Why does the long ride or road trip move the soul in ways nothing else can? Why does it affect our whole being? ... Well, I think in part because we have a head start before we pull out of the driveway. Passion. All that "if I have to explain it" stuff that all who ride feel ... but I've never heard it explained aditquitlly ... nor will mere words ever. It is an explanation that must be felt ... lived.
In a car I am isolated, protected. Just apart from instant reality enough to have a degree of disconnection with the outside enviroment. I get bored. ... Are we there yet?
So what is the allure of a motorcycle? Take Idaho Rte. 12 from Washington to Montana following the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Clearwater River. Beautiful and scenic the entire distance. From a car ... a lovely, enjoyable drive ... you get to watch a lot of the experience. The same ride on a motorcycle, you become part of the experience created. Every moment of movement has its direct impact on our senses. The feel of the moment lasts but only for the moment and just as quickly becomes a memory of the feel of that moment. But the moment is gone, the impact of the moment is gone. Replaced by the next impacting moment and its feel committed to memory. But in that moment, the road curved following the bank of a bend in the River. During the moments as you transverse the curve, the sunlight shifts slightly, the lean and speed through the curve make for a subtle increase in awareness of the road that a straight line cannot produce. Even the wind varies slightly. The sound of the whitewater from the River bend far side mildly makes its impact into the whole of the moment. The view of river, valley, tree covered mountainside and road, from the distant to directly ahead of the front wheel, all change with the seemingly shift in the morning sunlight direction as the moments through the curve continue ... and from a motorcycle we catch it all. We feel and live the impacts of the moments.
Pictures may capture and document a moment. Bring joy to those who weren't there and spark a memory or two from the one who took the picture. But the real essence of the moments of any ride are locked within the being of the individual rider. ... For only he has the memory of the feeling of the impact of the moments.
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In a car I am isolated, protected. Just apart from instant reality enough to have a degree of disconnection with the outside enviroment. I get bored. ... Are we there yet?
So what is the allure of a motorcycle? Take Idaho Rte. 12 from Washington to Montana following the Lewis and Clark Trail along the Clearwater River. Beautiful and scenic the entire distance. From a car ... a lovely, enjoyable drive ... you get to watch a lot of the experience. The same ride on a motorcycle, you become part of the experience created. Every moment of movement has its direct impact on our senses. The feel of the moment lasts but only for the moment and just as quickly becomes a memory of the feel of that moment. But the moment is gone, the impact of the moment is gone. Replaced by the next impacting moment and its feel committed to memory. But in that moment, the road curved following the bank of a bend in the River. During the moments as you transverse the curve, the sunlight shifts slightly, the lean and speed through the curve make for a subtle increase in awareness of the road that a straight line cannot produce. Even the wind varies slightly. The sound of the whitewater from the River bend far side mildly makes its impact into the whole of the moment. The view of river, valley, tree covered mountainside and road, from the distant to directly ahead of the front wheel, all change with the seemingly shift in the morning sunlight direction as the moments through the curve continue ... and from a motorcycle we catch it all. We feel and live the impacts of the moments.
Pictures may capture and document a moment. Bring joy to those who weren't there and spark a memory or two from the one who took the picture. But the real essence of the moments of any ride are locked within the being of the individual rider. ... For only he has the memory of the feeling of the impact of the moments.
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