Inspiration

When I was first talking about getting my motorcycle, a friend of mine who rode recommended a TV series for me, "Long Way Round". It was at "Really Long Wait" in my Netflix for quite some time. But early this year it became available and I immediately put them to the top of my queue.

It is hard to describe the series. Mostly, because when you get started it sounds like an urban legend or a bigfoot story. The movie actor Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge, Big Fish, and perhaps the only good thing in all of Star Wars: Episodes 1-3) and Charley Boorman (an actor friend of his) decide to ride motorcycles all the way around the world. From England to Siberia, then a short flight to Alaska, and continue riding to NY city. You might think the hard thing about that is the distance. Don't get me wrong, it is truly amazing. But it is trumped by driving in Mongolia and Siberia on surfaces that cannot legitimately be called roads (or even what we would consider off-roading). I saw the series and I still don't know how they did it.

So it's impressive. So what? What does that have to do with me. Well, it is more a matter of timing. Those DVDs were sitting there waiting for soooo long, and yet when do they arrive? In the months before my trip to AZ, when our plans were to hike rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon. Hmmm. Makes you wonder. Maybe it was a message. Maybe I was just looking for some sort of motivation. Well, coincidence or not, it was interesting to watch this huge adventure unfold while packing my hiking gear. And then watching the canyon forecast jump in the last few days to over 100 degrees. "I'm in awe of it, and I'm completely terrified at the the same time." I agree Charley, I agree.