North to Alaska

Day 34

 

What do you call a dream – that you never dared to dream?

 

I continued my plan to foil the three evil sisters today – although I did do about 100 miles on the Ohio Turnpike.  The combination of parts of Routes 30 and 6 turned out to be pretty good riding – a detour on Route 6 actually turned out to be the nicest part.  It took me across a lot of county roads through Ohio farm country – and other than being pretty hot riding – was beautiful scenery.

 

Once back on the interstate – I began searching for the word that describes the dream you don’t dare to dream – and although I rode for 9 hours today – I couldn’t come up with the word.

 

You see, I never dared to dream that I would ride my motorcycle to Alaska.  Yes, I dreamed that one day I would ride across the country – and I did that in 2000.  And yes, I even dreamed – far fetched as it might have been – I even dreamed I would ride the four corners of this great country – and I did that in 2001.

 

But never, never, never did I dream that I could ride to Alaska.

 

But here I am, the last night on the road – and the dream I never dared to dream is reality.

 

I’m back in Cracker Barrel country, so the condemned man’s last supper was Catfish and Hushpuppies – sweet tea, of course – and a few quiet moments trying to pinch myself to make sure it’s real.

 

A look at the odometer on the Valkyrie after dinner – lets me know that I will turn over 51,000 miles before I reach home – that’s more miles than I have put on my car – and I bought it six months before I bought the bike.

 

Now, I know some of you riders will sneer at 50,000 miles – because some of you have hundreds of thousands of miles on yours – but, for me, 50,000 miles is a landmark – and it’s more than that – it is a series of shared experiences with this motorcycle that make it and me something special to each other.

 

Regardless of the miles you have on your bike, I’m sure you feel the same way.

 

Build the bond and dare to dream.

 

So to you and Iowa Sioux and Kinzi Border Collie, Salt Lake City, UT – I say goodnight from Bloomsburg, PA.
 

 Index, Day, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 thru 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32&33 34