Monday, September 7, 2009

Let's get started

I love you darling, goodbye.

So ends a 1600 motorcycle journey across America's heartland.

And so begins an eight-week educational sabbatical at the world's highest-rated business school.

So if this is a learning journey, what have I learned so far?

First, trust in God. He answered prayers for safe travels. He provided great weather for the trip. I should trust him more. Like the song, "let us ever trust in Jesus."

I saw a sign this afternoon near Harvard Square at the Lutheran Church – it said "God is in the midst of the City" – Psalm 46. God is indeed with us.

I am learning an ever-greater respect for my wonderful wife Lisa. She is a fantastic life partner and friend, one with whom I can share every fear and every dream, and on this trip she also proved that she can keep up with the best iron-butt riders around. You never heard a single complaint from her in over 1600 miles of riding. Not one complaint! She is incredible.

I learned how important the heartland is to America. America is not defined by her great cities, although they are impressive indeed. (Especially approaching them by motorbike). I believe that America is best defined by her land and her people; those that were up at the early hours, farming, delivering, and even feeding their chickens. We got to see this first-hand.

I learned I can ride 1600 miles without too much trouble. It was exhausting, yes. Would I do it again – YES! We saw it all, not from behind a car windshield, in a climate-controlled cube, but out in the open, where we could touch it at any moment.

We smelled it all - the musty swamps of Kentucky near the Mississippi River, the maturing corn fields in Indiana and Ohio, the faint smell of coal in Pennsylvania, the smell approaching rain in Indianapolis, the stench of the inner city, and the wonderful smell of evergreen trees in the Catskills.

We would have missed it all in a car.

And what will I learn in the weeks to come? We’ll have to see how that all develops.

2 comments:

  1. Okay, my butt did hurt. There, a complaint. But it was nice being right behind you for 3 days.

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  2. Okay.....I notice a large gap in your account....Woodstock! Once a party down rock concert site, now looks like a entrepreneur's dream of tie dyed t-shirts, old vinyl, crystals, high end custom jewelry, expensive Italian purses and 60 year old hippies now driving $20,000 Harleys and vintage convertibles reliving their glory days. Then, there is what happened AFTER Woodstock as you cruised downhill into a holiday revenue trap. But, that's another story! Hurts your motor to go so slow! Wink Wink.

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