One Year on the Road

Well today marks one year since I loaded Ziggy onto a plane from Brisbane, Australia to Los Angeles, USA.  Actually once I left work I rode the top half of Australia from Dec 2013 and haven’t stopped since except for Christmas with the family, so that’s gotta count…14mths. Then again I left Brisbane in Nov 2012 to ride around Australia and stopped to work for 11 months, so not sure if that counts. That would be 27 months travelling!!

Whatever, it’s now a long while I’ve been on the road and the year is a milestone I wanted to reach. I had previously read that after a year on the road it is like a transition. All your recent memory is now about travel, work is a distant memory and the motorcycle seat feels like the couch you come home to every day. Most nights are in a different place and the motels, hostels and hospedajes start to merge. The list of contacts and facebook friends is burgeoning and the odometer is heading for the ton. Family are watching from afar but life goes on as usual for them until the next SPOT email comes through with the new location. Friends from home remember about you from time to time and send an email asking ‘Where in the world is Paul?’

After a year, the countries you’ve been through roll off your tongue after telling your story daily to the new people you meet. They ask the same questions – how much, how far, how long, how?? But their hospitality and generosity never fails to humble as complete strangers invite you into their home, tell you about their country, state, town, feed you and invite the family around to meet you. It’s celebrity status whether you want it or not. It’s not possible to be a passive observer on this journey because you are the anomaly. You have come into their world on this wild machine with all your belongings stacked high and wide, living a life that is incredulous to hard working, poorly paid locals in developing countries, with no concept of making more money than is required to feed their family that day.

They love motorcycles. They all have them. They can all ride. Their roads are sometimes packed with more motorcycles than cars. They understand that a motorcycle is under 200ccs with a kickstart and chain, something that can be easily manhandled into any position. But what is this 300kg behemoth with a shaft drive and 1200ccs? How can you ride something that big? The looks on the faces, the thumbs up, the stares of wonder and confusion, the excitement of the kids, the fluttering of eyes from young girls that have a dream, the open mouth of drivers swerving into your lane while they stare at you…it puts you in the spotlight.

A year on the road and you reflect on the landscapes, cities, the food, the stomach upsets, the changing faces. Can you have too much of this? Tall mountains still never fail to delight, stunning coastlines still invite you to kick off the boots for a swim, remote landscapes still beckon you to stop and set up the tent, busy cities with their frenetic traffic and markets still never fail to amuse. Find a road with nice bitumen and well engineered bends and it is a dream day. Find a road that becomes a trail and takes you to some unexpected village or view, another dream day. Every new day is an adventure. Every new day brings new people, new places, often new foods, always new friends. Life takes on the wonderment of a young child discovering their world day by day, amazed by the colours and textures of something new.

The routines become obsessive. Roll the clothes, pack the bags and cases with everything in exactly the right place. Tie things down exactly where they belong. Check everything is secure. Check the bike starts. Check tyre pressures. Check the paperwork is in the right pockets, enough cash is on hand for the day. Pants, boots – yes those socks are only on day three – jacket helmet gloves. Check and set the GPS to some vague goal for the day. Same when you stop. Switch off the motor, keys in the same pocket – always – lock the tank bag, gloves in the helmet, sunnies on the head and walk over to a seat at the little roadside fonda for a fresh juice or a coke. Everything back on for the next leg. At the end of the day take the overnight bag into the hotel or unpack the camping gear, secure the loose straps, lock the boxes, cable through the wheel and cover the bike. You know every clip, lock, strap and knot like an old friend.

You are in a close bonded relationship with this machine that is your ship carrying you on an incredible journey. You know the sound of her motor and the minute something is wrong. Breakdowns occur and throw your plans into shambles. Plans? Better calling it a group of ideas. 
Two wheels rolling along the world’s roads, tracks and landscapes for hundreds of thousands of kilometres. Feeling every bump – every speed hump – every change of surface, every rock, every pothole, every patch of sand and every slip in the mud. Riding in 40C+ or freezing, you feel every degree. The sun burns your face arms and hands. You put on your cool weather gear and it gets hot. You put on your warm weather gear and it gets cold. The wind blows you around and stabs your eyes with particles of dust and sand. You eat the dust of trucks and choke on clouds of black diesel smoke. You smell the stagnant pools of untreated sewage, the cooking chicken and bread, the spray of the ocean, the fresh rainforests. 
The rain can change your day; from a light sprinkle making the oily roads slippery to the miserable downpours that last for hours and you just keep plodding through knowing at the end of the day you can pour the water out of your boots. You change with the weather. You sweat, bake, shiver and drown. 

Yet through it all you know what you are doing is special. A dollar for every person that says they are jealous would keep me going for another year. I never stop feeling privileged, grateful, thankful and happy that I have this amazing opportunity. Living the dream. Not just mine but all the people reading about my journey waiting for their turn to fulfil their dream. And that’s important to me too. Paying it forward to the people that will one day get the opportunity to ride their own adventure on two wheels. Sharing the experience, not just keeping it to myself. 

Thanks for following, it makes the trip even more special.