Looking for America - A Listening Tour

I had departed from Burlington, VT and drove back roads through New Hampshire, and to the tourist laden Bar Harbor, ME.  The joy of Bar Harbor is that it borders on Acadia National Park.  A ride up Cadillac Mountain was worth the ticket.   And enjoyed meeting fellow bikers Nathan and Marcus from Virginia: During this lunch with my new friends, they observed a contrast in culture right there in the restaurant (Geddy's):  Notice the Amish women eating lunch next to a nude mermaid :) I then took the ferry from Bar Harbor, ME to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Taking Canada 3 and 103, I traveled north, stopping in Liverpool, Peggy's Cove, and Halifax.  I had been informed of a pirate's festival, called Privateer, held in Liverpool, so I dropped by: The real fun began after leaving Halifax (a big industrial port city), and took coastal road Canada 7 up to Cape Breton.  I had never heard of Cape Breton, nor had I heard of Cabot Trail.  I had to make a deci...

I thought it a little bit coincidental that I would be arriving in Canada just when the news commentators were reporting on the overturning of Roe v. Wade back in the US.  Canadian television broadcast Justin Trudeau guaranteeing all Canadian women the right to choose.  I was actually entering a country with fewer guns, and provided more freedoms to its people, than in the US. We have some very unhappy, spiteful, unethical people in the US.  The most hypocritical people on the face of the planet.  If you think that politicians care one iota about preserving a fetus, you are wrong - their vote (and yes Supreme Court justices are politicians) was purely politically motivated.  "Leave it to the States" is their motto.  I say, "Leave the choice to the individual".  Politicians who cater the uneducated masses who believe themselves to be Christians; who celebrate stupidity and fascist anarchists; who clearly are not living up to Jesus' commandment: "Love th...

  It has been one week, today, since I left Boca Raton, Florida.  Driving up to Sanford (Orlando area), Florida to catch the Amtrak Auto Train to Lorton, Virginia, the heat was almost suffocating.  I thought the heat was bad in Florida, but nothing topped the heat from Lorton to Damascus, Maryland - especially in bumper to bumper traffic in 98 degree weather. A sea of humanity in metal cages (i.e., cars) on Highway 15 from Leesburg, VA to Frederick, MD.  I used my "motorcycle card" by zipping past miles of standstill traffic via the shoulder.  I justified it by a legitimate rationalization: I am exposed to heat without the luxury of air conditioning that was enjoyed by those in cars.  A typically 1.5 hour ride took me 4 hours.  I arrived in Damascus to attend Janis' family reunion - a great first 2 day stop filled with fun and human interaction. Amtrak Tamara, my host while on the Auto Train.  She has three boys; the oldest is 29 years old and who...

  Without this sense of what is naturally fitting, you can be cleaning up the world with one hand and spreading poison with the other ... this sense of rightness does not appear naturally in people, even though they live in the heart of nature. Custom is the enemy of awareness, in individuals as much as in societies.  It regularizes the fears and cravings of everyday life ... Ted Simon, Jupiter's Travels (1979) This year I will be taking my final North American motorcycle tour.  It will be a long one (approx. 10,000 miles).  I will spare you from the daily journaling, and will write/publish an account on a weekly basis.  Next year, and years following, I anticipate taking a tour of Australia and Europe - Looking for the World, a Listening Tour.  Of course, that is, if I am physically able. What I have learned over the past 5 years is that many people are predisposed to believe almost anything. I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such ...