Corner To Corner -- Final Thoughs

It seemed strange to sleep in our own bed last night, and to get up and not go downstairs, eat a “continental breakfast” at the hotel breakfast bar, and load up the bikes and head out. The ride back from Cape Flattery and Neah Bay was uneventful, except for the frustration of road construction, and my internal sadness that the ride was over and we were not going someplace new in the morning.

I must confess I have a wandering soul I suppose. I always have, and I attribute some of that to my parents who were thoughtful enough as I was growing up to take us someplace in the car or the camper nearly every week. This is one of the greatest gifts they gave me – to not be afraid to see what’s up around the next bend and to love travel. And I suppose as well that it could be considered a curse.

As we were heading towards home down US-101 we got to a junction where US-101 continues south, ultimately to the Mexican Border south of San Diego, and we had to turn on WA-104 over the Hood Canal Bridge and towards Seattle. I told Tony, “hey, lets just turn south and ride down the coast to San Diego”. The look he gave me would have stalled my bike had he looked at the engine. I’m fortunate that I have the means and the job that allows me to do that – not everyone does. So we continued across the bridge, down WA-3 and Bremerton and across the Southworth ferry and headed to Alki Beach for dinner before riding home. A ferry ride is perhaps the perfect way to cap this trip – taking the boat into Seattle is always something I look forward to.

There is a song by singer-songwriter Randall Williams called “The Man With The Wandering Soul” which is about a sailor and his love for the sea and how it affects his family. I suppose you could change it to someone like me who loves the road…

“You were not his first love, he was seduced by the sea air on his skin, as a young man he promised his heart to Aurora Borealis and the stars.
May you never be the widow of the man, with the wandering soul.”

I have that wandering soul, and after a day of catching up on a mountain of mail, and phone calls and things around the house, and making an appointment for work on the bike tomorrow at the HD Dealer, I’m itching to get back on the road.
So for now this will be the last post for a while. I do want to thank you for reading, and I hope you have enjoyed it. We’ve heard from a lot of you with very kind and nice comments, and I’m flattered -- especially those of you who said it was what you looked forward to reading each morning. As a budding writer, it makes me think there might be possibilities for this. We have lots of notes and lots more stories that we didn’t put in the last 15 chapters – I would have spent all my time writing and not riding! I’ve toyed with the idea of a book – like “Blue Highways” or “Travels With Charley”, but I’m not sure. However, I would appreciate any feedback you have, good and bad… you can e-mail me at grgardner@comcast.net

And I would be remiss if I didn’t thank a few people who encouraged me to do this and who helped put it together.

Number one of course is Tony – who took all the great pictures and who’s notes and recollections as I wrote this were invaluable. It’s as much his story as mine. This ride was his idea, and he's the one who encouraged me to go on it, even when we were having second thoughts up until the day we left.

Tony’s sister Debbie who gave us the Harley Road Atlas for Christmas that had all the maps we used.

Tony Screws and the crew at Downtown Harley Davidson who got the bikes in shape for a 5,000 mile ride.

My parents for giving me the gift of wanderlust.

And all of you who read, commented, and encouraged us along the way.

As a final thought. I’ll leave you with another song lyric – this one from Alison Krauss a song on her “Lonely Runs Through It” CD called “Gravity.

I left home when I was seventeen I just grew tired of falling down. And I'm sure I was told the allure of the road would be all I found. And all the answers that I started with turned out questions in the end. So years roll on by and just like the sky the road never ends. And the people who love me still ask me - When are you coming back to town? And I answer quite frankly when they stop building roads and all God needs is gravity to hold me down.

I use that last paragraph as the signature on my personal emails, and it’s the title of my “Livejournal” at http://grgardner.livejoural.com which is a more personal version of a lot of my rides in case you are interested.

Gary Gardner
August 5, 2008
And the people who love me they ask, when are you coming back to town. And I answer, when they stop building roads and all God needs is gravity to hold me down.