So, if you’ve read this journal to this point, I hope I have succeeded in taking you along with me on this adventure.
I met some Big Friends who all rode Big Bikes. Together we visited the Big Bend area of West Texas, which is the 2nd biggest state in this country.
I saw Big Mountains; I rode alongside a Big River, which incidentally is called the “Big River”.
I rode through Big Valleys and Big Canyons.
I saw a Big Lake that forms a very Big Water Reservoir.
I visited what at one time was one of the Biggest Telescopes in the world.
I went to the top of a mountain and crossed a bridge that are the Highest Point and Highest Bridge on the Texas highway system.
I went into the Biggest Natural Limestone Cave in the Western Hemisphere.
I rode under the Big Texas Night Sky.
I saw evidence of the devastation caused by Big Wildfires.
I saw Big Deer and large expanses of land and mountain ranges.
The Big Blue Sky cannot go unmentioned either.
I met people with very Big Hearts; all this made possible by someone’s Big Idea.
I have been to Big Places; I have seen Big Things and God willing another Big Trip will become a reality.
This was A Big Adventure!
And at the end of it all, after 4 days and 1800miles, I came away having learned some valuable lessons about safety and personal protection.

Over-packed and under-dressed. The inexperience of this time gives me great pause to smile and laugh at myself. But I undoubtedly felt the true spirit of being a “long rider”. It was a ride of a lifetime, laced with many happy memories.
The end of an exciting group ride was at hand, but at this instant of time in my riding life, it was in some way the beginning.
The beginning, knowing that I had found renewed enjoyment and excitement for long distance motorcycling, stemming from the fact that the exposure to the natural elements around me really peaked my senses and I felt some kind of an inner personal enrichment of my being.
Although physically tired from the hours of being immersed in the heat of the Texan sun, the dryness and parchment of the West Texas Desert landscape, the long drawn out distances of straight highways, there was a great sense of joy.
But more so, a great many lessons of being on the road had been learned and taken note of, to be remembered and applied on the next trip to improve my safety, preparedness and to increase further the inner joy and thrill of riding to be gained from being out on the road many miles from home.
My wife was right. I was glad she talked me into making the trip. I now had an informed perspective through experience.
I felt refreshed and ready to get back to work and begin dreaming and planning the next trip for my next vacation which now seemed so far away and could not come fast enough me.

“The roads were lovely, long and steep
I had many promises to keep
And miles to go before I would sleep”

My adaptation of a poem by Robert Frost.

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