Like ripples in a pond...

When we first began planning this journey, we spent a lot of time gathering inspiration from sources around us. From documentaries, to blogs, to people out on the internet doing crazy adventures and amazing things. These people were what inspired us to keep trucking, put on a happy face about what we were trying to achieve, and keep moving forward. The thing of it is, while you're trying to pull something like this off, you become incredibly self centered. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean self centered in an ego maniacal God complex kind of way. I mean the kind of self centered, self focused zone that puts you in a place where it doesn't even occur to you what the rest of the world may think. To be frank, we were under the assumption that nobody would care or even notice what we were doing. Imagine my shock in Florence Oregon, just a week into our journey when I was having a conversation with someone and they told me how inspiring this journey was. For months we were telling everyone that we were going to load up these tiny bikes and take off. The secret was that we weren't sure we were going to make it very far- we were excited to simply make it to Portland, Oregon and back again. But we carried on. All the while meeting more and more folks that were absolutely floored by the distance we've traveled and most of them telling us we were inspiring them in one way or another. This is the interesting thing about inspiration; the more people we meet that tell us it inspires them, the more we want to move forward. The really incredible thing to me lately, is the reaction we're getting from people that we were drawing inspiration from before we left home. Large motorcycle owners and small moped jockies alike are all absolutely thrilled to meet us and talk with us about our journey. These are names in the game that once upon a time I'd looked up and thought how cool it would be to meet them, and now here they are, asking us to stop by and meet them, or even answer a few questions for an article in a publication they work for. Like I said, when we took off from little Medford, Oregon, we didn't think anyone would care. But they do. And that gives the drive- the inspiration to carry on......

Waking from the deep Winter slumber

    Clearly there's been a bit of an absence around here. Frankly, that's just how it goes sometimes. I'm learning to let it go. So now the sun is coming out and riding season has begun for those of us that are blessed enough to call Southern Oregon our stomping grounds. We all seem to be shaking ourselves out of our long winters' nap and are ready to come out and play. Not to say that we weren't all getting down to business these past number of days. In the time since my last entry we have (in no particular order): posted our first video to YouTube, finalized our basic route around the country, held a number of shop days, made impressive headway on the documentary, finalized our parts list and started ordering parts, and increased our Facebook Likes from 55 to 114. In addition to all this, we've been preparing for and planning a fundraising event due to go down on April 5th.

    We've also been spending a lot of time sharing our story with countless awesome folks in our lives- including our employers. I've been so blessed to find the job of my dreams teaching preschool at the Medford YMCA. Such is my luck to find such a gem of a situation at such a complicated point in my life. Adam and I both have been so very blessed with the outpouring of love and support we continue to get from all of our friends and family members. It's so nice to remember when situations get strained.

This is where we spend every free moment these days

    As we worked and worried, something spectacular happened; After a short time of installing a donate button on our Facebook page, someone donated. Someone donated! Someone out there gave tangible, uplifting, and encouraging support to our project! A HUGE shout out of appreciation to the lovely Liz Chapman for being the very first donor to My Trail 90 Crew!

   We had another miraculous event happen this evening while we were all replacing our tubes and tires. The neighbor across the way gave us a nearly new, super light weight Big Agnes packing tent. For free. Due to a little bit of a language gap, he doesn't really understand our trip- he, as he told us, knew we go camping a lot. This kind gesture from our neighbor just put some much needed funds back into our road money account. A bit later, that same neighbor wandered by and we chatted about our bikes. "One day you'll have brand new bikes. when you're rich". We halfheartedly agreed and he told us, "Yeah, when your rich, you know. In a couple weeks". I'm taking this good omen and I'm running with it.

    I confess, in spite of all the serendipitous opportunities we've had lately, I still get swept up in personal and professional deadlines, stress of the unknown, and the pressure from the ever ticking clock. I remind myself that we all spent so much time planning for the future of this trip, that we now need to revel in the greasy hands and long days we're finding ourselves in right now. It's finally time to get our hands dirty, and as they say, put the rubber to the road!

Sharing is Caring

In our bike gang, we always share with our friends!

The Big Announcement

It's about time we explain ourselves

What are we all about? Why do we have a blog, Facebook, Instagram and cards? Because we mean business and it's time to start building a community of people who will travel with us either physically or vicariously. 

    On June 21st, 2014, we will be mounting up on our 6.0 horsepower Honda Trail 90's and taking off  into the wild yonder, making a 15,000 mile trip from the West Coast to the East Coast and back again. This journey could take anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks- maybe more. We have started filming videos and clips for a documentary about this adventure. A cross country road trip is one thing but a road trip on bikes of this size is something else completely. As you could imagine, traveling the interstate is not an option, so that leaves us with the highways and byways of America. The estimated top speed on a loaded Trail 90 is approximately 40 mph, giving us ample opportunity to take in our surroundings and enjoy the ride.  
    
    We all have our different reasons for taking the trip; some of us are trying to figure ourselves out, some need one hell of an adventure to propel them in the direction they need to be going, some of us just need one serious change of scenery. Personally, I've got some really high hopes for this trip. As we all know, America has been through some very frightening times these past couple of years and there seems to be a culture of fear becoming popular in our country right now. With our trip and our documentary, my goal is to show America that we don't need to be afraid of each other. I believe if you approach any situation with kindness, a sense of humor, and a little whimsy, it could really turn into an awesome experience. It all comes down to the fact that you get what you give and you reap what you sew.