Epilogue

And so this blog comes to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it and in some way it helped me stay connected with reality - I know this trip was almost too good to be true. Before I let you go though I want to tell and ask you a few things:

1 - This blog had a wider following than I had expected. Some days saw over 170 visitors with people from all over the world regularly checking in. If you are one of those people who I don't know, especially one of  the 30+ people from Russia who checked in almost every day, I would like to hear from you (a bit about yourself, how you found the blog, why you followed it so regularly, etc.). Anyone can email me at RalphCurt@gmail.com.

2. I would like to thank Harley Davidson. Sally has taken a part of my heart and I will never be the same again. She was with me through the whole trip, every day and night, and not once let me down. A friend pointed out that when that bison attacked me and Sally's engine died, it was probably the sound of the Harley starting up again that scared the bison away. I wonder, did Sally kill the engine because she knew the start-up would save me? I wonder...   :-)

3. I thought this trip was going to be about the places I'd see and the time I'd be alone. I was wrong. This trip was SO much about the people I met and the experiences we shared. From Laurie Lee who picked me up at the airport in Denver to Chris Robertson who bought me lunch when I got back, my list of people to thank is so long - Angie, Brian, Clif, Don, Mark, Emily, Rosa, Laurie, Shari, Roger, Dave, Rand, Kendra, Tom, Cathy, Mary, Sam, Kristie, Jim, Richard, Dewetta, Ed, Pumpkin,  Rob, Rick, Colleen, Carl, Jodi, Elisabeth, Ron, Brian, Tara, Dave, Vinnie, Louie, Fred, Hans,  Sun Star, Pat, Dave, 500,000 bikers, Dan, Chris, and Rosa's mother. 500,042 people and 1 chicken and I only knew 11 for them before I left. Wow!

4. A friend commented that by doing this blog I have, in fact, written a book. I liked that idea and I intend to make it happen. I am going to take this blog, add a few things I think might add another dimension to the story and print some books. If you would like a free copy, let me know via email and I will gladly send one to you - a gift I would love to send to you from me.  Now you Russians and others HAVE to email me if you want the book!!  Email me!!

The human spirit is AMAZING! I can get myopic about my life here in Atlanta at times but a trip like this shows me all that's out there ... And it is WONDERFUL!  God has blessed me so much, all I need to do is surrender and remember what PT said - everything I need is already in my heart and soul. I hope you get the chance to take a trip like this one day.

I looked at the dining room table and there were all of my things from the trip - gloves, sunglasses, bungee cords, helmet, ... all things that were very important and had great value to me yesterday but now no longer needed and need to go into storage. I drove my car last night and it felt so odd and wrong in a way, like I was cheating on Sally. Today I was hit with all my day to day burdens. Yes, It's going to be a tough transition back to reality but that is fine.  I am so happy and in love with life, I'll be good for a long time! I am also so glad I was able to share this trip with so many of you! Thank you for caring and paying attention!

And finally, I noticed the moon is hiding below the horizon these past couple of days - no doubt as tired as I am and Sally is as well. To the moon and to Sally I say this - I love you both! You have rocked my world!! I know my friend the moon will be back in due time. Sally, go take a well deserved rest, get your oil changed, engine tuned up and maybe a new front tire. But when the seasons change I hope you will be ready for me as I will be wanting you really badly and really soon. Will you be ready? What? What was that you said? Bring it? BRING IT? Hell yeah - I am ready right now!! Let's rock!!!

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

― Hunter S. Thompson

Day 45 - It's official: 10,683 miles

So it's over. I will put some thoughts about this trip in an Epilogue tomorrow but the traveling is over (for now). I am home safe and sound and after 10,683 miles on some of the most gorgeous road this planet has to offer, I am exhausted. And it's funny how things work out - when I first started thinking about this trip I pegged Tupelo MS as a good first stop but my plans changed and that didn't happen. Instead it ended up being a great last stop! I woke up in the kings home town of Tupelo and Sally and I went straight to the 2 room house where Elvis Presley was born. Then I entered it the worst weather of this trip came pouting down and lasted the whole day. And the sky always look so ominous! Lightening was striking and thunder rattling everything around me as it POURED on me all day long. I stopped under an overpass several times so it took forever to get anywhere. I also got the obligatory water wave splashes/dunks from passing cars and trucks again - big walls of water hurling my way. Yet after I made sure I was safe I just had to laugh! As I said earlier I love dancing in the rain and this waterfest felt close to that again (see Utah)! I tried to visit some friends and family in Birmingham but it didn't work out so I just pointed due east and headed straight home. It felt odd riding in Atlanta and then home. I enjoyed a few drinks, some good conversation and now tonight, for the first time in over 6 weeks, I will sleep in my bed. Ahhhh.... I hope I dream of my trip - it was so much more than I ever expected. But more on that tomorrow.

ODO - 10,683

Day 44 - From Tulsa to Tupelo Mississippi

Kicking and screaming - that's how I want to go out! I woke up in Tulsa and realized I had one more night on the road before arriving back home in Atlanta. Very mixed feelings - I have LOVED every second of this trip yet I am also ready to go home. It was so great seeing Dan last night - I am truly blessed with great great friends! I took off from Tulsa and stopped just outside Little Rock Arkansas to have lunch with another good friend Chris Robertson. We had lunch in a tiny country restaurant where Bernie (waitress below) brought us some delicious food! I even had some sweet tea to celebrate bring back in the deep south! This place was great and marks yet another restaurant gem in a really small town! It is always good to see Chris and we had fun visiting. What a fun way visit with him too - pulling up in a motorcycle that been through hell and looks it! .From Little Rock I hit the road hard and heavy again and made it through Memphis and stopped in Tupelo MS where I plan to see where Elvis was born. Tomorrow i head to Birmingham where I hope to visit with some family and then the last 2 hours home. OMG - just 2 more blog pages!

ODO - 10,387

Day 43 - 35 years later and Dan Moore is still a best friend!

I woke up in Kansas and headed straight south to Tulsa Oklahoma to see my friend Dan Moore. Dan was one of my best friends from high school and it was SO great to see him again! Just like when I met Shari Lobben, it's like the 35 years since the last time we saw each other just disappeared - you just pick up from where you were all that time ago and keep going. We met at a bar where Harley Davidson's park in front and car's park in the back, as it should be! It was called the Crows Creek Tavern and came recommended by my dear friend Rosa's mother and it was perfect. We spent a couple hours there then checked out a couple of other spots drinking a little beer but mainly just catching up on each others lives and repeating some old ways. Perfect! Somehow coming back from a trip like the one i've been on and then tying back to one of my best friends from my youth at the end is important, I am just not sure how yet. But we had a great time and even got to check out Rosa's parents new home too! Tomorrow I head east again and then my last night on the road. I can taste the margaritas in Atlanta monday night already!

ODO - 9799

Day 42 - 768 miles in one day!

Well I guess if you are going to leave a place you might as well hit the road. Yesterday I was in South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas. I met Kaneisha who brought me a slice of "sour cream raisin" pie, home made in Bridgeport Nebraska and served up fine at the Meadowlark Restaurant! I saw trains go by full of coal, 200+ train cars at a time. I was in a pack of about 35 bikes for awhile and that was fun. And I passed through Wind Cave National Park - small but interesting! Next time maybe. But mostly it was a day of riding and more riding. I am excited to see Tulsa!

Day 41 - South Dakota has stolen my heart

I must admit I was not very enamored with visiting South Dakota. When I saw the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was during my last week of this trip I took it as a sign I needed to go and so I did. But the truth is I thought I'd just go see the rally and then head home - it makes for a good story. But ... Wow! I believe this visit to South Dakota has been the biggest surprise of the trip. And it is not just Rally - it is the whole experience here. As to the Rally, it is not really an event, it is more of a phenomenon. 500,000+ people come here not just for Sturgis but more for the Black Hills. Certainly the Rally is centered in Sturgis. But the heart of this phenomenon, the good stuff, takes place in the surrounding Black Hills of South Dakota. As we rode around in the hills I saw tens of thousands of people in hundreds of different places always welcoming and always friendly and always wanting to help you have fun. I think bikers may be the friendliest group of folk I have met! I saw an older guy struggling to get his bike up a steep road at a stop sign and before I know it we had the whole intersection shut down (I say we because I stopped traffic on one direction too) with a bunch of other people helping him push himself out of the fix. And this happened instantly, as soon as it was apparent he was in trouble! I saw a group of motorcycles come together and firm a group easily counting 300+ bikes all riding along together on a 2 lane highway without a car or truck in sight - an instant platoon created out of nothing but a feeling of togetherness. You walk into any restaurant for lunch or dinner or just to have a beer and you would think you were long lost relatives who just returned home. Big Mamma herself wished us a safe ride home at one "bar" that was really a converted shed with a bunch of picnic tables spread out on a farm in a beautiful valley with horses and deer and a stream. As a newcomer there is no way in hell I would ever have known any of this nor done any of it if I had known; it all takes place off of small roads and in the back country. But I was not alone. Call it what you will but meeting Sam and Kristie on my third day of this trip and then seeing them again towards the end and then having them play such a pivotal role in my experience.... Wow! No, that is not a coincidence - there is something here. I am a blessed man and I hope I can remember that for a long, long time. And to see it in such a special place... I swear you can feel why the Lakota Indians thought this place was sacred. South Dakota, you won me over BIG TIME! I will be back, that I can promise! These Black Hills are some of the finest hills I have ever ridden. The canyons, the landscape, the small towns, the animals but most of all the people. After dinner I said goodbye to Sam and Kristie and headed to my room to pack. It was bound to happen - my leaving this beautiful PNW and this amazing land - but I am still not done. Tomorrow I say good-bye (for now) to this place and turn my handlebars south. I will stop in Tulsa OK where I will see friends, some of whom I have known since High School and some who will be new to me. But beyond them I am sure to meet more wonderful people along the way. For now I depart the mountains but here comes the plains of Nebraska and Kansas and Oklahoma. I am ready!

ODO - 8757