WOW!!!

Well, one of my dreams came true over the last month. I've wanted to ride my motorcycle to Alaska for a long time, and, I DID IT!!!!!!! Dave and I have planned this trip for a long time, and talked about it for even longer. With all the things that have happened over the last year to both of us, it is amazing that it still worked out, but it did.

We went from the start of the Alaskan Highway:
To the end where we had a little celebration:
To back home, where we finished it off with a beer:
After which, I got to put the last pins in my map. Pretty well filled in now.........
With the exception of the pin in Hawaii, Dave and I have traveled to all the others together on the two bikes you've seen in the pictures we've posted. What a feat!!!!! What fun!!!!!!

When I started riding again a few years ago, it didn't take me long to find someone who enjoyed riding the same that I did. It is really unusual to find another who rides the same style, doesn't whine (at least not often), who doesn't care where we stop, who likes to pick journeys and not destinations. Well, I've been blessed in finding that person. Despite our differing personalities, when it comes to riding and our core values, we don't have many issues on our trips. At least nothing that can't be resolved. So Dave, thanks for helping to make this a "trip of a lifetime"!!!!

For those of you who have been reading this, you know that it at times was almost overwhelming. The distances were so vast and the emptiness is almost impossible to comprehend if you haven't experienced it. It created a need to do whatever you had to to stay connected to your loved ones.

Meeting the people who travel the Alaskan Highway, and those who live along it, was a GREAT experience. They all had something in common, a sense of adventure, a sense of purpose, a knowing that there is something greater out there than they are, but yet a willingness to face it.

I listened to a lady talk to some young people one night, telling them how much she enjoyed listening to what they've been doing, how she would visit her kids to listen to them tell about the excitement in their lives. Sounded to me like she was trying to live vicariously through the lives of others. Folks, there is plenty of excitement out there for the taking. You don't have to sit back and listen to what someone else has done. All you have to do, is grab life and get a little of your own.

I've been asked where I'm going to ride now that I've filled my map in. Well, there still are a whole lot of places I haven't been. Rides that I need to take. Places I'd like to go back to (I'd ride back to Alaska in a heartbeat). Places I want to take Mary Jo to see. You see, it isn't in the places you go to, it is in the ride to get there. If you haven't learned anything else from the things Dave and I posted, you need to understand that. All the things we go through (including nice rides in tow trucks) are just part of the trip. Both the expected and the unexpected. It is what makes things interesting.

Ok, I've rambled on long enough. I sure hope all of you who have been reading this have enjoyed it. I've sure enjoyed doing it. And, just maybe, I've convinced someone else to take a "trip of a lifetime" to someplace. Doesn't really matter where, just do it!!!!!!

My thanks to my family and especially, Mary Jo, for letting me take this journey. For giving me the encouragement to do it (for the most part) even if they didn't understand why I needed to. With my family grown, doing well and starting families of their own, some may say this was a mid-life crisis thing for me. I don't think so. It was more the fact that there was a road I hadn't ridden that was calling my name. Well, it was quite a trip in answering that call. One I'll never forget and that I'll go back to in my mind for the rest of my life.

Go enjoy life. It only happens once.