My parents are great travelers. I was blessed. And now I need to travel.

Traveling is not about seeing things, although there is that. Just in this trip I have seen: Augusta, home of the Master’s golf tournament, the Boy Scouts headquartets complete with a replica of the Statue of Liberty, the museum of agricultural machinery, the Mercedes Benz plant in Tuscaloosa (huge), the Arrow shirt factory, cities, towns, villages, etc. etc.

There is meeting people and listening to their stories. Everybody wants to tell you their stories. And each one is fascinating and unique.

There is the silence, the solitude, the mile upon mile of reflection. The distance gives you perspective, you can see the scale of your problems. Is it running away? Yes, so you can return refreshed and wiser to tackling your life. I was sitting at a traffic light in Alabama, looking into the sunset and I finally felt far, far away from my world, from everything, and for an instant, I was happy.

Rocinante as I’ve said before is not very fast. You sit upright. She’s not very loud, she has the original stock pipes. When you are sitting on a bike you have 360° sensory awareness: you see everything, you feel everything, you hear, ok, most stuff, you smell everything. You have no radio, no music, no temperature control, no gadgets, no GPS. You are sitting on the engine, the wheels, the gas tank, you only have the controls you need. Rocinante’s range is a couple hundred miles, so you need to stop at least every couple of hours.

Every mile that you ride you are a mile wiser, a mile more patient, a mile more understanding, a mile richer.