The Wrap Up

“Until the money runs out or until I get sick of it.” A phrase I uttered many times when asked how long I would be on the road. Well, I did run out of money and the journey is over. However, I can assure the bank that their money was well spent.

First of all, Thank you to all of you that supported me in one way or another, even if you didn’t want to at first. Thank you to all of you who kept up with me along the way. You kept me writing when I really didn’t want to, and as a result I have a record of my trip that I will value forever. I hope you have learned something, or at least been mildly entertained. Maybe someday another travel chronicle will surface, but there’s no knowing until that day arrives.

If someone were to tell me what would happen on my three months on the road, I certainly would not have believed them. In fact, I still look back in wonderment over the path that I have traveled. I have seen some incredible things and met some incredible people. Most of which, I have made some feeble attempt to chronicle through pictures and words. Most of all, I have what I learned.

For everything you know, you don’t know more. I became accustomed to the unknown. Letting go of self imposed forecasts for the future and dealing with the present was a very hard thing to do, but once I did, I reveled in it. On this journey, the benefits of flexibility far outweighed the advantages of structure, and to that end, “I don’t know” became my mantra. It allowed me the autonomy to change direction at a moment’s notice and the freedom to stay the course if I pleased. Embracing the unknown was the single best thing this trip allowed me to do.

People have asked me about my favorites; favorite ride, favorite city, favorite experience. I don’t have a favorite. The whole journey stands before me in my mind, the sum of inseparable parts. Instead of cavalcade of stories, I am left with simply a holistic good feeling and a curl at the corners of my mouth.

For a trip with no destination and only one real goal, I think I did pretty good making it up as I went. I saw and did some of the things that I wanted, and I would like to think that I made the most out of the things that I wanted to avoid. As Frank Sinatra sang “Regrets, I have a few, But then again, too few to mention.” I feel I am able to look back and say that I did it “my way”.

The only real goal for the journey was to take a ride with Dad, since I never got to do when he was here. I think I accomplished that one goal very well. I can’t say how many times I felting him behind me while gliding down a mountainside or motoring through the fall colors. I can’t say how many times I heard his voice as the sun came up or the clouds parted before me. I can’t say how many things I saw that would have produced one of his signature hearty chuckles. But I do know that he would have been proud.