Cross Country Vancouver Adventure

So, what’s this all about?

To put it simply, I’m taking a trip across our great country on a motorcycle. By itself, that’s not all that uncommon or interesting. What I plan to do as I take this trip is sort of ‘take you along’ with me. Electronically. I want anyone who is interested to be able to see what I’ve seen, talk to the folks I’ve talked to and learn what I’ve learned as I journey and document this trip. Better yet, unlike traditional journalism, I want people to be able to interact with me during the journey itself. Try that in your daily newspaper, or on your local TV station. Not gonna happen. The timing for this trip is planned for early July, 2010.

The most important thing for you to remember is that the trip will be covered MAINLY on the blog page. It's easier for me to get into and update quickly from the road than the website. And after a full long day of riding, I'll want to take the path of least resistance before I drop off to sleep!

Why on motorcycle?

Have you ever taken a long car ride and realized that once you got to your destination that you really didn’t have a clue what you passed by during all those miles? I have. And there is a certain sense of freedom that you get from the saddle of a motorcycle that you don’t get from staring blankly out a car window. No wind in your hair (or lack of hair), no smells of the scenes around you (okay, so sometimes that’s a good thing), and no stopping (or at least no need to) for two or three hundred miles. The entire experience is different on a motorcycle. Physically, you can’t go 300 miles at a time on a bike, at least not without extra fuel tanks. And the human body isn’t designed to sit in that posture for more than two hundred miles in a row. So you *must* get off the bike to re-fuel and stretch out those legs every 100-150 miles or so.

What’s the Point?

Gas stops and Kodak moment spots. That’s when I get the chance to find out more about my surroundings. Sure, being able to see a bunch of the western US, and a jaunt to Alaska on this trip is impressive to talk about later, but I find it more memorable and important to talk to people as I make this trek. I can learn more about what makes them tick and learn more about the area they call ‘home’. Hopefully, they’ll be just as interested to hear what my impressions are about meeting them and experiencing their community. That’s kind of ‘it’ for me. I want to share what my reactions and first impressions at every opportunity. I think people are always interested in learning what others think about them. With any luck, I’ll be able to generate enough interest from newspapers, and other media prior to starting this trip. Perhaps they’ll even go as far as to pull some content from this site or my blog and reprint/re-use it in their product. My thought is that their audience is always interested in how people perceive them.

So, Who is this guy anyway?

I’m an online sales manager for a midwestern newspaper company in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But by no means have I been saddled in the Hoosier state my whole life. I’ve already seen a lot of this country in my previous 45 or so years. But I haven’t experienced it like this before. I’m a father of two and a husband of probably the most understanding woman alive. I’m a US Army veteran, and a proud citizen of the greatest country on the face of the Earth. I’m a wannabe journalist, having been surrounded by some very good real journalists over the past 15 years and always been a bit jealous by their skill and talent to tell a tale and get to the gist of story in an interesting manner. I’ve not always been a motorcycle rider, although I began riding at age 17 or so. I took about 20 years or so off while the rest of ‘life’ happened and rejoined the ranks of riders about 2005. I forgot just how freeing and enlightening it was to be ‘in the wind’. Riding again (this time as a much more mature adult) I can better understand and comprehend the joy that a soul can achieve by being ‘one’ with a motorcycle. And probably most importantly, I’ve learned that I should have never judged a book by it’s cover in my earlier years. I’ve met people from all walks of life since taking up riding and realizing that while we all have the common interest of riding, there’s a ton that I have still to learn about my fellow man.

Okay, so who is this other guy, Matt?

This is a buddy of mine that I met shortly after deciding to take up riding again. Matt and his wife Lorraine really opened my eyes to what camaraderie really means. Matt is also a proud papa of two kids and lives in St. Paris, Ohio (about 100 miles from me). He does some sort of genius work as a CNC machinist nearby St. Paris and while I don’t really understand what he does all day, I can tell you first hand the man knows how to create magic from metal. I’m very envious of folks who can produce amazing things with their hands. I think it’s just another art form. Why is Matt putting up with me for this whole trip? Great question. I can't answer that for him (but perhaps you can send him an email and ask him!). All I can say is that Matt knows who I am and how I am. He knows that I get easily sidetracked and there's not many conversations that I tend to keep 'short'. Somehow, some way, he *still* wants to join me for this trip, and I'm glad to have him along. I know this will be painful for him (I will likely have to hump pretty hard to stay on schedule, which means he will too), yet he hasn't questioned one bit of all this planning. His frequent response has been, "whatever dude, this is your trip, I'm just along for the ride. We'll do whatever you want." Yeah...let's see how long that lasts! Please everyone, no wagering. Aw, alright, but make sure you give me a cut of whatever the winnings are!

What’s with the route you are planning?

(Update! The route changed AGAIN, and I've changed this to reflect the new route)
My trip is really self-serving. It’s gotta start somewhere, and what better place than home? Fort Wayne, Indiana is my home. How self-serving is that? For example, I’ve always heard that Montana is gorgeous, but had only met two people in my life that were from there. One of them I hope to meet up with after 23 years just outside Glacier National Park and have him join us for a few legs of this trip. The other is a woman I currently work with who doesn’t say a lot about her home state. I think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, so they don’t do a lot of bragging about their home state. I plan on hitting 12 states and one foreign country over 13 days (with some extra time left in for long weather delays). I know what you are thinking…holy crap! That's a lot of miles in a short period of time. Yep. See the route portion of this trip on this page, and down a little. It’s called Vancouver Adventure because the ‘turnaround point’ is Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (But really, with this side jaunt up to Hyder, Alaska I guess technically Hyder is the turnaround point.) I hope to re-visit Vancouver after ringing in 1986 there while stationed in nearby Tacoma, Washington. I want to avoid most Interstate highways if possible, but in some cases, it’s just not practical, at least not unless my employer decides that they really don’t need me around for three weeks in a row. And I’m not sure I really want them getting the idea that I can be ‘not needed’ for long periods. That might make them start thinking, and we don’t want that. We recently decided to come back from Vancouver via Alaska (no, were weren't big into Geography in school), and that will likely mean that once we get to Vancouver, the rest of the way back will be primarily in Canada. Still gotta learn that anthem. "I stand on guard for thee..." The trip is planned to finish up near Bedford, Indiana just in time for “The Boogie” which is the midwest’s biggest motorcycle festival, and something I just can’t miss. But that’s probably not something I’ll be covering as a part of the trip.

Fair enough. I’ve read this far. Now what should I do?

Feel free to wander around aimlessly if you choose, or if the timing is right when you are reading this, join me on the trip virtually. Check out my blog, which will be the main way I’ll be updating this site during the trip itself and the final days leading up to it. You can also follow me on twitter. Or check out the Facebook page. The idea is to have feedback immediately as I post daily items. My plan is to start each day with a few brief posts about the weather or the day’s activity plans. I hope to finish each day with a wrap up of what was seen, what I heard and learned from people I met that day and my impressions of the scenery I’ve experienced that day. That’s the part that I’m hoping newspapers and other media will be most interested in. In that case, it all helps me bring awareness to the charity I’ve chosen to try and help.

What’s all this about sponsors and charity?

Let’s be honest. Times are tough. If I were independently wealthy there are a lot of things I’d probably be doing. And I’d have lots of time to do them. However, I have to work to survive and I don’t get paid trillions of dollars a year (although I’m very open to that! If you can help me out there, I’m interested!). I think things that get a lot of media coverage are excellent opportunities to help raise money for those who really need it. Everyone likes reading those ‘feel good’ stories and truthfully, it just feels good to help out charity. The charity I’ve chosen is one that doesn’t get the same level of attention that many others do. No, I’m not talking about helping a support group for single mom’s who dance on a pole, I’m talking about a legitimate charity for a disease and disorder that I’ve only recently heard of. CCFA.org is the web site for Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. I’m happy to accept any donations you wish to make to help out this excellent organization. In the past 4 years or so, I’ve heard of a half dozen people that I know or work with that suffer from a form of Crohn’s or Colitis. It’s a very invasive and can take away a huge chunk of the quality of life for those who suffer.

As for sponsors, please note that I’m not a corporate shill for any of my sponsors. However, in an effort to defray some of the costs, I’m willing to accept product or service donations from sponsors to lighten the load of the cost of this trip. But please know that any actual monetary donations to my charity of choice will be going ONLY to the charity. You don’t have to worry about me pocketing any donation and using it for some trip-related expense. In fact, the money raised for charity will likely not be collected until the trip is completed. So sponsors can help me out with product or service and they can know that I’ll be happy to thank them within my stories and pages. I won’t and can’t promise that I’ll always say the very nicest things, notably if the truth is far from requiring that.