While eating my lunch the other day I watched a segment of The Tonight Show on the Web. In response to a question by Jay Leno actor Hugh Laurie (from the TV show House) said he would like to ride his Triumph motorcycle across America. The stuff of many daydreaming riders. He talked about putting a sidecar on the motorcycle and packing up his gear and just riding forth to see some of what makes up this country. See what makes up this country — those were the words that resonated with me. Seeing and experiencing places is at the foundation of many of my own daydreams. I don’t know whether Mr. Laurie will ever makes his ride but his description of why he wanted to ride echoed my own. He sounded like the kind of guy I would be comfortable sharing the road with.
Riding daydreams are a pleasant aspect of my restless and wandering mind. No task is too monotonous or trying to not respond well to a good riding daydream. Just give me a map or atlas and I am on the road with the Vespa visiting parts unknown. Endless roads, National Parks and city streets, mountain passes and open plains, nameless small towns and rugged coastlines. Wandering through the world taking it all in like a man with new eyes.
My conscious mind may remind me that some daydreams don’t really fit my mental or physical resources. But daydreams offer a vicarious path of experience, rides I will probably never undertake. Like the Cannonball Run underway now with scooterists racing across the country. Or IronButt rides running a thousand miles in less than 24 hours. I’m not competitive with the clock or other riders but there is a thrill imagining what it might be like to do my own Long Way Round or on a dirt bike flying through Baja in From Dust to Glory. Mental wanderings of a daydreaming rider.
I wonder sometimes what I would do with time and money. If I would actually transform a lot of daydreams into reality. Until then I’ll continue to ride as I can, daydream when convenient, and relish experience as it comes.
Ahh. To dream. To read about other’s dreams. Perchance to ride. That is the mission.
Brent
http://www.loisontheloose.com/
Who says you can’t ride far on a Vespa? If she can do it on a 125cc Honda trail bike, I’m sure you can go awfully far on a 200cc Vespa.
There’s a little Walter Mitty in all of us. That’s not all bad. Some good things have come from “considering the possibilities”.
I read a book about big business. In one place there was a man who just sat and looked out his window at the trees and hillside.
Another employee approached a big boss and asked whether or not he was going to do something about that guy who just looked out the window.
The big boss gently explained that the man, while just staring out the window, came up with an idea last year that made the company over a million dollars. As far as the boss was concerned, the guy could just keep looking!
Dreaming is productive as long as we remember where we parked reality!
Your comment on what you’d do with wealth is a perfect segue to this commercial for the Washington Lottery. Taking flightless birds hang-gliding has really resonated with people… and the penguin is cute.
I freak out when I read of dreamers who think they can’t do. Most of us know we live within constraints both financial and temporal, so we do the next best thing: we choose. Choosing not to do something is nothing more than the obverse of choosing to do. Migration requires more than desire, it requires desperation, desperation of desire or desperation of fear of remaining where one is.
Speaking as one who has ridden motorcycles on three continents make up your mind that you don’t really want to; else you will die with regret and I can think of nothing worse.
Shit, I lost my sense of detached irony there for a minute.
ps U-tube “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” for a better perspective on irony.
In 1965 I had the time to travel from Berlin, Germany to Ft. Ord, Califonia on a ’59 Vespa. That trip took me all 30 days and I have to tell you that I had the time of my life. I now have a Honda Reflex 250 and I’m thinking of maybe doing it again.
A spirit with a vision
Is a dream with a mission
Rush
Harv
Fame and fortune await you once filming is complete on “Long Way Round on a Vespa”.
Just struck me how making a life change like riding on two wheels suddenly makes one relate to others in a profoundly different way. I am not a House watcher, so Hugh Laurie was just the ‘Dad’ in the Stuart Little films to me – until now. 🙂
Regardless of whether one ever goes to the places in the dreams, the real beauty of day dreaming for me is the freedom to feel literally in that place in the mind’s eye. Almost.
Sorry for the delay in responding. Things have been very busy of late.
Brent: I have to watch how much I read about the adventure of others. I can easily curl up and live vicariously.
rickrusselltx: I’ve read Lois on the Loose and was convinced that long, long trips do not require monstrous machines. An ego might, or requirements of comfort or performance might, but strictly speaking a trip does not.
irondad: Had I not been considering the possibilities that were demonstrated by you and Gary I may have parked the scooter in the garage all winter.
It is hard for some to understand the power of dreaming, especially in the workplace where it is so easy to gauge value by strict rulers…
orin: What a great video. It really does strike a chord with me.
conchscooter: I suppose dreamers come in a wide range of flavors from those whose dreams are merely pleasant diversions to those whose lives are driven by them. Desperation adds another ingredient to thought that could be good, could be bad, just depends on where it is applied.
For me dreams are tempered with situational realities and recognition of what I actually want to do and don’t want to do. As seasons change so do the situational realities and what was once a dream can turn into a reality. I’m always on the lookout for changes.
anonymous: Berlin to Fort Ord! That’s half way round the planet.
Harv: Nice.
kano: I’ll have to leave that ride to another. I can’t see myself doing that. Not enough coffee shops along the way.
chris: there is a vein of connection among riders. Not always as obvious but there.
sojourner: Exactly. I think fiction writers find it that way. Daydreaming is for non-writers….*grin*
Steve:
Consider this. You do have family responsibilities and as such that’s why you work and ride.
However please consider this: if your personal physician told you that you were ill, and needed to take time away from your the existence, what would you do? Yes first get well, however more than that. Travel? Explore new roads (obviously) or would you continue as before?
I am presently unable to ride due to illness. I have ridden for over 40 years, until the diagnosis of cancer two years ago. The cancer is in remission however because I also suffer from a nasty form of Lupus, drug treatments at the cancer clinic are continuing and zapping my energy.
So motorcycle riding is out, and no scooter is big enough for me. Sat on a friend’s Burgman the other day.
My knees are so high they wouldn’t allow the handle bars to turn more
than 10 degrees in either direction. Nice machine, but for straight lines only? AAnd another friend has the loaded 250 GT Vespa, same thing, no room. Oh well, I can at least still walk.
I am only just discovering the wonders of scooter riding after being a confirmed car driver for years. Only now can I understand the sense of freedom riders feel. Good article.
New to your blog and lovin’ it! You’ve made my dream a reality – you are truly an inspiration AND an awesome photographer…ride on!
bryce: First, let me offer my best wishes for your treatment and recovery.
I don’t know if I am alone in this but I have on more than one occasion wondered how I would react to news like you describe from a physician. I’ve come to believe there is no way to predict. I know how I hope I would react but watching my parents and others has shown me unexpected strengths and weakness. Right now all I can do is try and be understanding and supportive when the opportunity presents itself.
I like to believe that I am doing today what I would do tomorrow after such news. At least within my physical abilities and those of time and money. I’m not waiting for retirement to arrive so that THEN I can start living. I’m doing what I want to do today.
It’s taken me awhile to figure that out!
allan: Riding can be sort of a startling and unexpected joy. Makes one wish to have started a long time ago. Good luck on the road!
latin lupe lu: Thank you for your kind words. Glad you find something useful here. Be safe out on the road.