son again and not their business partner. Spending a month in Florida with them last winter was the best time of my life. They have always pushed me to be the best person I can be and have always showed me love and support and without that, this trip would never have happened for me. Funny how I do so much thinking when I ride but what else can you do when there is no one to talk to but yourself.
I wonder as I get closer to home how I could possibly describe to my friends and family what this was like and for that reason I am glad I blogged this trip. Keeping a daily account of most of what happened makes it easier to remember everything and gives me something I can go back to and reread in the future. There is this feeling I have inside that can’t be described. I just feel different now. Nothing great but just different and hard to put in words. Maybe because its all so fresh in my mind but I do feel differently.
We pull into my driveway and let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction for what we have done. It’s officially over now for us but Ed still has a half day ride home after getting off the train tomorrow. There’s not much left to say for both of us as we have covered everything over the last day or so but we just smile and remark how incredible it has all been.
Who knows what the future holds for us all but we now share a past that we can talk about forever. I am sure we will remind each other of the moments and events from our trip over the years to come and I look forward to it all. The pictures we took are priceless as we have some 300 or so to go thru. Many of them will pop up on my site, as some have already and I look forward to printing an old school scrapbook for my coffee table.
In in the end we spent 18 days riding through 9 states for over 3500 miles to meet hundreds of people, to hear hundreds of stories and gain a lifetime of memories…..
Just One Man’s Opinion
The Regular Guy