BEWARE OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR

JUMPIN THE RAILS...

BEWARE OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR...

 Singing Along To

EVERYBODY'S TALKIN AT ME

Stephen Stills

The van pulls away and idles to the end of my street. I watch the motorcycle on the trailer fight its tie downs  before accepting its fate and settle into a easy rhythm. A cold June southerly blows up Prelate court . Smarter people are warm indoors. I'm rooted to the gutter deep in thought... 

..Shit..

That motorcycle sucked up four bloody years of work, expense I don't even want to imagine, a genuine future investment and I've just sold it to a mate for a song. Being a dreamer sucks...and I'm a shocker...er well it'll cover air fare and motorcycle freight to South America...well almost...um hmm what else can I sell...

Oh oh here we go again!

Jumpin the Rails

I'm jumpin the rails  

'n shunning known tracks

breaking life's bonds of parallel steel

I'm shedding the skin  

of usual and ordinary

 steering my own path

 just to see

 Dean

The Why

In 2014 my mate Ron and I rode motorcycles from London to Vladivostok  Two unlikely travellers traversing the globe because, well, it seemed to me like a bit of fun to ride home from the Isle of Man TT and Ron's always up for a ride. We crossed Europe, Turkey, the Balkans, most of the Stans, Russia and Mongolia. We spent three months totally out of our comfort zones. We got really sick, spent weeks in total discomfort, ate who knows what, crashed, were incredibly lucky a lot, and survived. Every day's outcome relied on our own decisions. Zero comfort zones...off the rails of daily grind...getting what we dreamed of... and then having to wear it. It was crap and fantastic at the same time, and best of all, you got to see stuff, really see stuff...
 And I want to see more.

Tajikistan 2014, perfect one day, altitude sickness the next. Who wouldn't
really want to jeopardise their job/savings/relationship/sanity to see
more...anybody...nobody...
erm  just me then... 

 The How
Urgh, the reason I'll never be rich. How does an average family guy/dreamer from the burbs earning way below the average wage get to swan about the world for four months? Weeell  first you figure how long you need and how long you have to work without holidays (bloody years)to squirrel away enough leave and long service to just about cover it. Do that. Then sell any toys you've accumulated...sob. Do that. You then ease it past the wife which is easier when she's had thirty six years to figure you're not  about to don boat shoes, large white shorts, polo shirt, dye non existent  hair and check the stock market hourly as you approach sixty. Oh and she already thinks you're a weirdo. Done that. Next carefully approach the boss, let him know you're off, no really off, for a long time...then apologise, and if you have to quit well you're good with that (eeek). It all sounds cool or brave but actually it's stupid. You've just sold your assets, jeopardised your relationship and job, just to see stuff...yep stupid. Aaand that's it, I'm off.
Possibly poor and unemployed, but off!

SHOOTOUT AT THE NO LOGIC CORAL

The wallet lay wounded

 bleeding all cash and flat plastic

the stench of smoking faux leather rends the air

The dreamer rides off 

with the heart his side kick

  ignoring Sheriff Brain

and Deputies Common Sense, and Care

Yep this one's weird
Dean

   The Where

South America...gotta have a look there . 
In 2014 Ron and I met fellow travellers Beth, Shalom, and Jamie and we traversed a large part of the second half of our trip together. These folks were proper travellers, they even had food and a working stove. Beth and Jamie had both travelled to South America and commented on it's beauty and how much easier it was  to cross than Mongolia and the Stans, so I blame them for this. The seed was planted. I work in retail and sell a great product but have the concentration level of a flea (sorry to any fleas who have read this far). Any time I'm not totally engaged, I'm dreaming, and that's dangerous. Sooo what about riding from Alaska to Ushuaia, been done plenty of times, shouldn't be too hard, might just google that. Hmm, might just put a screen shot of South America on my computer hmm. Just need to get my bike to Anchorage around August and head off, sorted...well not really. Ivan from Bikes Abroad can't get my bike to Anchorage without jumping through all sorts of expensive hoops. Shit. Time for the dreamer to step in. Well, erm, I'm reading a great book on Captain Cook and he helped map eastern Canada. How about I land in Montreal, have a squiz around Nova Scotia and then  head south down eastern USA, into Mexico, through Central America, leap frog into Columbia and see how far south I get before flying out of Santiago early December. Right, do it, off to the Flight Centre, give them a large chunk of money and then, gulp, contemplate my folly. 
Dreamers remorse? 
Transformation from dreamer to doer has just occurred, again...
...no going back now. 

Ok, this is what "THE WHERE" should look like
only...the plan is there is no plan. Start in Montreal
 Canada, finish in Santiago Chile, have look around
 in the four months between...sorted.

All by myself
OK ...I'm on my own. Not ideal but at least everyone coming is totally committed, or a bit odd. When I started hinting at what I might do I figured if anyone really, really wanted to come, well, they would find a way...and they haven't. You cannot apply any sort of logic here. If you apply any safety or financial commonsense you're better off staying on the bus to work, and you'll be right. When I asked Ron to accompany me the first time back in 2013 I'm not sure he realised the magnitude of what we were doing. I know I didn't.  It was often bloody dangerous and almost ended badly several times.When I asked him this time he went a bit pale and declined. I admire him for it. It's the right thing for him to do.  My dreaming bites me on the ass  on a regular basis and I wouldn't want to get someone else not totally committed for their own reasons in the shit. It does however open up a couple of personal questions. Mostly how am I gonna go mentally...
...four months with no one to hang shit on but myself...hmm...

White lake Mongolia
Blah blah blah, yeh South America's the place to go, blah blah blah
...not that I'm easily influenced...

REALITY CHECK NO. 1

OK there's stuff written in green above that I've basically pulled out of my own bum to fill the gaps. Due to copyright restrictions I've had to write my own stuff so, erm...
 ...sorry.
 Hopefully it'll get better as we go along...or not...come on I sell motorcycle parts and eat meat.  Anyway whichever way you find it, love it or throw up at it, let's have some fun. Feel free to comment at will as it'll be weird on my own although Wiki tells me there is about 820 million people between Montreal and Ushuaia. I might even meet a real poet!

Woo Hoo South America here we come, Cheers Dean

NEXT BLOG 

How to buy the wrong bike, plan a trip, blow your savings and not learn Spanish...in under six months

while still working full time!