On Day two I woke up at 5:00 and began my journey. I had signed in at 1:30 in the morning and was asleep by 1:35.
Sleeping in my clothes and leaving my gear on my bike, cut down the time I needed to set up camp and then break camp. I and the rest of the riders would continue this practice for the next several nights. Just sleeping in our clothes, on the pavement or on the ground and right next to our bikes.
The first time I would sleep in my sleeping bag would be Rock Springs, Wyoming, about 14 states later. From Rock Springs on, the nights were too cold to just lay down on the ground and sleep. It would be cold when we laid down and even colder during the night and when we woke up.
The first time I would use my tent for added protection from the cold would be Watson Lake, British Columbia.
Sorry for the blurry shot, it was early in the morning, after 4 hours of sleep and it was again time to wake up and take off. It was also taken with my cell. But sleeping in parking lots, using your sleeping bag for a pillow and your jacket rolled up in a bag for an arm rest, became a great way to bed down for the night and move along before day break.
We saw a lot of beautiful country and sites throughout the journey. In Memphis, Tennessee, there is this wall that surrounds this beautiful property on a hill. On the wall are literally thousands of inscriptions etched into it. The picture below tells you where it is at.
This is the Mighty Muddy Mississippi River. In Memphis, there are two crossings of the river. This is a train bridge at the south crossing.
Passing through little sleepy town after little sleepy town, created a true Then Came Bronson experience or feeling in me. I was the true person he was portraying. Just a free spirit passing through their community, their lives and then moving along like a leaf in a gale. Off to see my next adventure and the next place the wind would take me.
Every motorcycle ride--of this sort, lasting more than a week, has created this feeling inside me. The feeling of being a true Jim Bronson.
That is why when I travel, I sleep out, don't shave and take baths about once every 4 or 5 days. It somehow increases that feeling of being a free spirit. Riding and staying in rooms, greatly lessons and somehow takes away from that feeling. It somehow makes it where I really never leave the scene, and I am still just part of the scene. Sleeping out as I go, camping along the way, somehow creates a feeling of detachment and intensifies the feeling of being a drifter. A free spirit. I see that perception in the eyes of those that look at me. Both in those that look at me suspiciously and those that look at me admiringly. It is also there in my own perception of them and my surroundings. That I am detached from the community, from cares and responsibilities--at least for a while anyway. A curious feeling, and I love it.
I am a very responsible member of the community. I have lots of obligations and duties and desires to make the community better. To contribute and make life better for others and to provide for my wife and family. But even so, there is something about that feeling that is like a drug to my system. It creates a feeling that I cannot forget or stop thinking about. I suppose we all have that same need, that same yearn to feel free, totally free. At least from time to time.
As we started heading into the deserts, it brought a whole new look. It also brought a dryer climate and a bunch of heat and sunburns and windburns. The damper, very humid climate, gave me a very bad case of diaper rash. In the deserts west of Mississippi, they went away. So basically I traded a bad case of diaper rash for sunburn and a badly weathered windburned face, But I loved every minute of it. From the above shot, I'd say it looks like it could be slightly windy on the plains..
Another great place to sleep. Nose your bike into a wall, sleep in the cove you create and move along before day break. This was in New Mexico. Again, I left everything on the bike, just laid down next to my bike. Always with a prayer for protection, but just laid down. You can see that my luggage is also bagged to protect it from another storm.
The good Lord always provided me with shelter from the storms and safe places to sleep at night. I don't know how anyone would take a long journey like this with out Him. This old and abandoned gas station was the perfect hideout from the worst storm I would ever hit. A toad-strangler of the 10th degree. It was so huge, so dark and dismal that even truckers were getting off the road for it. It would open up on me within the next 30 minutes of this shot. ...Wowzers!!!
Golbe, Arizona, was our most southern, western city. From here we turned north, cut across the Roosevelt Dam road and headed for Rock Springs, Wyoming. In Globe, I was blessed and surprised that my little family, most of them anyway, were able to come. They came to meet me and cheer me on. At the time of this picture, we are 28 total. What a great blessing it is to have a family who loves you.
Life doesn't get much better than that. Missing here are 8 grandkids and my best girl. Julie, her mother and father, are in route to Clovis, New Mexico, visiting a family member who is suffering with cancer.
Health is the one thing in life we have no control over. Losing it can make you reflect on what's the most important thing in life. It always comes down to two things. Your relationship with your God and your relationship with your family. In 25 years of law enforcement and having watched many people take their last breath and die, I have seen little else matter to them during those times. It's always those two things. The saying is true, there are no atheists in a fox-hole.
After I left here, I headed for Payson and slept in the front yard of my mother-in-law. I even had the police come by and check on me. Of course I had to explain what was happening and why I was sleeping in the front yard, but, ...oh-well!!
Crossing the Utah deserts just north of Moab.
In Rock Springs, I met Greg. One cool guy. I asked him what year his bike was. His answer? "Take a pick. It's made from parts from just about every year." I noticed that it was a true hard-tail. I asked him about not having any suspension and he pushed on his spring seat, showing me it went down an inch before bottoming out on the rear fender and said, "See? It has suspension!!" ...Geeezz!! And I thought I was a hard core rider.
The next time I would see Greg would be in Alaska, sitting in a little road side mom and pop store, drinking some hot chocolate, trying to warm up. We were coming across the Alaska Range and were both freezing. Within the next few hundred miles, we would hit a storm that would last until we got to Anchorage. About 200 miles worth of rain..
In Rock Springs I would also reunite with Chuck. Chuck is a former Navy Seal from the Viet Nam era. He is missing much of his backside because he was standing too close to a bomb when it went off. He's a great guy and it was a great pleasure to meet and to get to know him.
Look closely at his vest. On the right side, the middle oval white and red patch. Yup, Chuck is not only a Navy Seal, he is an Eagle Scout. Tough guys, these guys on this ride. No girly-men. Just tough guys.
Chief Oliver Red Cloud of the Sioux Indians. The La Cota Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I rode over 500 miles--one way and until about 2:am, just to meet him. When I got there, I was welcomed in his home and I was served home made dinner at his table at 2:am. Not told to wait outside until morning, but welcomed into his home and fed at his table. Meeting him was a great treat for me. He is 93 in this photo, but still pressing forward. The people of the Sioux Nation will always have a place in my heart. And the Chief and his family and those who organized this event, will always have a place to stay in my home and food to eat at my table. When I make friends, ...it's forever.
From here, just a few hours later at sunrise, it was west to Billings and Missoula, Montana and then onto Canada. In Canada, began a whole new adventure.
Samuel
...Live the Dream
click on "3-Provinces-Twice" to continue the journey
