Yep, that’s me, packing up for the morning…1978. My second motorcycle trip across America, this one with my brother, Greg. My first trip was in 1973.
What’s changed in the last 50 years?
It’s time for me to find out. One of the things that I know have changed is cell phones. That grainy photo that you see from 1978 was produced by a 110 camera. So, I’ll be taking a lot more and hopefully a lot better photos!
Why this trip and why now?
As I approach my 70th birthday, it’s time to slow down a bit, visit family and friends, hopefully meet some new friends along the way. America is a very large, diverse and beautiful country. No matter how much you have seen, I guarantee that there’s a lot more to see and experience.
I’d also like to give a little bit back to The Life Raft Group (LRG) community that has been such a big and important part of my life for nearly 25 years now. So, in addition to enjoying myself, I’m going to try to do a little fund-raising to support the LRG.
What’s the LRG and why is so important to me?
Well, if you know, you know….and if you don’t, you will have to follow along to find out, for that will be another story for another day.
I invite you all to follow along, or better yet to participate in whatever way you would like. I would love to meet as many of you as I can along the way. Whether it’s just to say hi, have lunch or something else. If there’s something special nearby or some special restaurant that you would like to show-off, I’d love to see/try it! If you know other GIST patients nearby and want to organize a local meeting, I would love to attend.
Right now, the tentative plan is to leave my house in Virginia in early May and I think this trip will be about 2 months. The general route will be to travel west through the southern part of the country while it’s still relatively cool, to southern California. From there, traveling north probably to Seattle before turning east and going across the northern part of the country as the weather gets warmer.
I do have certain relatives and friends that I want to see, mostly along the east coast and in Colorado, where I lived for over 30 years. So, I have some spots that I know that I want to go to and will spend a few days in Colorado for sure. However, I’m open to explore other places between these planned stops. The exact route and duration of the ride will, in large part, depend on you! If you want to plan an event, or just get together for bite to eat, let me know. I can’t guarantee anything, but I will try!
I have recently rejoined Facebook and will probably use that as a communications hub. Hope you can join me, in-person or virtually along the way!
