Favorite Rides & Destinations

Spring 2016

Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/649593

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 78 of 80

Exhaust Note FOR MOST OF US, day-to-day life is an exercise in familiarity. There is much to be said for a stable existence. A steady job is a wonderful thing as are lasting relationships. We get to know family and friends with a depth that only comes with time. However, there is a fine line between stability and monotony. Enter the motorcycle. I don't know of anything in life that is stronger kryptonite to the mundane than a good motorcycle tour. The rolling existence of a motorcycle tour does not lend itself to deep familiarity, and that's a good thing. The people we meet on the road are, to us, ephemeral. The impressions these meetings leave can be lasting, but the relationships rarely are. We see people at their best, their worst and everything in between—but only for a moment. The key is we meet a lot of new people and then roll on. Similarly, we really don't get to know most of the dots on the map that we visit. Again, this is just fine. That town we call home is familiar. We know it in all seasons. We know its pace and its pulse. However, those towns we roll through on a tour, we only know "in the moment." Albuquerque at dawn is not Albuquerque at dusk. The impression we get on a short visit to a place is not complete, but it is valuable and then we roll on. Touring is a collection of vignettes, little stories and slices of life that are far from familiar and even farther from mundane. I have ridden thousands of miles in the decades of my motorcycling life, and I have had thousands of fleeting moments that are etched in my memory. I'll never forget the man I met outside a taco joint in Tecate, Mexico. I knew about 10 words of Spanish and he had a similar command of the English language. However, our shared love for motorcycles sparked a short but powerful "conversation." I'll surely never meet up with him again, but I knew him in that moment and that was enough. I don't know the back story of the old man standing by my motorcycle when I left that diner in southern Idaho, but I know that he rode an Indian Chief all over the country in the years after he returned from WWII. He beamed as he talked about it. It's not just the people, it's also the places. I don't claim to be any kind of expert on the true nature of Yellowstone, but I cherish the vision of a moose emerging from the steam of a hot spring in the last, crimson light of sunset. Then I rode on. It's unlikely I'll ever get to ride a motorcycle again on the Alaskan island of Ketchikan, but standing in the rain forest mist below the vibrant native totem poles is an image that will certainly stick with me long after my riding years. Yes, it's time to gas up and collect more vignettes. There is an unlimited supply out there and they don't take up any space in my saddlebag. BY TIM KESSEL COLLECTING VIGNETTES www.FavoriteRidesAndDestinations.com | ridermagazine.com PAGE 79 SPRING 2016 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 01

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Favorite Rides & Destinations - Spring 2016