(Note: I started writing this a week ago – I just never finished it)

I’m sitting in a KOA about 50 miles from my house. Normally, you don’t ever stay at a campground 50 miles from your house, but yet here I am. Been riding since Friday afternoon, and have enjoyed the living hell out of this one. I just didn’t feel like going home yet.

Rode down to the Border. Arizona has 5 major ones, with border crossing roads. Quite frankly, I just wanted to see the wall for myself and see what everyone gets all uptight about.

I rode down last weekend as well, to a different border crossing. I just haven’t blogged that one yet. I will. I’m gonna do part 2 first. Kinda like that Seinfeld episode where they played the end first, and worked up to the beginning.

I had the bright idea Thursday night for a ride, so I loaded the bike up and headed out after work. Slowly worked my way through the 30 miles of freeway quitting time traffic, and headed south toward some new roads.

Once I got out of the traffic, the riding got good. I got off the interstate west of Phoenix and headed south. It was Nascar weekend here, and I headed down toward the raceway. It wasn’t all that busy; everyone had settled in for the race, and I just rolled by and enjoyed the ride.

headed south toward Gila bend. Crossed my favorite bridge, over old highway 80, and down towards the KOA I’d booked for the night.

Woke up the next morning and twisted the throttle down toward the border. It was a little warmer of a morning than usual, and I knew the riding would be good. Any morning on a new road, is always good.

Headed down toward Ajo, and Why. I missed a lot of things in Ajo — some of my local Arizona friends described Ajo as an old shithole mining town, but I didn’t see that at all. I saw a small town with a killer old history, some great Spanish architecture and quite a lot of activity going on. I need to go back to Ajo — I think there’s some stories to tell there.

Heading due south, I rode through Organ Pipe National Monument. I’d came this way in the mid part of 2000. A fishing buddy of mine and a friend went down through here to Puerto Penasco on a week long adventure to go fly fish the Gulf of California. That was 20 years ago, and I’d forgotten how beautiful this part of Arizona was.

Then Lukeville, and the wall.

I doubled back toward Why.

Headed east toward Tucson. 120 miles of good music, feet up on the freeway pegs and 80 mile mph t-shirt weather. I enjoyed the hell out of that stretch. Listened to a little Alice Cooper and the Who, picked up the local radio stations when I could, and just enjoyed the ride. Noticed a lot of side roads I need to go back and explore another day. That, is a beautiful thing.

Headed into old Tucson studios and then found my KOA.

Life it seems, is pretty fucking good.

It’s just…. a virus. I don’t see anything bigger than any other big virus than we’ve had before.

This might last 2 weeks, it might last 6 months….But yet there’s going to be an aftermath.

It reminds me of 9/11. You see shit happening, but you’re not sure what it means. All you know is things aren’t going to be the same tomorrow.

Maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe, just maybe there is a pony in this pile of shit.

Maybe it will bring all of us back to center. Maybe we needed this, and it was the only way. Maybe a global pandemic is just the thing that stops the divisiveness. Man, I’m not saying this was a good thing, please understand me. Maybe…. there’s some positives here, that we’ll all build on.

And we will build on them. That’s just what we do.

Really, the whole thing is dumb. It’s so dumb I don’t even know where to start. It’s beyond dumb.

I could be working remotely as early as next week. That might be cool. I’ve got a little desk in the garage, and I’m sure I can sell web sites and talk search engine optimization to customers from there. Hell, maybe even better than I do at work. Maybe in my underwear. Hell, I don’t know yet… but I’ll figure it out.

For the record, I haven’t bought toilet paper, outside my normal toilet paper buying cycle. Or Water. Call me stupid, but I can turn on my kitchen sink or run my garden hose if the supply of Dasani at my local Circle K runs dry. I’m pretty sure I’ll survive.

Anyway, I just wanted to chime in. Everyone else seems to.

Yeah, this whole thing is dumb.

Headed out from work tonight, bags packed and found me a road. Tomorrow should be a 400 mile day. I’m all geeked up about it.

Sitting here in a KOA in Gila Bend Arizona, and looking forward to the ride tomorrow. I haven’t had an overnighter in a while.

The bike is broken in: oil changed, and all that shit. She purrs. I seriously love this bike.

Exploring some roads I’ve never seen: I rode to the Mexico border last weekend, but doing it again this weekend. This time a different border.

I think about the moments in life that have got me to this place. Where I’m at, may or may not be your dream, and to be honest I’m not sure why anyone even follows this blog. But a few do, and it’s fun to share the rides I’ve had.

I think for all the dumb and good shit I’ve done, I haven’t been afraid to try something new. I’m grateful for whatever gene or thought I’ve had over the years, that trying something new or having the balls to seek something out hasn’t ever been my problem.

The world changes; ya gotta change. Ya gotta face whatever is bothering you, or what you see as a problem.

This house has brought me back to center, and I’m still figuring out why. I chased the American dream for a while, and did some really stupid shit. My dream failed, and I spend the last 10 years getting things back to center. For whatever reason, that was important to me. What I’m grateful for, is that I had the balls to try. *That* isn’t failure. I could have failed by not trying, and that could have been a worse thing.

I am still going to chase it.

So here I am; in my small house that has everything I’ve ever wanted. A couple of bikes in the garage, a wife I sincerely love, a daughter that is having her own kids now, and 2 kids that still need my help and who are still figuring out their way in life. There is much to do.

Back to center. Just trying to keep all the balls in the air that are important to me. Tomorrow is going to give me another challenge, and hopefully the past experiences in life will give me the answer, or I’ll have to learn something new and figure that out as well.

Fuel for the fire. It’s all good.

I took the day off for tomorrow. Today, is essentially a Friday, one day early.

Ya gotta love the Highwaymen. 4 individuals, who made it, doing things their own way.

Waylon Jennings: Picked up a following (mostly in Arizona), and they tried to make him a Nashville guy. The Nashville sound at the time was all slick and smooth, and Waylon just didn’t translate. He went back to his own sound, and went back to plowing his own ground. They eventually called him. Ya gotta love that.

Johnny Cash; the original outlaw. Johnny cash didn’t give a fuck most times. He had a song he wanted to sing, so he sang it.

Willie Nelson was a killer songwriter, but didn’t quite fit in into the Nashville of the time. He ended up being a legend and got things exactly how he wanted, sticking to his guns.

Chris Christopherson was a good songwriter, but a perfect example of how the world really works: some times it’s not always luck, sometimes its not always talent. Man, persistence and opportunity. The guy had that in droves. Maybe, I have more respect for him than any of the other four.

Anyway, thats how I see it. I’m just enjoying the highwayman mix in my garage right now.

Heh, sorry to get all deep on you. I just like this band. They’re good to twist a throttle to.

Remember the movie Jurassic Park? There’s a quote that has always stuck with me, since I first saw it in 1993. I remember that day; it was the summer blockbuster of the time, and the theater was jam packed. The air conditioning in the place had gone out, and we were all sweating like dogs. We didn’t care. We just wanted to see this movie.

Its the scene in the movie where the scientists are touring the facility and they’re trying to be sold on how wonderful the place is. The reluctant scientists have their doubts.

They pull up to a fenced area, with a goat is being held on a chain. It was meant to feed the Tyrannasaurus Rex.

Grant, a scientist in the film says: “T-rex doesn’t want to be fed, he wants to hunt”.

Hunt. Don’t be fed. Take care of those around you; Be a T-rex.

I just found out my local dealership has Yoga Classes.

For Bikers.

Yoga….

For Bikers.

What the hell happened here? *shakes head*

Man, I don’t get it.

Nobody better fucking say “OK Boomer” to me.