Guy Boutin's Motorcycle Touring and Travel Pages

Adventures in Sport Touring with the Honda ST 1100, 1300 and the BMW 1200RT

Exploring North America...One Road at a Time

I recently found this essay by Robert Hastings, and it explains exactly how I live my life and ride my tours.  Many of the milestones he speaks of in life I have achieved.  Son out of college, retirement, mortgage paid, and good health.  Long ago, I thought reaching anyone of those marks would be the ultimate, but I learned that is not so, they are but mileposts along the way.

Long Riding is an excellent metaphor for life.  Ride each mile without worrying about the destination, instead enjoy the sights and sounds along the way.  It is how I live my life and enjoy my rides across the country.  I view each and everyday as a gift, and I REFUSE to waste even one.  Everyday I do at least one thing for myself, whether it is to ride my motorcycles, run a few miles, or ride my bicycle up a steep incline till my heart feels like it is going to bust out of my chest from the exertion.   Perhaps I will lose myself in a old movie from my collection, or I might go online and spend time finding answers to questions I've longed to have answered.  Maybe I will spend time looking over maps scoping out places to visit on my next tour, maybe I will take my wife out for dinner, or take a late night ride on one of my Hondas for a donut.

When I think to the awesome places I've visited, I feel humble and thankful.  The Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Golden Gate, Big Sur, Zion, Niagara Falls, The Blue Ridge, and the Rocky Mountains, and all the other beautiful sights I don't have time to name.  Each time I gaze at a new vista I say a prayer of thanks.  I think about the great people in the small towns I pass through, and I'm thankful for them also.  My life would be diminished without the experiences contained on this web site.

Many have accused me of self indulgence, I guess I'll plead guilty to the accusation, but man I have fun.  I hope you enjoy the essay below, and take its meaning with you always.  

The Station
By Robert Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious minds is a vision- an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent.  We're traveling by train and, from the windows. we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings,  of row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skyline and village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination-for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing.  And once that day comes, our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.   So, restlessly, we pace the aisles, and count the miles, peering ahead, cursing the minutes for loitering, waiting, waiting, for the station,,

"Yes, when we reach the station that will be it," we cry.  "When we're eighteen!  When we buy that new 450 SL Mercedes!  When we put the last kid through college!  When we win that promotion!  When we pay off the mortgage!  When we retire!  Yes, from that day on, like the hero and heroines of a child's fairy tale, we will live happily ever after.

Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all.  The journey is the joy.

The station is an illusion- it constantly outdistances us.  Yesterday's a memory; tomorrow's a dream.  Yesterday belongs to history; tomorrow belongs to God.  Yesterday's a fading sunset; tomorrow a faint sunrise.  So, shut the door on yesterday and throw the key away, for only today is there light enough to live and love.  It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad.  Rather, it's regret over yesterday and fear of tomorrow.  Regret and fear are the twin thieves who rob us of that Golden Treasure we call today, this tiny strip of light between the two nights.

"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, "This is a day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.  Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars.  Laugh more and cry less.  Go barefoot more oftener.  Eat more ice cream.  Ride more merry go rounds.  Watch more sunsets.  Life must be lived as we go along.  The station will come soon enough.