You adventure your way and I'll adventure mine

The last couple of days have been hard. I was torn between continuing my adventure traveling around the country and returning to "the real world." Therefore, instead of taking the time to explore the Mojave and and Moab, I have been driving east. My little '09 Prius reminds me of "The Little Engine that Could." Tug, as I have named her, is pulling a trailer loaded with Dragon, my R1200GS. She just keeps on humming along, slow at times, but never letting us down. At times I think I can actually hear her: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can." So far, Tug has taken us from Covington, Georgia, across southern Texas to San Clemente, California, and then north up the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway, as far as Manchester and east to Sacramento and Yosemite, south into the Mojave and east again through Utah to Grand Junction, Colorado. In all, this has been a 5,500 plus mile journey for us and Tug just keeps pulling us along.

Meanwhile, Dragon has only clocked a little over 1,300 miles exploring Big Thicket National Preserve and the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas, Yosemite National Park, the Pacific Coast Highway from its beginning in San Clemente up to the Redwood National Park just south of Crescent City, CA. If a year ago, you had told me that I would have seen this much of the country on the trip of a lifetime and that I would spend more time in Tug than on Dragon, I would have thought that idea preposterous. Now, looking back, I think that doing the entire journey this way has been brilliant. I would not trade this for the world. I wish that I had ridden more of the journey and will make a point of doing that going forward, but the addition of Tug and her trailer was born of necessity.

When I first hatched this plan in early April of 2012, I was discussing it and dreaming about making this trip with my loving companion Merlin, whom you may have read about in previous stories. But doing a 10,0000 mile adventure on a motorcycle, even one as comfortable and capable as Dragon, simply was not feasible for little Merlin's frail 14 year old body. So enter Tug and a new trailer as a means of traveling from place to place in comfort, using Dragon as our day tripper to see the sites. Merlin and I planned the entire trip, prepared and accounted for all the know issues of traveling together. We did not see an alternative, but before the official trip began, Merlin passed away. There I was ready to go, all contingencies accounted, ready for to drive Tug and Dragon across this beautiful country. Had I not originally planned on taking Merlin, this trip--like so many others before it--would have been just Dragon and me traveling with the bare essentials. Instead, we have living quarters, air conditioning in the scorching heat of the desert, room for a week's worth of clothing, food and cooking supplies, my guitar, various and sundry electronics, both helmet for different needs (on/off road), shoes, flip flops, and boots, extra jackets and fishing gear, all conveniences that I would have done without and been happy to, but that I have been glad to have at times. Thanks to Merlin, instead of having a vehicle that has to be both transport (rushing to get to the next place to get setup and camped early and for leisure to absorb the countryside from inside my helmet, and miss out on many of the little things along the way), I have been able to take my time getting from place to place. Driving at night is safer. Stopping on the road side on a whim, grabbing my camera from the seat beside me, and hiking into the bush to take a picture is much more comfortable and convenient and less time consuming. I'm not roasting in my suit or taking 15 minutes to remove it. Traveling on Dragon means putting on my motorcycle gear (and taking it off) and it is more likely that my breaks include a quick stop for moment to observe scenic vistas along the roadway and then riding away with nothing more than a memory for myself and no photo to share with the world.

I hope in the future I will remember what a blessing traveling with Tug has been and choose to do it this way again. People give me the most curious looks and other bikers look at me askew for towing my adventure bike from place to place. I keep reminding myself, I have an adventure bike, but this is my adventure. You adventure your way and I'll adventure mine! So, to you I say, "Let your adventure take shape your way, whether it is on two wheels, three wheels, four wheels, or in my my case, eight wheels. Or with no wheels at all! Stay true to your adventure because you're the one out there, not anyone else!