The Catskill Chronicle

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

“Marine Highway.”

I’m riding on a boat with my motorcycle. This boat is filled up with the most incredible people I’ve ever met.

Dude 1. Florida to Fairbanks via Motorcycle.

Dude 2. Kayak Inside Passage. Vancouver to Homer AK.

Dude 3. Drove to Valdez and worked all summer, construction and bar tending…

A small sampling, but enough to illustrate the point.

This has to be the most amazing group of intrepid explorers and idiots I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending several days with! If you ever get a chance to ride the “Marine Highway,” either direction, do yourself a favor and do not book a cabin or estate room. There is plenty of room on the deck to pitch a tent, or hang out in the solarium. That’s where all the cool kids are going to be.

There seems to be some commonality amongst this band of rebels. It’s that nearly no one is an expert at whatever adventure they had set out on.

This was the longest trip for nearly all the motorcyclists I met.

The Kayak guy had never done anything like this before – he had some amazing stories! And right down the line, it was the same tale again and again. People sort of testing the limit of their pleasures and fortitude:)

I don’t know. In the cozy bed back at home this journey was madness. Expensive. Dangerous. Irresponsible. On the road, it became hard to imagine anything being more natural to be doing with one’s time [than biking to Alaska]. With all the insecurities in this world, wealth, health that may come and go with the tides. [And though] health might render us incapable of the simplest tasks, there is nothing that can rob a soul of these memories. I will hold them as long as I still know myself.

The endless valleys. The nameless mountains. The lakes that go on and on for 20 or 30 miles. The rivers that go god knows where (thank you Forest Service). The sun of mid-day, which you are convinced will be there in the sky forever. The darkest hour before every single sundown when a body is the most alone. The endlessly cold nights. The toes that will “never be warm again.” The fear of breaking down 100+ miles in the middle of nowhere. Surviving the rain. Knowing when to stop and rest. Trying to tell the difference between being brave and stupid.

I just have this idea, this suspicion; I’ll wake up, back at home and think, “What the hell just happened? These are things other people do. Not little old me!”

Anyway. For a couple more days we’ve all got the dolphins and whales to keep up company.

A school of killers whales swam with the ship yesterday. They looked not large as in a zoo, but just the right size out here:)

I can’t wait to get back on the bike again!! Curious to see how it gets on. The only plan is to go east, hit Nebraska to visit a friend and maybe to Iowa to visit my sister. Hopefully still be able to get to North Carolina to visit my niece and nephew:)